Hymns for the Nonbeliever - Kisschasy

Kisschasy’s second, eagerly anticipated album is Hymns for the Nonbeliever. It’s an album that will most likely please all Kisschasy fans. It is well produced, strong musically and, in somewhat of a rarity for this genre, you can actually hear what the lead singer is singing most of the time.

However, while strong in these departments, the themes and language on this album leave much to be desired. There is something – bad language, bad themes – that I found objectionable in almost every song.

There are references to drug and alcohol use in more than one song. A whole verse of Tiny Plastic Cup appears to be outlining the effects of hallucinogenic drugs. This wouldn’t be a problem (it may even be a deterrent) if it didn’t seem as though these effects were being celebrated.

The fourth song on the album, Strings and Drums, is apparently about life as a musician and songwriter, according to the band’s official website. However, the lyrics don’t immediately reflect this. One lyric in particular stands out here. “You’re my mystery, You are always at my fingertips Without you I’m just bones and skin.”

The singer is trying to find fulfillment in something material and if this was taken away, the thing that makes the singer them would be gone, leaving them just skin and bones, a shadow of whom they once were. Yet this is wrong. Material possessions, a career, even relationships with other people, will never satisfy anyone completely. The Bible shows that we need a relationship with God to be fulfilled.

Tiny Plastic Cup, which the band markets as a reaction to the emptiness of religious dogma, contains the line “I found a mistake in the way that we were made.” This line directly denies God’s perfection and power. For if God made a mistake when he created us, as this song suggests, then he is not perfect. But as Christians, we know that he is. As Deuteronomy 32:4 tells us, “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just”. However, the controversy of these lyrics does give a good opportunity for Christians to discuss God, Jesus and salvation with non-Christians around us.

Some of the songs touch on good themes, such as conservation and animal liberty (Factory and Dissolution), however not enough time is spent on them to make listening to the album a worthwhile experience.

If you like this style of music, there are other choices that may prove better in the long run.

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