AlphaOmega News
The Violet Burning
Drop-Dead
Northern Records

The Violet Burning has become one of my favorite bands because their music is enduring.  As a band, they have consistently produced good music without gaining a lot of notoriety.  I may be selling the band short, but I don’t recall seeing them in on the cover of CCM, where they should have been and still should be some day.

Front man Michael Pritzl wears several hats on this project including primary songwriter and producer.  Pritzl is also joined by the Glitter Twins, Gabriel Wilson and Chris Greely (The Listening) as co-producers.  The two also show up on the album as a part of the back up band with Jason lord Mize and Josiah Sherman. 

“Drop-Dead” has a lot of creativity that flows from the melodious rhythmic musings of “Humm” to the U2 style anthems like “Do You Love Me.”  There is also a lot of range on the CD as is highlighted by the psalm-ish, “Swan Sea.”  Although the band is self-labeled as traditional modern rock, I still think I can hear some brit-pop influences comparable to U2 or Love and Rockets.

Another fascination I have with The Violet Burning is their west coast connections.  Between The Violet Burning, their co-producers band The Listening, and their touring partner, Kevin Max, I am beginning to see that much of the independent creativity is not coming from the heart of CCM in Nashville, but from the fringes of the industry.   

“Drop-Dead,” is about a deep love story – not a romantic love, but Godly love full of appreciation, awe, and respect.  The title itself is a creative twist on words that can be interpreted at least two ways depending on the hyphen.  For more on that, and more on the content of the album, all you have to do is jump over to their official home page.

- Ken W.