Blindside

Let's face it -- with the possible exception of those Bible thumpers in Stryper, Christian rock pretty much sucks Satan's cock. Enter Blindside, a hardcore unit from Sweden that just happens to have faith in a higher power. You might not know that from the group's early output, which featured a blistering mishmash of Euro guitar and drum noise that sounded like an all-nighter in hell. But the group began moving in a more melodic (that is, mainstream) direction with 2002's Silence, presumably influenced by the success of P.O.D., a band with whom Blindside shares management. The transition was complete with 2004's About a Burning Fire, the band's most accessible (that is, commercial) effort to date. Like P.O.D and the now-defunct Creed, Blindside doesn't hit you over the head with dogma. Instead, the group presents its message with willfully obscured spiritual prose that goes down easier than a Catholic schoolgirl.