7QT: New Year Discoveries

I've heard so much good music in just the past day that I couldn't boil it down to one song for the week. So I'm upgrading to a "7 Quick Takes" this week to showcase the awesome bands and albums that I've come across since the start of the year. A good chuck of this list are 2016 releases, but a few are simply albums from the past year that have flown under my radar.

1. Audrey Assad - Inheritance [12 February 2016]

It is with great joy that I announce today's (Friday's) official release of the fruit of Audrey Assad's hymns project, Inheritance! Since I helped support her through PledgeMusic way back when, I was able to get an advance download of the songs two weeks ago. Because she is covering various hymns for different types of worship the album is not as thematic as her other independent releases, but that does not take any bit away from the beauty of the songs and the reverence with which they were approached.

"Even Unto Death" by Audrey Assad

A Priest is what Judas really needed

Classes got the best of me this week, but they gave me some time to think about the metal I do know. Although I'm not well versed in entire discographies of bands like Slayer (nor do I really want to be), there is an album or two of which I'm fond of.

I'd like to start with Judas Priest, a band whom I believe has several associated misconceptions. Judas Priest formed in the late-60's in Birmingham, England. Initially having a blues-rock and psychedelic influence (Cream, The Yardbirds), even their name came from the Bob Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest." They moved towards hard rock and eventually became precursors of heavy metal. They debuted Rocka Rolla in 1974, which included their first single (also "Rocka Rolla").