The Flame in All of Us  - Thousand Foot Krutch

Thousand Foot Krutch (TFK) first captured my attention with their first major release, Phenomenon. The title track was a rock anthem that could rival the best from any band after 2000, and that was all I needed to hear to warrant a purchase. Thankfully TFK isn't a band that is defined by one song, either on that album or on their subsequent releases. I was less happy with their second release, The Art of Breaking, which seemed to be void of any of the rhythmic elements that keep nu-metal from sliding into the punk rock vortex.

Because of this I was a little leary of buying their latest album, The Flame in All of Us. Having just recently converted my entire cd library to my hard drive, I happened to be looking for DRM-free music on iTunes at the same time that my brother-in-law was preparing for a long drive back to Montana. I had bought a copy of Phenomenon for him years ago, and he had been an avid fan of the band ever since. One of the DRM-free selections offered by iTunes was this latest album - and motivated more by a need for a gift than my passion for the music, I made my first full-album purchase from iTunes.

The Flame in All of Us is a really good album with flurries of greatness. TFK's evolution brought them back to the nu-metal sound that I originally fell in love with. That said, fans of nu-metal won't necessarily like this album. A majority of the songs are more mainstream - which is probably why I like it even more. Although I'm not a fan of "mainstream" - any band that can find a balance between rap/metal/punk and still incorporate powerful Christian ballads gets my respect. The only other band that I know that has strikes this type of balance is Skillet - which as my fellow panheads know, puts TFK in pretty elite company. Speaking of "elite company" - after listening to "What Do We Know" I had to check to make sure that Our Lady Peace wasn't a guest artist (Our Lady Peace = one of my favorite bands = greatest Canadian rockers ever).

• Favorite Songs: The Flame in All of Us, Falls Apart, What Do We Know, Favorite Disease

• Purchase: HERE

• Listen: HERE (Flash based site - click on second logo after site loads for player)