OK, this whole Christian “punk” thing is starting to get to me. I mean, straightedge I got, ok. And I can almost stand Relient K’sBe My Escape for a few seconds before I have to change the station (thank God for the Sirius radio in my new ride).
But only that long. Christian Emo, I dub thee “ChEmo,” a treatment worse than the disease.

Relient K is, at least at some levels, more naively tolerable than past efforts at merging the music trend of the moment with Christian themes…anybody remember Stryper and Christian Metal? And there are some tolerable exceptions to what ranges from otherwise overly-earnest to outright proselytizing. Switchfoot is one case where the form overcomes the substance to the point where, if you didn’t know they were escapees from the Xtian charts, you wouldn’t care.

However, the rest of the crowd (like Audio Adrenaline, for example) sounds like they’ve escaped off an edgy remix of a VeggieTales soundtrack, or like Avril Lavigne covering Amy Grant songs.

It’s almost enough to make someone go Goth.