I’m a huge hockey fan. And, no, I don’t find any conflict in being an on-fire, Holy Spirit filled Christian and enjoying a couple of bruisers dropping the gloves and having a good scrap. Hockey’s not for the faint of heart. It’s not for the soft. Not for the delicate. That’s why it’s always struck me as ironic that one of hockey’s most prolific players was a fella named Guy Lafleur. If you know hockey, you know the name and it’s his name that bears the irony. His last name means “the flower”. Not that he was a goon, quite the opposite. It’s just that so delicate a name seems so out of place in a sport that’s anything but delicate.
I said all that to say this, the same irony holds true for The Rose Hill. Don’t let the name fool you; or the fact that two of the members are female, including the main vocalist. Quite the contrary, this 6-piece out of Hamilton, Ohio is anything but delicate and flowery no matter what their moniker would seem to imply. The name actually comes from a combination of two aspects of Christ’s life. 1) Jesus himself symbolically being referred to as the Rose of Sharon, as found in the Song of Solomon. 2) The hill being Calvary, where Jesus was crucified. Together the name portrays Christ on the cross. Again, it is anything but delicate.
Having received this CD specifically for a review, I went into it blind, but lack of familiarity isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like any connoisseur would tell you, a clean palate only enhances the experience. So let me start by saying that I felt that first impressions worked against The Rose Hill to a certain degree. This is unfortunate, but not disastrous. What you need to know from the outset is that the CD gets progressively better as it goes. The upswing really started for me at Track 4, “Face The Truth”, which starts off with a bang and pretty much drags you along for almost the entire song. It kinda falls apart at the end, but it’s the step that begins to make you a believer.
Musical comparisons are always tricky because music itself is so intrinsically subjective. The band describes their sound as hardcore, progressive rock… and I think that’s pretty accurate. There’s also a notable hardcore-punk dynamic at work in several of the songs as well but in general, think somewhere along the lines of Beneath The Sky meets Walls of Jericho meets a circa 1980 keyboard… Or, more accurately, I’m told, a keytar. For the uninformed, a keytar is a keyboard that you wear. No, not like your crazy uncle’s keyboard-pattern tie that makes real sounds. It’s kike a guitar… Only… it’s a keyboard.
Speaking of keyboards, and we were… I thought its addition to this CD was pretty hit or miss. If I had to choose a weakest link, this would be it, but, like I said, it wasn’t all bad. Sometimes it sounded super out of place, and then sometimes it was dead on and really added an extra layer of ambiance to a song. When it’s on, The Rose Hill can sound like Still Remains lite. When it’s off, it stands out like a sore thumb and you may think that a wormhole leading to an 80’s video game arcade just opened up in the room.
Other than that, my only real knock on their sound was that the vocals come off a little strained at times. By strained, I mean that they lose quite a bit of enunciation here and there. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that losing some clarity in the roll of the growl is a given for this style of vocal delivery. It’s just that the vocals here actually come off sounding clipped. Like the power drops out part way through and the word just ends right there, but, hey, I’m no vocal coach and it certainly isn’t a deal breaker for the CD. All in all, the music is a good listen and, hopefully, the start to a long succession of releases.
The stand-out track for me was “A Song For David”. This song takes it hands down and sold me on the Still Remains comparison and, believe me, that’s a high compliment in my book. My runner up was “Bobby Omelas”. As long as you can get past the “is this old-school Petra?” intro, this song will own you. Nice time changes. Nice guitars…. and the drums… oh, the drums.
Lyrically is where The Rose Hill truly shines and, yes, that’s what you call a double entendre. The music is great… but I love bands that don’t shy away from Jesus’ calling to be a light to the world. The songs on this CD portray the difficulty of life and the reality of suffering and pain, but they also provide an answer. God. Consider the song “Saving Grace” which says, “He saves / He saves through His grace / counselor / sweet counselor / hear me as I cry out to you / save me / these memories take hold of me / you have the strength of unfailing love / my God I’m down on my knees / I’m begging you please help me, help me, help me”. Or how about the closing track on the CD, “Avenger” which says, “the demons of my past / have opened their eyes again / burning thoughts into my flesh / tempting me to throw away all I know / but their lies do not jolt me / for the fire I once longed to feel / died inside of me like the / great secrets I cried forgiveness for”. The final lines of the album bring things to an appropriate conclusion… “you are my God / you are my spirit / you are my leader / you are my God / my Savior keeps me / and He holds me / throughout your taunting / He is my God”. Good stuff. No beating around the bush. No mindless ambiguity. It’s straight up, no nonsense Gospel truth. There is even a little spoken word thrown in for good measure.
The sonics are good, which is to be expected on a label release. And Sancrosanct Records usually maintains a pretty high standard in that area. So no major complaints other than the vocals were a little buried in the mix, but that could have been by design. The packaging is nice and very professional. Lyrics are included, as are the requisite ‘thank you’s.’ Humorously enough, there’s no list of band members other than a special thank you to some of the previous members. A little who’s-who would’ve been nice… at least for a reviewer.
All in all, The Rose Hill’s “With All That I Am” grinds through 10 tracks with an overall runtime of just under 43 minutes. If you’re looking for something heavy by a band who’s not afraid to mix things up a little bit, then I’d say that you should probably give them a listen. If you’re a perfectionist with no patient for a band who fumbles from time to time in some aspects of certain songs, then you should probably steer clear. Like I said before, when it’s on… it’s on, but when it’s off, (insert involuntary cringe here). Thankfully, in this reviewer’s ever so humble opinion, The Rose Hill is definitely more on, than off. Peace.
Band: The Rose Hill
Album: With All That I Am
Release Date: 2010
Label: Sancrosanct Records
Visit: The Rose Hill
