Creed
Weathered
Wind Up
2001

Creed's third album is fully in tune with its angst-ridden brand of philosophical ponderings. Singer Scott Stapp further solidifies himself as a restless poet screaming his stanzas amid guitar and drum explosions. Packaged with expectedly bizarre but brilliant artwork, Weathered soared to the top of the rock charts at its release and continues to hold steady with Creed's expanding base of fans. And despite the band's consistent downplaying of its individual members' faith in God, Creed's wrestling match with deeper issues and higher powers speaks poignantly to a post-modern culture that is as spiritually-laden as it is music-loving.

From the start, 'Bullets' echoes the cries of biblical writers with lines such as "Oh these thorns in my side," and "I know I have something free / I have something so alive." Anticipation for the album's remainder builds with this distorted and dramatic opening, hooking the listener immediately and comprehensively quenching the parching thirst for new Creed material.

'Freedom Fighter' offers allusions to Jesus' statement about the truth making us free, warning those who refuse to embrace the truth, "I feel sorry for your soul." Stapp describes himself as "raging on in holy war,"
and the additional distortion conveyed atop some of the vocals intensifies the digital madness. Stapp actually sounds like a holy warrior, if there exists such an auditory category.

On 'Who's Got My Back?,' Stapp laments how "the covenant has been broken by mankind / Leaving us with no shoulder." He then offers the hopeful message, "There's still time now / All that has been devastated / Can be recreated." It certainly sounds like the gospel wrapped in contemporary outfits, something with which the hopeless can relate.

The album's title track, which received significant airplay before the full CD released, easily could be interpreted as referring to God: "When you are with me / I'm free. I'm careless. I believe / Above all the others we'll fly / This brings tears to my eyes / My sacrifice." And on 'Stand Here With Me,' the singer reflects, "I'll give you everything I am and still fall short of / What you've done for me."

Numerous other interpretations are plausible, of course, namely romantic love or close friendship. And yet, these kind of relational dynamics are so inextricably linked with our spirits that it makes us give pause and wonder whether anyone can fully box in what a lyric is intending to communicate.

Stapp, whose background as a child and teen involved a force-feeding religious atmosphere that turned him off from the church, expresses the struggle of applying faith to daily life as succinctly as any official "Christian" recording artist. "To what do I owe this gift my friend?" he questions in the cut 'Hide,' admitting, "I've been dancing with the devil way too long / And it's making me grow old." And on 'Don't Stop Dancing,' Stapp conveys the image of a weary (perhaps weathered?) man who returns to his source of strength when frailty overtakes him: "I've been through everything / And I know I'm on my knees again." In the same song, Stapp expresses feelings that Christians often are afraid to admit to one another: "At times life's unfair and you know it's plain to me / Hey God I know I'm just a dot in this world / Have you forgot about me?"

Creed continues to reach millions with messages of hope, struggle and perseverance set amid a musical landscape that is as quality a rock offering of any found today. The band has something significant to say, and lending an ear takes the listener to new and reflective heights, regardless of the label identifying a person's spiritual journey. (John M. De Marco)