John Cox
Sanctuary
KO-Records

I can still remember receiving John’s second CD, “80 Years,” back in 2001. I was fairly new to Christian music at the time, and I remember that this album was just so amazing because of the combination of his musicianship and lyrical abilities. In February of 2002, I had hailed John’s “80 Years” as one of the top modern worship CD’s of its time, due to its powerful mixture of message and rock-driven sound.

Now, four years later, a second John Cox project has landed on my desk. This time around John is on a new label, and his former band is back. The band had played with John previously, but left at one time to play behind Rick Heil (Sonicflood). As much as I enjoy John’s music I have to say that the first draw back with “Sanctuary” is that several of the songs come from his “80 Years” album, which was previously released independently. With that aside the new songs are well worth the praises that I had given his last CD. John continues to write and play high-quality songs and two of my favorite new tracks on this CD are “Sanctuary” and “Beautiful Savior.”

You may notice that John’s songs are showing up on other CD’s, like Josh Bates’ “Perfect Day”. When I got both John and Josh’s CD’s the same month, and I figured out that Josh’s title track was written by John, I was kind of stunned. I mean what’s the chance? Of course the two have done the same song in completely different styles, but none the less, I think it will be a favorable song for both projects.

John has a new web site that appears to still be in development, but there are some lyrics and song samples if you know how to look for them. Or you can check out the label’s official site at www.kalubone.com.

- Ken W.