POP MUSIC REVIEW : Altar Boys Provide Stirring Affirmation of Their Faith

Ringing affirmation can make for stirring rock ‘n’ roll, and the Altar Boys provided plenty of stirring spiritual affirmatives throughout their show Wednesday night at Club Postnuclear.

But there is a more profound and moving sort of affirmation that comes only after a hard, painful dialogue which probes deeply into darker regions of anguish and doubt.

The Altar Boys were always skillful and often rousing as they delivered their affirmations about faith and mercy during a hard-driving 90-minute set. But these Orange County-based veterans of the Christian rock circuit gave short shrift to dialogue, to the questions that challenge faith. While some songs alluded to turmoil and struggle, each number was, in essence, a declaration of the illuminating power of belief.

What if the Altar Boys had shut out the light for a few numbers here and there, and spent some time probing deeply into states of spiritual depletion? Vivid, unflinching depictions of the soul’s dark night would have given the show some needed contrast and a sense of progression and movement that could have made the band’s ultimate affirmations all the more powerful.

It was one of the Altar Boys’ virtues that they could make those affirmations without resorting to dogma. While most of the fans in the near-capacity crowd of about 500 probably were attuned to the band’s specifically Christian message, the Altar Boys didn’t close the door to the sort of listener who might take or leave the religious content and focus instead on the band’s fervent, anthem-driven style, which invites comparisons to such mainstream acts as Bruce Springsteen, the Alarm, Midnight Oil and U2.

In singer Mike Stand, the Altar Boys have a leathery-voiced front man who exudes a down-to-earth pleasure in rocking, no matter how lofty his subject matter. Stand may have borrowed freely from Springsteen’s book of stage maneuvers (the dance-athon with a girl from the audience, for example), but he had too much enthusiasm at every turn to make the performance smack of calculated mimicry.

Extensive recent touring had put the Altar Boys in sharp form for this homecoming show. Jeff Crandall was a propulsive drummer at middle tempos as well as on the fast rockers, and Ric Alba’s active, lead-oriented bass playing and strong backing vocals lent fullness and dimension to the music. Stand supplied some grand-gesture power chords, while lead guitarist Steve Pannier concentrated on textured playing rather than effusive soloing.

A grabbing opening half hour peaked with “Here Ends the Night” and “You Found Me,” two swelling, marching songs that recalled U2. After that the Altar Boys subsided into a less interesting stretch, flying the same anthem flag from song to song. The show jolted back to life again toward the end with faster, punk-oriented material, followed by an encore featuring two of the band’s most soaringly melodic anthems, including the title song from its recent album, “Forever Mercy.”

The Violet Burning, another local Christian rock outfit, opened with a colossally pretentious 55-minute set. Unlike the Altar Boys, who always sing from a human, personal perspective, a number of the Violet Burning’s songs were first-person monologues in which the voice was supposed to be none other than God Himself. Those are some mighty big shoes to fill, and singer Michael Pritzl didn’t quite qualify.

Most of the Violet Burning’s performance consisted of glowering, Gothic-rock numbers with raw, angry vocals and little melody. A tough, funky, number, “If You Let Me,” was much better, as Pritzl played the part of an irate Jesus with a strange effectiveness. Rather than quit while it was ahead in the imitation of Christ department, the Violet Burning pressed on to a ghastly, stridently preachy finale in which Pritzl re-enacted the Crucifixion, complete with fake blood smeared over his bare chest and hands.