Description
The Insyderz present… Skalleluia is the third full-length album by the American skacore band The Insyderz, released on Squint Entertainment in 1998. It is the first of their albums dedicated to ska renditions of worship songs.
Rock worship records generally fall into two categories. The first are essentially venerated novelty records – evidence that the artistic engine is running out of steam. The second are more noble: labors of love – projects that emerge from a fire in the belly and a passion to reach beyond the self. The Hindalong/Daugherty-produced At the Foot of the Cross project comes to mind.
Skalleluia, the new worship disc from The Insyderz, is a bit of both.
The performances on the disc, its material and everything I know about this band suggest there is nothing contrived or insincere about what they do. Full of genuine joy, this is a labor of love – love for God and love for a generation that is looking for new forms to tell the old, old story.
It is also abundantly obvious this band knows what they’re doing. At a time when much of the alleged ska being offered to music buyers has all the integrity of a Laughlin, Nev., lounge act, The Insyderz kick out the jams with authority. They may be the best band in their genre.
Still, I’m uneasy with ‘Skalleluia’, in part because as a self-declared worship record it must be held to a different standard.
The question stops being “Is this good ska?” and becomes: “Does it lead us into worship?” The answer? The fevered pitch of Skalleluia’s manic machinations makes me wonder if our parents weren’t right when they suggested that some forms are better suited to worship than others.
I’m not arguing for hard and fast rules, only sensitivity to the baggage that some forms bring and the potential for mixed messages in them. When lead singer Joe Yerke inserts little vocal ad libs like “Who’s your daddy?” into musical breaks, it seems harmless enough, but it demonstrates a moment when the drive to make worship hip overrides the drive to make worship happen.
Scriptures teach that public worship must be a shared, community-centered event, one that encourages and allows every member of the body of Christ to enter into it. We are brought together to celebrate, yes, but also to remember, reflect and wait. There, together, we are taken beyond ourselves. But without opportunity for pause – even when our songs are, as on this disc, clearly Christ-centered – we can fall into dangerously self-absorbed territory, and our worship quickly becomes almost entirely about our experience of it. That’s what worries me about this record.
I know it will sound weird on the first read, so take a deep breath: Skalleluia is too single-mindedly celebratory. Or maybe it’s just that there aren’t enough deep breaths. There’s a lot in these songs to give us pause, but no opportunity for it. What kind of one-sided “entering in” is nurtured in such a manic setting? Sure, you can throw your body around with abandon and shout back the (mostly) uplifting lyrics in celebration. But is there any place here for reflection, any chance to pause, any motivation to “consider your brother better than yourselves,” any opportunity for the Spirit to talk back in the mosh pit?
But then again, an hour after I was done listening I was still singing the songs. Could it be that for this new generation of worship, the understanding comes later? [Dwight Ozard, CCM, May 1998]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/skalleluia/1507802800)
CD tracklist:
01. Oh, Lord, You’re Beautiful – 2:29
02. He Has Made Me Glad – 2:23
03. Awesome God – 3:08
04. Lord, I Lift Your Name On High – 3:24
05. Jesus Draw Me Close – 3:10
06. Ancient Of Days – 2:36
07. You Are My All In All – 3:12
08. Jesus, Name Above All Names / More Precious Than Silver – 2:45
09. Joy – 1:53
10. We Will Glorify – 2:45
11.1 Mourning Into Dancing – 2:54
11.2 (Silence) – 5:45
12.1 (Silence) – 0:21
12.2 Untitled – 0:01
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by KMG Records. (Track 11 lasts 2:54, followed by a silence of 5:45. Track 12 starts with silence until 0:21, after which what sounds like a guitar being unplugged from a live amplifier can be heard.)
A full-page advertisement for The Insyderz’s album The Insyderz Present… Skalleluia! was featured in the March 1998 issue of CCM Magazine.
A full-page advertisement for various albums releases on Squint Entertainment, including The Insyderz’s The Insyderz Present… Skalleluia!, was featured in the July 1999 issue of CCM Magazine.
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