Newsboys, Love Riot, CCM Magazine - image
Newsboys – ‘Love Riot’ album review
3.5 Overall Score

Label:

FairTrade Services

For Fans Of:

Audio Adrenaline, DC Talk

We Like:

“Committed”

Newsboys – ‘Love Riot’ album review

Newsboys, CCM Magazine - imageAt this point, Newsboys need no introduction as one of the pillars of Christian music going on thirty years, but that hasn’t stopped the GRAMMY-nominated pop band from some introductions of their own. Love Riot is the new album replete with new sonic touch points, most notably darker synth pulses, that give a new energy to the album’s opening tracks, “Crazy” and “Hero.”

Some tracks, like lead single “Guilty,” are straight from the band’s wheelhouse and will appeal to longtime fans, but the shadowy rhythms of songs like “Committed” impressively expands the scope of the album. It also lends a forceful feel to songs that demand it, as Michael Tait pledges musical allegiance to the kingdom of God. It’s a common refrain throughout the Love Riot, with cries they are “in this for life.” The band’s fans would likely say the same about their relationship.

3 Responses

  1. Alvis

    I think if you are going to give a 3.5 star rating, a longer review is warranted. Not that I necessarily disagree. I would just like to a little (lot) more detail.

  2. Eugene Steficek

    this band USED to be good. Snorefest. Talk about Dialing it in. Same tired chords, over produced synth pop that is desperately trying to sound like modern radio. Uninspiring lyrics that are rehashed…Almost as bad as Chris Tomlin but with more lights and spectacle.

  3. Sharon Barley

    I was at a Newsboys concert last night. Their professional staging cannot hide their hypocrisy. Selling the Gospel has become a white-washed show digital deceit. Little kids in poor communities used as a platform for their shirade of compassion? Then the politics! Black man decries justice for his own race to appeal to his white conservative fans and calls this the true gospel? He’s just a ‘boy’ in the business of his own magical mystery tour. I thought the were going to say “global warming is a lie” but they spared us. Newsboys are a sad commentary on wealth politics in mainline white music.

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