Dustin Kensrue :: The Water and The Blood :: Oct 1 2013

[AlexH.]

It seems more like he's pulling a Jon Foreman - although Switchfoot has had some heavy spiritual themes, the songs of theirs that caught on in the mainstream were pretty vague, and they attained a bigger following than they would've if they'd stuck to the strictly Christian market. But Foreman's solo material is explicitly religious - often putting whole biblical passages to music, and possibly putting Switchfoot fans off. Pretty similar to what's happened here with Kensrue, except judging by the song titles, this is nothing more than a pretty straightforward contemporary worship album. Modern "worship music", to me, is one of the least interesting genres of music being made today. It always strikes me as pandering to the Christian music-listening crowd, which is always looking for the least challenging music that can deliver the most Jesuses per minute. Every song is one or two-dimensionally joyful, and every trace of doubt or pain or anger has been whitewashed clean. It's boring and it's not reflective of how actual people (specifically Christians) feel. Pick up an old hymnal, listen to turn of the century gospel, read the book of Psalms, and you'll find the full range of human emotions laid out in verse, all directed at God. Bazan's Curse Your Branches is, to me, a more reverent collection of songs than the sets worship bands play in the church today. Maybe Kensrue really feels led to do an album like this, and the songs are coming from a real place, but I've paid attention to the Christian music industry for long enough to know that it is just that - an industry - and worship CDs are always a hot commodity, along with books about not having sex before marriage and the little fish that you put on your bumper.

And I have another (sort of preemptive) thing to say to all fellow Christians/Christ-followers/"spiritual people"/whatever you want to call yourselves so you don't have to be embarrassed: chill out with the persecution/intolerance shit. Every thread about a well-known Christian artist is guaranteed to have two replies:

1."I like these guys alright, but I wish they were less in-your-face about the Jesus stuff"

2. "Boy, sounds like you're being awful INTOLERANT of their beliefs"

Shut up. 3 minutes of critical thinking is enough time to deduce every possible reason that someone who does not believe in God/religion might have for not wanting to hear it in the music they listen to. It is not the end of your world if someone thinks that the song title "Oh God" is really cringeworthy. It kind of is! Think of how your belief system (or at least a rudimentary idea of it) comes across in the mind of someone who is pretty sure that there is no god. It sounds insane! I'm saying that, and I believe in it! And of all the places to try and change someone's mind about ANYTHING, the anonymous faceless internet is thee worst one I can think of. Also the whole bit makes it sound like 21st century American Christians on the Internet are under attack and have it so hard, which LOLOL go complain to the Apostle Bartholomew who was FLAYED ALIVE AND CRUCIFIED UPSIDE DOWN FOR HIS BELIEFS YOU BABIES

Also, "love the sinner hate the sin" is a super condescending term when applied to homosexuality and the sooner the church at large gets away from violent rejection (or passive aggressive rejection) of our gay brothers and sisters and towards love and acceptance, the better. People around the world suffer and die en masse due to lack of resources that we can afford to spare, meanwhile we are fighting tooth & nail (no pun intended) to keep people who love each other from attaining equal legal footing. Which is a better reflection of Christ's love?

Also Mark Driscoll is a total misogynist homophobe bro douchebag and fuck that guy.

I recognize that by affirming my Christian faith in this post, I hereby forfeit all cool points, punk points, and/or karma points accumulated thus far.

[astrangerwithcandy]

Ha I don't think you lose cred for being religious. That's coming from an atheist.

[noalarmplanet]

It seems more like he's pulling a Jon Foreman - although Switchfoot has had some heavy spiritual themes, the songs of theirs that caught on in the mainstream were pretty vague, and they attained a bigger following than they would've if they'd stuck to the strictly Christian market. But Foreman's solo material is explicitly religious - often putting whole biblical passages to music, and possibly putting Switchfoot fans off. Pretty similar to what's happened here with Kensrue, except judging by the song titles, this is nothing more than a pretty straightforward contemporary worship album. Modern "worship music", to me, is one of the least interesting genres of music being made today. It always strikes me as pandering to the Christian music-listening crowd, which is always looking for the least challenging music that can deliver the most Jesuses per minute. Every song is one or two-dimensionally joyful, and every trace of doubt or pain or anger has been whitewashed clean. It's boring and it's not reflective of how actual people (specifically Christians) feel. Pick up an old hymnal, listen to turn of the century gospel, read the book of Psalms, and you'll find the full range of human emotions laid out in verse, all directed at God. Bazan's Curse Your Branches is, to me, a more reverent collection of songs than the sets worship bands play in the church today. Maybe Kensrue really feels led to do an album like this, and the songs are coming from a real place, but I've paid attention to the Christian music industry for long enough to know that it is just that - an industry - and worship CDs are always a hot commodity, along with books about not having sex before marriage and the little fish that you put on your bumper.

And I have another (sort of preemptive) thing to say to all fellow Christians/Christ-followers/"spiritual people"/whatever you want to call yourselves so you don't have to be embarrassed: chill out with the persecution/intolerance shit. Every thread about a well-known Christian artist is guaranteed to have two replies:

1."I like these guys alright, but I wish they were less in-your-face about the Jesus stuff"

2. "Boy, sounds like you're being awful INTOLERANT of their beliefs"

Shut up. 3 minutes of critical thinking is enough time to deduce every possible reason that someone who does not believe in God/religion might have for not wanting to hear it in the music they listen to. It is not the end of your world if someone thinks that the song title "Oh God" is really cringeworthy. It kind of is! Think of how your belief system (or at least a rudimentary idea of it) comes across in the mind of someone who is pretty sure that there is no god. It sounds insane! I'm saying that, and I believe in it! And of all the places to try and change someone's mind about ANYTHING, the anonymous faceless internet is thee worst one I can think of. Also the whole bit makes it sound like 21st century American Christians on the Internet are under attack and have it so hard, which LOLOL go complain to the Apostle Bartholomew who was FLAYED ALIVE AND CRUCIFIED UPSIDE DOWN FOR HIS BELIEFS YOU BABIES

Also, "love the sinner hate the sin" is a super condescending term when applied to homosexuality and the sooner the church at large gets away from violent rejection (or passive aggressive rejection) of our gay brothers and sisters and towards love and acceptance, the better. People around the world suffer and die en masse due to lack of resources that we can afford to spare, meanwhile we are fighting tooth & nail (no pun intended) to keep people who love each other from attaining equal legal footing. Which is a better reflection of Christ's love?

Also Mark Driscoll is a total misogynist homophobe bro douchebag and fuck that guy.

I recognize that by affirming my Christian faith in this post, I hereby forfeit all cool points, punk points, and/or karma points accumulated thus far.

I still think your cool, fellow community fan. Also, very well written response. 

[amnstypls]

I knew you were a Christian the first time I saw your avatar.

[TFP]

JPM=Jesuses Per Minute  RPM=Revolutions Per Minute haha

[Mnolan15]

I just feel like being intolerent of intorlent people is sort of hypocritical. Saying I can't stand for people who don't allign with the view on topics I have is NO different than a christian (which no christian on here has outward hate for gays or woman to my knowledge) saying they don't allign with your views. Just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me is all. I realize this will probably blow up in my face it just bugs me when people talk about how tolerent they are but aren't tolerent for a group of people for whatever reason doesn't seem to add up is all.

 

I prepare to be grilled here now hahah

[TFP]

^^That's a good point.

[rtw88]

Not really. I don't know why I'm responding because AlexH said everything really that needs to be said, and did so very well. The difference between conservative Christians being intolerant and 'religious intolerance' is huge. The conservative Christian sect, who is the most vocal and nationally recognized sect, seeks to legally enforce their morals upon people who don't agree with them. While doing this, they are also using a harmful, hateful rhetoric which in turn influences more hate. The people that you think are 'persecuting' Christians are simply saying that they aren't going to stand for that kind of rhetoric and refuse to have others' beliefs imposed on them. They aren't trying to limit the personal freedoms of any Christians that want to go to church in the same way conservative Christians wish to limit the personal freedoms of those they disagree with.

[SeeMoreGlass]

It seems more like he's pulling a Jon Foreman - although Switchfoot has had some heavy spiritual themes, the songs of theirs that caught on in the mainstream were pretty vague, and they attained a bigger following than they would've if they'd stuck to the strictly Christian market. But Foreman's solo material is explicitly religious - often putting whole biblical passages to music, and possibly putting Switchfoot fans off. Pretty similar to what's happened here with Kensrue, except judging by the song titles, this is nothing more than a pretty straightforward contemporary worship album. Modern "worship music", to me, is one of the least interesting genres of music being made today. It always strikes me as pandering to the Christian music-listening crowd, which is always looking for the least challenging music that can deliver the most Jesuses per minute. Every song is one or two-dimensionally joyful, and every trace of doubt or pain or anger has been whitewashed clean. It's boring and it's not reflective of how actual people (specifically Christians) feel. Pick up an old hymnal, listen to turn of the century gospel, read the book of Psalms, and you'll find the full range of human emotions laid out in verse, all directed at God. Bazan's Curse Your Branches is, to me, a more reverent collection of songs than the sets worship bands play in the church today. Maybe Kensrue really feels led to do an album like this, and the songs are coming from a real place, but I've paid attention to the Christian music industry for long enough to know that it is just that - an industry - and worship CDs are always a hot commodity, along with books about not having sex before marriage and the little fish that you put on your bumper.

And I have another (sort of preemptive) thing to say to all fellow Christians/Christ-followers/"spiritual people"/whatever you want to call yourselves so you don't have to be embarrassed: chill out with the persecution/intolerance shit. Every thread about a well-known Christian artist is guaranteed to have two replies:

1."I like these guys alright, but I wish they were less in-your-face about the Jesus stuff"

2. "Boy, sounds like you're being awful INTOLERANT of their beliefs"

Shut up. 3 minutes of critical thinking is enough time to deduce every possible reason that someone who does not believe in God/religion might have for not wanting to hear it in the music they listen to. It is not the end of your world if someone thinks that the song title "Oh God" is really cringeworthy. It kind of is! Think of how your belief system (or at least a rudimentary idea of it) comes across in the mind of someone who is pretty sure that there is no god. It sounds insane! I'm saying that, and I believe in it! And of all the places to try and change someone's mind about ANYTHING, the anonymous faceless internet is thee worst one I can think of. Also the whole bit makes it sound like 21st century American Christians on the Internet are under attack and have it so hard, which LOLOL go complain to the Apostle Bartholomew who was FLAYED ALIVE AND CRUCIFIED UPSIDE DOWN FOR HIS BELIEFS YOU BABIES

Also, "love the sinner hate the sin" is a super condescending term when applied to homosexuality and the sooner the church at large gets away from violent rejection (or passive aggressive rejection) of our gay brothers and sisters and towards love and acceptance, the better. People around the world suffer and die en masse due to lack of resources that we can afford to spare, meanwhile we are fighting tooth & nail (no pun intended) to keep people who love each other from attaining equal legal footing. Which is a better reflection of Christ's love?

Also Mark Driscoll is a total misogynist homophobe bro douchebag and fuck that guy.

I recognize that by affirming my Christian faith in this post, I hereby forfeit all cool points, punk points, and/or karma points accumulated thus far.

 

Well said sir...

 

you get 50 million cool points in my book...I wish I was that articulate...I think I came off as somewhat of a douchebag in my posts...haha

[billya]

iwontsaythelordsprayer128

[SeeMoreGlass]

iwontsaythelordsprayer128

 

Oh You...

[zacooper]

Pre-order for this is up, bundles available.

 

http://marshillmusic.merchline.com/products/dustin-kensrue-the-water-and-the-blood

 

Also, music video

[batman]

Kensrue treadmill?

[seangj]

$8 shipping for just the record. Priority 2 day is only $0.10 more.

[larry47591]

Up on amazon for 18.xx wasn't going to pay the crazy shipping

[onefallenhero]

Up on amazon for 18.xx wasn't going to pay the crazy shipping

 

Dang it. Ordered before I saw this...

[amnstypls]

Kensrue treadmill?

[rickydenim]

Would like to see the notebook though. Could have his alchemy index style drawings in it.

[affadavit]

Ordered

[smailtronic]

Would like to see the notebook though. Could have his alchemy index style drawings in it.

There's no mention of the notebook having anything inside it, so it's probably blank. Also, the released tracks have been pretty terrible. Shame, Please Come Home was so good.

[atticus]

Dude. "Its Not Enough" is awesome. Feels very, very real. Seems like the answer to the "so why'd you leave Thrice" question I'm sure he never stops hearing.

[rickydenim]

There's no mention of the notebook having anything inside it, so it's probably blank. Also, the released tracks have been pretty terrible. Shame, Please Come Home was so good.

Yep your right. Looks like just a plain note book.

Might listen to the other tracks before I commit. Absolutely love the new track though.

[nivek87]

pre-ordered. after listening to "Rejoice" i can say for those of you who aren't into any contemporary christian praise music, you probably won't like this and shouldn't purchase this.

[SaulManella]

Does the lp come in clear with Christ blood splatter?

[radiatorhums]

Does the lp come in clear with Christ blood splatter?

 

I don't think Hydra Head is releasing this...