Reviewed by Tony Cummings

In case you haven't come across them before, ApologetiX have a substantial American following. What they do is take big mainstream hits (well, big in the US anyway), strip away the original lyrics and substitute their own to give us songs like "The Devil Went Down To Jordan" and "Bethlehemian Rhapsody". This two CD set offers 40 songs, 22 taken from previous ApologetiX albums 'Radical History Tour' (1994), 'Ticked (Rolling Clone)' (1997), 'Jesus Christ Morningstar' (1998), 'Biblical Graffiti' (1999), 'Spoofernatural' (2000), 'Keep The Change' (2001), 'Grace Period' (2002) and 'Adam Up' (2003). The new cuts range from the good, a clever transformation of Maroon 5's "This Love" into a song about Nehemiah, to the wince-inducing (the Eagles' "Hotel California" becomes "Hotel Can't Afford Ya"). There's no doubting the band have improved tremendously down the years and Karl Vaughn Messner is a guitarist able to cleverly recreate every hit riff he hears. But the ApologetiX remain rather a one trick pony and despite all their technical accomplishment and desire to proclaim Jesus, this isn't an album I'll want to play much.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.