GARDEN BOWER - SACRED GROUND 4-song 1992 Demo (Christian Hard Rock)

GARDEN BOWER - SACRED GROUND 4-song 1992 Demo (Christian Hard Rock)                                                                                           GBSG11920

Garden Bower
Sacred Ground
1992 (no label)
Chicago, Illinois, USA

Dave Christensen – Vocals
Rob Bochnik – Guitar
Frank Tribuzio – Guitar
Joe Link – Bass
Ollie Bauer – Drums

Side 1:

Sacred Ground
The Shell and the Stone

Side 2:

Love Song
Tribal Dance

I’m still not sure why the band named themselves after a garden bower, but it is different. The band is a kind of grung-ish, slightly funky, slightly alternative hard rock band. They were kind of mixing together the various heavy non-thrash/hardcore sounds that were popular at the time. Technically, this was considered grunge before a slightly more generic version of grunge was codified a few years later. This was the point I liked it better, especially because of fact that bands could sound different from each other. They are best when more fully committed to the funky alternative sound, like in “The Shell and the Stone.” They find a slightly heavier Black & White World, or a less twisted Breakfast With Amy sound in those songs. They start sounding a bit generic when they move away from that.