Search - Various Artists :: Songs from the Penalty Box-Vol. 3

This isn't your mama's soft and sweet inspirational music, despite its somewhat misleading association with contemporary Christian music. Neither is it the brightly "out-there" boy-band fare of Jars of Clay or DC Talk. Rather, Tooth & Nail's third volume of Songs from the Penalty Box features cutting-edge Christian bands blasting punk, thrash rock, pop-punk, and hardcore. From the Ramones-obsessed Huntingtons wailing away on the déjà vu-ish "American War Machine" to Fanmail's distorted pop anthem "Let Down," Penalty Box appeals to bangin' moshers and skate punks both secular and sacred. Other standouts include Blindside's raw holler on "King of the Closet," the crusading guitar and drums rawk of MxPx, and Squad Five-0's precociously appealing "Apocalypse Now." As the latter sing, "It's rock & roll at the end of the world." --Paige La Grone