As I was strolling through the local Christian bookstore recently, a CD cover plastered with an interesting sticker immediately caught my eye. The sticker proclaimed in big bold letters, "popular punk rock-n-roll for the modern teenager."

"Hmmm..." I thought. "Why should that make someone want to buy the CD? And how could it be popular if it just came out?" These questions perplexed me, so I gave the demo a quick listen and found that I liked the sound of these guys. They sounded like Blink 182 (one of the secular bands I feel guilty about liking), or maybe MxPx with more harmony.

After a few listens later, I am in love with these guys' sound, but . . .I am also very disappointed with their lyrical content.

In particular, I found the song "My Girlfriend" to be very disturbing. My understanding* is that this song was written from an experience of one of the band members. Apparently, this guy had a friend whom he was close to, but he later lost track of her. When he eventually caught up with her, she had fallen into the whole Marilyn Manson, wannabe Goth scene and was no longer walking with the Lord.

Thus, the songwriter (in his obvious frustration over this situation) wrote what can only be viewed as a very insulting little ditty about Mr. Manson. Phrases like "Marilyn Manson-he's not cool . . . . he's not nice" and comparisons of Marilyn Manson to Satan are peppered throughout the tune, bringing the sense of petty name-calling to a new low.

Now, I can understand this guy's frustrations with Satan for deceiving his friend, but is this the way to express that frustration? Did, as the song says, Marilyn Manson eat this guy's girlfriend? No--Satan did.

(By the way, I am no defender of Marilyn Manson's behavior. The lyrical content of his songs is vile and sick. However, Mr. Manson is a human being made in the image of God. This is a prime example of how we are called to "love the sinner, hate the sin.")

Will this song help bring Marilyn Manson to Christ? Nope. If he ever does see this song, I don't think that calling him "that guy from Satan's embassy" is the best way to show the love of Christ to him.

What about the girl who had became a Manson follower? Will this song help bring her back to the Lord? I don't think so. How would you feel if your former friend wrote a song about you saying that you had been "eaten by Marilyn Manson"?

Regrettably, in my opinion, "My Girlfriend" spoiled what could have been a very good debut for this new band. Relient K has a tight pop-punk sound on this album with nice vocal harmonies. The melodies are catchy, and they do a good job of varying the sound enough to keep one's interest for the whole album.

Overall, the lyrics (other than "My Girlfriend") are fairly innocuous--certainly not deep, but they are very fun. (Sort of like All Star United without the childish sarcasm.) The best songs talk about girls or silly stuff; their songs about God strike me as pretty shallow.

Unfortunately, Relient K is pushing "My Girlfriend" as their first single. The folks from Gotee Records would be much better off if they promoted one of the other tracks like, say, "Nancy Drew" (my favorite song on the album, guaranteed to make you smile), "17 Magazine," or "Hello McFly."

Do I recommend the album? If you like Blink 182 or fun pop-punk music in general, you might give it a try. Just have your finger ready to hit the skip button on track 2.

**Neither the liner notes, nor the band's official website, nor the Gotee Records website give any information on the background of the song. This information was relayed to me by someone who heard the band give an explanation of the song at a live show.