Considered one of the top albums in Christian music history, it was way ahead of its time. Described sometimes as goth-punk, it took a while for me to understand its brilliance. The album art was done by the band's singer, Michael Knott.

With this album, The Choir flirted on the edge of mainstream success. At the time, the interested mainstream label was afraid that the band's Christian background would prevent their success. Of course later artist such as Sixpence, P.O.D., Switchfoot, and Chevelle certainly proved this theory wrong. However this left the Choir as an under-appreciated band.

This is a hard rock classic. I love the combination of heavy guitars with three part vocal harmonies. The final 4 tracks flow seamlessly from one to another to create a masterpiece.

The 77s had a trio of records released in the 80s, but I think this one was a breakout hit. It is a live recording of a concert in 1988 and displays the band's infectious blues influenced rock.

An alternative rock classic.

Brian Healy with help from the Choir, 77s, etc. put together an alternative rock classic.

This has to be one of my favorites of all time. It has everything, great songs, great synths, cool movie sampling (from a time when this was still allowed). Lusis is definitely a landmark classic.

Another rock classic.

This is a fairly straight ahead, upbeat rock album. It's a classic—all the songs are stand out.

This was truly ahead of its time, especially for Christian music. XL is a hard rock / metal guitarist who raps.

Probably the best known of Knott's solo albums. Most of the songs are about people in the apartment building which Knott lived in at the time. (Also note Knott's cover art here.)

An amazing wall of dark, droning guitars. The only disappointment is that it isn't longer.

The Choir recorded this album during a rough time. It's a bit edgier than most of their music which also makes it perhaps my favorite of their albums.

I don't listen to this record often at this point because I'm not in the same space. But it is musically brilliant and genius in the way it captures depression on an album.

My introduction to Knott and still a classic right next to Rocket and a Bomb.

Unbeknownst to Deitiphobia, Michael Knott took pieces of their first two albums and mashed them up with preachers and more! It's a very unique mix which demonstrates why I think Knott is the #1 Christian musician ever in terms of art and creativity. Much to the band's chagrin, the album was misleading released as a Deitiphobia remix album, though it was neither.

The Prayer Chain's label hoped they would be a mainstream Christian rock hit. Instead, the band delivered an intentionally experimental, noisy, crazily mixed album, originally titled "Humb". Though reworked somewhat into its final form, this is still a masterpiece. The Prayer Chain was the top Christian alternative band of the 90's in my opinion.

Another one-of-a-kind album from the mastermind Michael Knott. It is a compilation of new songs, old songs, live songs, and remixes. But they are mashed and blended together into their own composition, so that it has the feel of being a unified album.

This is one of those albums whose brilliance is more subtle such that it took me a while for me to catch on to. But I definitely put forth that this is one of the top alternative rock albums ever.

This album contains some of the best synth sounds ever recorded

This a one of those hidden treasures. The one and only album from this underground artist was independently released... and it happens to be my favorite synthpop album. It's cool and subdued and wonderful.

Stavesacre's best work. Several songs on this album are epic.

Dark, sometimes ambient and instrumental, but superb.

Roadside Monument put on some of the best concerts I have seen. This is definitely the best of their three albums. It's complex and brilliant.

I don't necessarily agree with all of their lyrics though I appreciate the honesty. But musically, A Perfect Circle is sublime, the quintessential rock / hard-rock band.

I happened to catch this band play in their first concert in the hemisphere (the artist is from one of the Scandinavian countries). It was indescribable. I never heard bass like this before or since. There are huge waves of droning bass with fascinating sounds sprinkled in on top. It is trance inducing.

I picked up a copy of this on a CD-R at Cornerstone... and it's the best techo I've ever heard.

The follow up release from Mago had slightly better distribution, though still very underground. Some of the songs from Enlace are reworked, and a handful more were added.

This album is full of great electronic songs.

One of the most amazing hard rock albums I've heard.

Many people don't understand this album, but I love it. It's a wonderful blend of noise and synth-rock.

This is my go to album when I need something peaceful.

While they had some good material before, this was the first album in what became their signature sound.

This follow up to Mer de Noms continues to showcase the band's musical brilliance.

Skillet had always rocked live, but most of their previous albums had a weak mix. But not this. Collide is the pinnacle of Skillet's hard rock era. This album really rocks hard.

A beautiful limited edition piano rock EP.

The follow up to the breakout Wake Up, O Sleeper continues with more of the same great music.

Probably my favorite album of all time. It has everything. Sublime.

One of the best albums I've heard in the past several years. It's deep and emotional, and painfully honest.

This is probably the hallmark album for the band I consider to be the top alternative / indie rock band of the 2000's.

The superb songwriting defines this indie rock jem.

Paper Route pick up right where they left off. This album adds some amazing epic tracks like "Glass Heart Hymn", "Rabbit Holes", and "Calm My Soul"

Trent Reznor is a master and this may be his best work. This album sounds great and the songs are super catchy.

It struck me a while ago that I've been listening to Tourniquet for 20+ years and the music hasn't gotten old. That's saying something. This was the band's debut and is still a classic.

I don't really listen to anything else in this genre, but for some reason, this one album from Angelica has solid songs which I can still enjoy.

I couldn't help to mention the first Christian industrial album ever. Though it sounds a bit dated, it is still cool and interesting.

This album was a rework a the band's independently released demo. It follows very much in the footsteps of Fear of God.

It has a bit of a dated sound but is packed with catchy songs.

The Prayer Chain was a fascinating band. Their label was hoping they would be the next Petra. Their first EP contained accessible alternative rock. But in the first song on Shawl they declare "Shine is dead." (Shine was a song from their debut EP)!

This album was my first introduction to this landmark band.

This is a classic and a highlight of the modern rock of the era.

My favorite Christmas album is unfortunately long out of print. Highlights include the original version of my favorite Christmas song, Babe in the Straw, and Kevin Max singing In the Bleak Mid-Winter. In all, this album is an excellent balance between contemporary and traditional versions of these Christmas songs.

Though it doesn't quite rise to the level of the hall of fame, this is a good sounding album full of solid tracks including Paradigm One, June First, Mother's Day, Filter, Serpent-Teen, and Moons & Suns. I've had this album in continuous rotation for decades now.

Superb house music.

I came to this album later, after absolutes, etc., and so maybe didn't appreciate it as much. Granted, the recording quality isn't as solid as their next couple of albums. Yet this album contains some great and memorable hard rock riffs.

The only reason this didn't make the hall of fame is that there are a few songs which, while not bad, aren't as strong as the rest. But there are still many classics on this record.

A strong rock / hard rock disc.

With the this and A Golden Field of Radioactive Crows, the 77s prove that they are as good as ever.

For I believe contractual reasons, Mortal became Fold Zandura. In Mortal fashion, every FZ album has a slightly different sound. The band released this EP independently and it contains solid work.

Unfortunately, the production could be a bit better on this album. But Glisten is still one of my favorite rock bands ever. I love the way they use two guitars. They were definitely overlooked and underrated in my opinion.

A brilliant dark electro-industrial album on temptation.

Each song that twothirtyeight recorded was unique and memorable.

This is a fairly unique album, subtitled "an experiment in vibe". The band rerecorded some of their best songs but with a more reserved, stripped down sort of arrangement. The experiment was a complete success in my opinion.

Considered to be Christian music's first alternative band, they've been making music for over 30 years now. This double CD late in their career is also one of their strongest and showed they weren't beyond their time.

With the EP and this album, the 77s prove that they are as good as ever.

An album full of enjoyable rock from this South African band.

Critically acclaimed, people compared this album to Pet Sounds when it was released.

I had the first track off this album from a compilation. It was so good that I had get the whole album. I was not disappointed.

The follow up to ["untitled"] is much in the same vein.

It's difficult to describe Ethan Durelle's quirkiness, but the uniqueness is what I love about them.

This is the second album from this excellent band. Since their label had shut down, they scraped together enough to build their own studio and record this independently. And I think it came out even better than their debut.

From a production stand point, this album is insane. It covers a wide range of genres from trance to metal—sometimes within a single song—but yet so well produced that it doesn't feel all over the map.

It's rock with a deep rhythmic groove that will keep the dance floor hoppin'.

I didn't get any of Flyleaf's albums until years after they were released. I was surprised by just how good they are from this debut album onward.

Deliverance has had a long career as one of the top metal / hard rock bands in Christian music. I've enjoyed everything they've done since Learn, but this album—years after ending their active career—is perhaps their best.

In Absence we hear Paper Route really hit their stride. It's a collection of beautiful and unique songs.

This album brings more of Celldweller's signature sound, and deep lyrics.