"This Is the Moment," The Violet Burning (Northern Records, 46 minutes)

Wearing his influences on his sleeve, from an opening electronic squeal echoing the Police to Cult-like guitar riffs to arrangements mirroring Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins, Violet main man Michael Pritzl concocts a brilliant mix of alternative pop in "This Is the Moment." Pritzl, the only constant in The Violet Burning since its founding in 1989 in Orange County, Calif., leads the current incarnation through an array of musical styles, from the blistering "Lovesick" to the acoustic opening of "Heaven Holds My Heart" to the dazzling ambient rocker "Manta Rae." He even manages a very Beatle-esque scream, a la "Hey Jude," toward the end of "Let It Begin," an inspired touch. Though Pritzl resists branding The Violet Burning as a Christian band and writes lyrics considerably more ambiguous than most writers in the Christian arena, his songs are relentlessly spiritual, clearly evoking an all-powerful and merciful God. In "This Is the Moment," he synthesizes much of the best from contemporary alternative music and forges it into his own particular vision of the struggles of this life, and the peace waiting in the next.

_Michael E. Young

Dallas News
http://www.dallasnews.com/religion/arts/stories/060703dnrelmusic.51095.html