Crashing Gates

He really never disappoints us. This is another jewel in a long line of perfect projects if you ask me. Thank goodness there is still a good Christian artist out there!

First of all, like some reviewers here, I don't believe there is such a thing as "Christian music." Possibly, "music from a Christian world view." But KMax continues to knock down stereotypes (BE) and expectations of where other people want his heart, and his musical style, to evolve. Like it or not, it's genuinely him, not some pretense to serve up something we'll all buy. And frankly, I'll take that anyday from any musician, and either choose to engage (listen) or not. Fortunately, for me, this is good stuff. It speaks to the times and our culture, as well as my heart. I appreciate that he doesn't present some candy-coated look at life and faith. Both are Herculean struggles, and if you don't perceive them as such, this probably isn't the artist or the album for you. Maybe the Gaither Homecoming series would be a better choice. But if you like something unique and refreshing that you'll never hear on any radio station, you'll feel you are somehow making a personal connection with the artist and the select others who enjoy this, which is where the real richness of music drives into our souls (and head) like Jael's ancient hammer! Nice work Kevin. Thanks.

Max yet again manages to surprise and engage his audience with something fresh from the other end of the spectrum of his previous release, The Blood (2007). Crashing Gates & Passing Keepers mixes Kmax's sound of The Imposter and Between the Fence & The Universe, and yet is something else altogether. There's definitely a bit of a Beatles sound ("Baby, I'm Your Man"), and then a mysterious rock thing going on that reminded me of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited for some reason ("Traveler"). But on the whole, Max draws from his inspirations to create his own unique rock language, opened up in a beautiful anthem that the EP hinges on ("Future Love Song"). Described by the artist as a collection of songs about the Apocalypse, each track dwells in Kevin Max's frustrations with the Christian music market ("Traveler"), his own uniqueness ("The Saint of Lonely Hearts"), and the dark path he sees the human race treading ("Out of the Wild" "Crashing Gates and Passing Keepers"). Max revives his spoken word art, experimenting with mixing rock with it, which I was very happy to hear, sorely missing the days when spoken word was a regular thing for him on Stereotype Be and Raven Songs 101, as well as the bit he did in dc Talk. I could write so much more on this--go read some of the official critics' reviews, but you will not be disappointed at all with Crashing Gates. Listening through apocalyptic warnings, love songs, otherworld ramblings, the waxing poetic, and the beautiful and hopeful acoustic rendition of previoulsy released "Your Beautiful Mind", I was engaged every inch by Crashing Gates & Passing Keepers, and have found myself listening to it continually in my music stack.

Buy "Traveler" Skip the rest! Traveler is powerful, the song is full of energy that just pops out and is worth the .99 cents! The rest of the album is unoriginal in the since of style, the 6 other song lack any energy at all.  Bach has more energy, and would be a better buy! Sadly Kevin Max solo albums have been flaky at best, his departing from dc Talk might have been a mistake on his part. Not sure why he was better with that group, and I am not sure why he personally feels he is better separate from dc talk, but it seams like Kevin Max lacks the energy and style that his fans want, by letting "to much artistic taste" into his music that blurs the lines of good and bad quality. A line that Toby Mac and Tait have seemed to have found in their music.  Maybe in 20 years people will appreciate his artistic style, but it seems for now his fan base continues to dwindle.  The MusicPunk™

He's done it again. Does have the feel of an ensemble project, like a band at work, as noted on another review. Right from the beginning I've always felt like Kevin's voice was familiar but could never quite place for whom the homage may be intended... perhaps a meld of John Lennon, Bono and Freddie Mercury? Yet has the energy and flavor of newness. Closer to 5 stars than 4.

I dont know how many people listen to kevin max. All i know is more people need to. I'm a musician myself and like rock music with thought provoking lyrics. Kevin Max provides this. Most rock songs are depressing. Christian rock delivers a message of hope most people ignore. I pray God touches you through Kevin like he has me through the few songs I have already purchased. Kevin Max is a true musician/artist. If you dont normally pay attention to lyrics, I advise you to do so. You will be touched.

Wonderfully thought out lyrics and beautiful music permeate this ep. Kevin stays true to himself and his music. I can honestly say that I will also buy the hard copy once it comes out because this music is worth paying for twice.

I always scoff at the people who go to see the bands of old. KMax will be the guy my kids laugh at me for going to see...I don't have kids yet so it will be a while but his music and voice are timeless.

Another powerful and deepley satisfying album from K-MAX. The parts that I love most about it are his powerful, soul moving vocals (Baby, I'm your man) and catchy guitar riffs (Out of the Wild). This album also seems to touch on some very interesting feelings and views of the world through the eyes and soul of Kevin Max. FIVE STARS in my opinion!

I must say I enjoyed this release on so many levels. But it seemed like this should have been the direct sequel to “Between the Fence and the Universe” instead of “Imposter.” In general, for me it is an absolute joy when ever it is playing. But there’s more to it then that. “Traveler” is a great opening track. In creating a song that you want to be the first one, you must have certain elements in the song or else the idea of artistic presentation kind of gets lost. But this one does it nicely. There are some decisions Kevin made vocally with some phrasing that I have never heard anyone else ever do before. At first it took some getting used to due to the sheer newness if it. Now I have no problem getting it stuck in my head. “Baby, I’m Your Man” is by far my favorite track on this LP. There is not much else I can say about it. I have nothing bad to say about the song and all of it’s elements are a delight to the ear. I enjoyed the special guest vocalist as well, whoever she may be. She obviously has a lovely voice. Definitely the best track of them all. “The Saints of Lonely Hearts” is obviously an untapped resource of enjoyment and awesome-ness. I really love this one, but it’s way to short, as the ending creped up onto me before I was expecting it to. At the apparent end, I was expecting to hear a measure of silence and then I thought everything was going to kick back in but with zeppelin style guitar solo for a few more measures and then fade out with the chorus or something. The previous track may be my favorite, but I find this one getting stuck in my head the most often. “Future Long Song” is an interesting one. It has some moments of some very clever melodies and phrasing similar to “Traveler.” I wouldn’t be surprised if these tracks were recorded on the same day, because they seem like siblings to me. I think I would enjoy this kind of track even more in a live performance situation. Tis a very nice track. “Out of the Wild” caught me by surprise when I found it to be on the track list at number 5 and not number 1. It seems to me it has all the right elements to be a project introduction track, even more so than “Traveler” does, but I am not the artist, so I digress. This is probably my second favorite track off of the entire project. The line “so tell me a story and make it sweet, like a tale from a dream” is probably one of my favorite line of lyric that Kevin has ever written. Not sure why, that’s just the way it is for me. “Crashing Gates and Passing Keepers” is probably my least favorite track on the project. It is obviously a continuation of the same recording session that birthed “Future Love Song” but spliced to make another track. I am not aware of why that choice was made, but I think it would have worked if it would have been kept as one big track as it was originally recorded. I will say that I am a devout fan of spoken word as a recorded art form and I absolutely loved that element of this track. “Beautiful Mind 2009” took me back in time as my “Imposter” CD hasn’t seen a player in quite some time now, regretfully. I was definitely a sound for sore ears. I love this song, always have and always will. I have never had anything but good experiences as a listener anytime an artist does another version of a pre-existing song. The acoustic approach taken for this was great, it really worked, made me feel like I was at bongo java. It got me hoping that Kevin would release a project some day of just acoustic versions of songs he has done in the past whether they be just from his solo career, or maybe even throw in 1 or 2 dc talk songs as well. Either way that would be very cool. In conclusion, I loved it. I know that’s probably a cliché statement to make, but I really cant word it any differently than that, I just really love this project. If it does get picked up on by a bigger company and/or expanded on that would be great. I look forward to more work from Kevin in the future.