- CCMMagazine.com

Listen to Relient K’s sophomore release, and you’ll hear overtones of other high-energy Christian alt-rock acts such as Switchfoot or The Supertones. Not only has Relient K performed live with those bands, the group also shares a certain comic sensibility alluded to in the title. So, alongside straightforward songs such as “Pressing On” (which captures the exuberance of newfound belief), you also get numbers like “Sadie Hawkins Dance” (a delightfully quirky song about impressing the girls) and “May the Horse Be With You” (a nonsensical ode to the joys of being, yes, a horse). Relient K works best in this lighthearted mode.

While earnest about expressing its faith, the group’s spiritual meditations produce mixed results. “Maybe It’s Maybeline” successfully highlights the evils of finger-pointing, but “My Way or the Highway…,” preaches the salvation-damnation question from a bully pulpit. Play this song for a wayward-but-earnest seeker, and such a person might just be taken rightfully aback by the zealous kicker, “If it scares you to death, may that be your lesson.” If putting the proverbial gun to a person’s head is no way to win his heart for God, then it’s no way to address an intelligent listener either.