Jars Of Clay were the breakout band of the alternative CCM movement of the ‘90’s, scoring an enormous mainstream hit with their debut single “Flood.” In the decade that followed the band continued their success, amassing 17 #1 hits and selling more than 5 million albums.
This month the band releases their highly anticipated seventh studio album Good Monsters. The advance praise for this album is unlike anything the Christian music community has seen before.
With one-third of the year still to come, CCM Magazine has taken the highly unusual step of declaring Good Monsters their “Album of the Year.” Editor Jay Swartzendruber writes on behalf of the entire editorial team that this is “the most profound album the Christian music community has released in years.”
Throughout the album, the music is tight and well produced. The songs range in style from ballad to dancefloor to moshpit, but the tracks are bound together by the edgy guitar work of Matt Odmark and the heartfelt lyrics and vocal delivery of frontman Dan Haseltine. It is a real testament to the band’s vision and talent that the album could bring together such diverse material into a satisfying unified whole.
There is a time for worship music that just makes one feel good in faith, but surely there is also a time for songs that make one think. Like so many of the all-time great albums, this work is driven by a thoughtful concept. These songs wrestle with the balance of good and evil within each of us and the listener comes away with a deeper appreciation for the divine grace that helps us find our way. As Haseltine says, “engaging people who are doing the hard work of laying their lives open to others, and avoiding isolation, has allowed me to see that there is both immeasurable evil and unfathomable good mixing under my own skin and it is grace, mercy and freedom that allow me to not simply be a monster, but to be a good monster.”
This is one of those rare albums that brings together great music and great lyrics under the roof of a thoughtful and important message. All the hallmarks of a classic album are here. Maybe CCM isn’t being unduly rash after all - this is a very special release.