Tag Archive for: The Blast
Pillar Announces Documentary And 2025 Concerts
Christian Rock Heavyweights Pillar Announce the October 12, 2025, Premiere of the Documentary, Pillar: Beyond the Frontline
The Inspirational Documentary Directed by Kaden Wittig Features In-Depth Interviews with the Band Along With Electrifying Performances from Pillar’s 2024 Sold-Out Hometown Tulsa, OK Show
Fans Are Invited to Attend an Exclusive Red-Carpet Premiere and Concert at the House of Blues in Dallas, TX, on October 12th with Tickets Going On Sale this Friday, June 27, 2025
TULSA, OK – June 24, 2025 – Following a triumphant return to the stage in 2024 after a decade-long hiatus, acclaimed Christian rock band Pillar is thrilled to announce the upcoming release of their documentary,Pillar: Beyond the Frontline, set to debut on October 12, 2025.
This highly anticipated film is directed by Kaden Wittig, son of Pillar’s founding member and bassist, Michael “Kalel” Wittig. Having literally grown up with the band, joining his father and bandmates on the road since infancy, Kaden was the ideal choice to meticulously film, edit, and craft this compelling narrative, bringing Pillar’s ministry and music to life on the big screen. “The band has always been part of my life. I remember being a kid and riding around on their tour bus back in the 2000s.” says director Kaden Wittig. “When their comeback tour started to come together, my dad and I were talking about what a great opportunity this would be to tell the story of not just the reunion, but the history of the band and the guys and everything leading up to this moment.“
Since their formation in the late nineties, Pillar has established itself as one of Christian rock’s leading acts, releasing nine studio albums, three EPs, countless singles, and earning numerous GMA Dove Awards. Their extensive history includes years of headlining tours and festival performances, captivating hundreds of thousands of fans and amassing a significant following.
For the first time, the core lineup of Rob Beckley (Vocals), Michael “Kalel” Wittig (Bass), Noah Henson (Guitars), and Lester Estelle Jr. (Drums) delve into the countless untold stories from their journey in the music industry. The documentary explores how the band’s enduring message of hope continues to inspire fans more than 25 years after their inception. The band’s inspiration for this film stems from a deep desire to encourage and inspire audiences not only through Pillar’s music but also through the untold stories beyond their public history. “This documentary is going to be powerful for anyone who knows Pillar, but I also think it’s going to touch people who don’t know us. The stories from fans and how our music touched their lives is what moves me the most” bassist Michael “Kalel” Wittig explains. “People are going to see four men who greatly appreciate this opportunity God has given us to do what we do. It’s not something we take for granted.“
Fans will have an exclusive opportunity to join Pillar in person for a special premiere screening of Pillar: Beyond the Frontline. The red-carpet event will take place on Sunday, October 12, 2025, at the House of Blues in Dallas, TX. Attendees will experience the film alongside the band, followed by a full-length Pillar concert. Fellow rockers, Spoken, will kick off the concert portion of the evening.
Pre-sale tickets for the red-carpet premiere and concert go on sale Wednesday, June 25th, at 10 AM CST using code “FRONTLINE”. General public tickets will be available starting Friday, June 27th, at 10 AM CST.
You can purchase tickets, and VIP passes to the Pillar: Beyond the Frontline Premiere and Concert by clicking on this link.
In addition to this exciting event, you can catch Pillar on the road at a few additional dates this year including:
July 30, 2025 – Kingdom Bound Festival @ Six Flags Darien Lake, NY (Tickets)
September 19-20, 2025 – Loud and Proud Festival in Wissen, Germany (Sold out)
October 17, 2025 – Lancaster, PA (Tickets)*
October 18, 2025 – Columbus, OH* TBA
Project 86 To Livestream Double-Album Concert Event March 1-2 In Nashville
Project 86 to Livestream Double-Album Concert Event March 1-2 in Nashville
Project 86 waved goodbye to the old and ushered in something much more ominous with their recent release of the OMNI double album. Now, they are gearing up to celebrate the release with a unique livestream event on March 1-2. In-person tickets sold out quickly, but fans can still enjoy this special event in a virtual setting (tickets available at Project86.com).“We wanted to create a multimedia experience that transcends the typical live show from a band. We view this event as another piece of world-building for the new material and content, while performing some of the classic P86 jams for one of the last times,” frontman Andrew Schwab says. “If you have ever seen the band play, this will be a much different animal. We have leveled up.”Schwab has stated the OMNI double album is a complete reinvention, going so far as re-branding his longstanding outfit as P86:OMNI.“It’s cyberpunk metal set in the OMNI-VERSE,” he explains.”It’s much more extreme than anything Project 86 ever released, and frankly, it has been so much fun to go to places I always wanted to go with building a world, creating a story and making heavier music.”The band will unveil an exclusive vinyl variant, t-shirt, and new music video for the song “Complete the Circle” at the event. All livestream ticket holders will be entered to win an OMNi Vinyl Box Set. The livestream willl be available to stream after the event for those who cannot attend night-of.OMNI is meant to be more than a twenty-three-song double album. It is an immersive scifi/cyberpunk experience, exploring the ideas of transhumanism and AI in a spiritual context. With an accompanying book (coming mid-2024), and fan-driven Alternate Reality Game at Omnicorp.one, fans will find much to lose themselves in. To discover more visit Project86.com.
Disciple Releases Promise To Live Video
Disciple has released the video to their track Promise To Live from the new album Skeleton Psalms.
If you have ever considered suicide, you need to see and hear this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1tbWW8gvSM
Lacey Sturm’s Sophomore Solo Album Kenotic Metanoia Drops
Lacey Sturm’s transformational sophomore solo album Kenotic Metanoia is available now
The chart-topping hard rock princess is back with fiery songs of spiritual metamorphosis
Lacey Sturm has released her sophomore solo album Kenotic Metanoia, available everywhere November 17 at https://stem.ffm.to/kenoticmetanoia.
The former Flyleaf lead singer offers the project to the world independently, led by a string of arresting singles including “Awaken Love,” “Reconcile” and “Breathe With Me.”
The album’s enigmatic title is drawn from two Greek words: “kenosis,” referring to a state of emptying of self, and “metanoia,” referring to deep change and altering of course. Together, Lacey Sturm says that the title captures a moment when you start to see the truth about reality that you didn’t see before. “Kenotic metanoia” is the demand to address and respond to that truth, a call to leave one version of yourself behind.
“All these songs have been for my own heart,” Lacey has said. “When David sings the Psalms, a lot of the time he’s telling his soul what to do. That’s me too in this: telling my soul, singing what I know to be true.”
That truth ranges from the life-force found in “Breathe With Me” to the relinquishment of “Not Your Fight.” These songs are both intimately personal and appropriately mysterious, a glimpse into a deep spiritual process of surrender.
Contemplating the human experience, Lacey says, “Are we going to suffer? Do I need to fight against it, or do I stand and embrace whatever comes? Do I reject suffering and pain, or do I stand and walk through it so I can grow spiritually and see that there’s a strength I didn’t know was there?”
“My strength is made perfect in weakness,” the songstress continues, quoting the scripture. “You lay down your life and you become like Christ. He taught us what it’s like to be human: it’s to willingly lay your life down for love’s sake. It’s walking through that and learning compassion.”
The songs found on Kenotic Metanoia show the full range of both Lacey’s songwriting and vocals skills, fittingly for one of the most lauded voices in hard rock. Her distinctive scorching vocal tones combine with husband Josh Sturm’s broiling guitar riffs. The result is an album that promises to deliver on consistently heating fan hype.
The album also follows a successful summer of Flyleaf reunion dates, featuring Lacey at the band’s helm. With major appearances at festivals like Sick New World and Rockfest, Flyleaf proved that their fanbase is as moved as ever by their emotive hard rock.
Kenotic Metanoia is available on all major streaming platforms and through her online store at https://bio.to/laceysturm. For more information about Lacey, visit laceysturm.com.
About Lacey Sturm
Lacey Sturm is a Grammy-nominated queen of hard rock who secured a place in rock history as the first solo woman to top the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart with her debut album Life Screams. With a career spanning songs like “All Around Me,” “I’m So Sick,” “Again,” “Impossible,” “State of Me” and most recently “Awaken Love,” Lacey Sturm has proven herself as one of the most powerful and enduring voices in hard rock. She is also a sought-after speaker and author, penning the autobiographical books The Reason, The Mystery and The Return. Also a dedicated wife and mother, Lacey tours with her family, supported on stage by her guitarist husband Josh Sturm. You can connect with Lacey at www.laceysturm.com.
-Written by Mary Nikkel of Transparent Media
Disciple “Skeleton Psalms” Album Review
DISCIPLE “SKELETON PSALMS” ALBUM REVIEW
By Colin Cruz, TheBlast.FM Program Director
I never thought I’d hear gospel music (or what used to be referred to as “black gospel”), on a Disciple album, but those are the opening sounds of their new record Skeleton Psalms, which comes out April 28th on BEC/Tooth & Nail Records. But as long as Kevin Young’s band has been around, there is no need to question his modus operandi. It works.
You’ve heard the shrill screams and monstrous guitars of the lead track The Executioner on both The Blast and The Implosion (oh YEAH, it’s that heavy) over the last 15 weeks. So what does the rest of the album sound like?
If this album was a radio station, going from track 1 to track 2 Promise To Live, it would be a train wreck, as this is a beautiful pop-rock song with a pretty soft melodic intro. But when the magnificence of this song is realized, that is quickly forgotten. This song appears to go out to all who struggle with life’s regrets…and thoughts of suicide.
Regrets, cutting, drugs, thoughts of suicide. The struggle is real. Promise To Live is so heartfelt. “This is where redemption lives. All your death will be resurrected again. This is not your downfall. It is not your curtain call. It’s only the start”. As I listened to this song for the first time, I felt God reassuring me and us that He is so in love with who we are. This song brings tears to my eyes. “I vow to hold you till you break through, just swear you’ll stay alive”. If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, I encourage you to listen to this song and hold tight to the mighty arms of Jesus!
Since the album is called Skeleton Psalms and track 3 is Skeleton Psalm…it is the closest thing there is to a title track on this collection of tunes. This hard driving grinder finds Kevin Young pressing into Jesus, wanting more… “I need a new love, a liberation, I need a real self-revelation, I need to know what I am living for…show me the world you want me reaching for.”
Bad Words starts out with some all-out screaming from Mister Young mixed in with fierce guitar work from Andrew Stanton and Josiah Prince and relentless drumming from Joey West, and it stays on a brutal METAL track throughout! Kevin won’t apologize for his faith in this upside-down Bizarro World we live in, where right is wrong and wrong is right. Wow, this song is jaw-droppingly amazing both musically and lyrically:
“I’ve got these bad words foaming at my mouth. Kicking my teeth out. My philosophy is your profanity. You can ban these bad words foaming at my mouth but you can’t censor the sound. Your obscenity is my identity. He who Christ sets free is free indeed. I won’t apologize. Nothing’s gonna silence my beliefs.”
Resurrecting Reasons answers the question…will the Disciple power ballads continue now that Disciple’s altar ego worship band Honor & Glory is in existence? And the answer is yes! That makes sense, as the Honor & Glory songs are vertical and this tune is horizontal. We get some southern rock vocal stylings from Young in this ditty. And we get to hear the word Jesus a lot on this album. I think that is 3 songs so far, and I love it. And with this band, it’s not for the JPM’s…they mean it, and they feel it…and you’ll feel the resurrection power of Jesus in this song.
Dawning Of Deliverance starts out really heavy. Is this going to be a melody of old Deliverance songs? No, of course not. Ah, but the guitar solo will get 80’s metal fans excited. “You pull me under the water so I can breathe again. This is the dawning of deliverance”. This heavy banger reminds us how we come to new life in Jesus Christ and that we need to fix our eyes on Him.
20:20 Blind Wasn’t that the name of an obscure Christian Rock band? This track has a theme of casting off the sadness and the misery and the naysayers and only listening to what God’s report is for your situation.
“Don’t wanna hear another lie of a sad song. Tonight I feel what I haven’t felt in so long. Just let me ride to the rhythm of your love song and get swept away. All I see is you. When I’m 20/20 Blind.” Have some things in your past you need to let go of? Listen to this…
“You’re shining down all over me…your glory lighting up my face…my past is burning in your grace.” Ooh, I love that.
Scapegoat has an awesome intro…the beginning of this sounds like an 80’s space video game meets the sound of listening for aliens meets industrial music. Well, kind of. What do you hear? The deeper I get into this album, the more it hits me…I used to think of Disciple as a hard rock band, but dude…they are so metal. And I love it! Feeling some industrial undertones in this song, too, and that’s a good thing. Hey maybe we can get them to do a whole industrial song on their next album…maybe involve Travis Wyrick and/or Jason Wisdom of Death Therapy in the venture? On that note, how about a collab with John Cooper of Skillet?
The intro to Bow Down made me go…what the heck?…so creative, musically. You’ll just have to hear it. I think the lyrics here are “The hand of the Father is my shield and my dagger. The blood of Messiah is my torch and my fire….” Wow, the guitars on this album have made my blue eyes get big on multiple occasions.
Alright, turn on the light on your smart phone and wave your arm back and forth in the air. For The Life Of Me, the final song on the album is by far the mellowest track. A nice soft landing after the ramping, jarring organized chaos of the previous 9 tracks.
I give Skeleton Psalms 5 stars out of 5.
Skillet Video For Psycho In My Head
Whether you’ve seen it or not yet, it’s worth a(nother) look.
You’ve literally never seen John Cooper this fiery!
The video for Skillet’s new rock track Psycho In My Head, which peaked at number one The Blast:
Disciple Album Skeleton Psalms Drops On April 28, 2023! And Vinyl Will Follow!
Disciple’s new album called Skeleton Psalms releases on April 28th. Skeleton Psalms features the new single called The Executioner, a savage new track that is heavy enough to also play on The Implosion. UPDATE: Tooth and Nail Records record rep Lauren Sieh confirms that the album WILL also come out on vinyl. Sieh says the vinyl will not be released until 1-2 months after the official release date in late April. CCM Magazine just published this story on the band:
https://www.ccmmagazine.com/news/disciple-announces-new-album-release-new-single-the-executioner/
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