Showbread – Showbread is Showdead

By Ryan G

Words: Ryan Getz

Raw Rock Kills.

Some of you might have no idea where that comes from. But for select group of people, that phrase is full of loud nostalgia.

Showbread is a band that I, like most people aware of them, discovered in 2004-ish when RadioU started playing what is to-date their best known song – “Mouth Like a Magazine.” The band has been on quite a journey since then, losing their famed screamer Ivory, angering old school fans with “soft albums” like Who Can Know It? and Cancer, and releasing a layered double concept record that got criminally overlooked. Now, they have released a surprise final album that for some will a return to form, and for others a continuation of the band they love.

“Let’s ruin everything! Everything get’s ruined (everything)!” Josh Dies and Ivory scream in the album opener “I Am Horrible At Processing Rejection.” One could think of this as a tongue in cheek call out to those who rejected Showbread’s extensive subsequent discography. The song that follows, “January 3: 1889…” sounds like it could be the offspring of “Dead By Dawn” and the Nervosa version of “The Pig” – a very, very good thing, as both songs were highlights of the respective musical listening periods in my life they originated in.

I was drawn to the song “Dear John Piper (Stillbirth in Space)” because it addresses the question of free will in salvation (or lack thereof), brutally insulting the theology so many Christians hold dear. As someone who attends a church with largely reformed theology (leaning more toward predestination) the accusations in the lyrics hit home; “God goes strolling through the nursery playing ‘duck duck goose’,” the band begins, later sarcastically screaming that “all powerful, so strong, He sends molesters to children.” Ouch. I’ll be curious to see how the Christian music community responds to this one – especially since Showbread recorded in close proximity to the former Mars Hill churches, a very reformed yet trendy network until their downfall with pastor Mark Driscoll’s personal issues.

The main thing that might be a hangup for some people is that the vocal style doesn’t vary a lot from track to track, causing some tracks to be hard to differentiate from one another, at least upon early listens. A reprieve from the screaming (but not the raw rock) occurs in the last third of the record, roughly. A particularly poignant (yet still groovy) mood is set in the album closer “Life After Life After Death.” The song seeks to encourage the listener in a post-Showbread world, but could speak to anyone needing a little boost of encouragement in their day. Showbread have gone out on an optimistic note, because inspirational internet memes just aren’t their thing. They pass on the encouragement to persevere through a story instead.

This is definitely my favorite Showbread album since The Fear of God, and I hope it gets its due recognition. I’ve seen too many Facebook comments in the past few days of “this band is still around” and the like.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fPRJMyfiUU[/youtube]

Score: 4.3/5

Showbread: iTunes

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