Artist: Showbread
Album: Age of Reptiles

Blood and guts are too cliché anymore, so Showbread has vied for reptiles, amphibians, scales, insects and vomit to describe the relationship between human depravity and Christ's atonement. Throughout Age of Reptiles Showbread speaks of this disparity and seemingly contradictory fact. God's grace triumphing over our disgusting sins in ways that many of us can never truly understand is the theme of the whole album. So, in a sense the album continues the same sort of lyrical themes as their previous works that use metaphors and symbolism that is generally understandable while here and there remaining an enigma.

Musically, Showbread has dropped their more hardcore elements and fused their sound with more clandic rock and old school punk elements. Basically, it's Showbread with almost no screaming, with some faster songs here and there and a continuation of their anthemic power ballads, exemplified most by "Age of Reptiles," perhaps the band's best song to date. Other songs are catchy and good, but overall aren't quite as memorable as that one or many of the better songs on their previous album No Sir, Nihilism is Not Practical.

This record was obviously made by boys, with topics like vomit and reptiles, although not by typical boys, as Age of Reptiles discusses vomit and reptiles as metaphors to describe theological principles. Overall Age of Reptiles is a great, fun rock album.