Were Evanescence achieves their sound from a theatrical-like production of sound effects that fill out their hard-edged sound, God or Julie strips back the theatrics to just land at a rock rush that’s like Evanescence without the layers of sound. God or Julie has a tight approach to the on-the-edge-of-screaming rock.
However, This Road Before ultimately suffers because Jon Paul Johnson’s vocal line is too similar throughout the album. The saving grace (and future hope) is when God or Julie lands in a defining hooks that jars the hard rock wash. “Waste Your Tears” is broken up by a “My Sharona”-like riff as if the Knack got punked. On “Bury Me,” the punk click breaks up the Evanescence wash with a sped up vocal line and 80’s guitar solo break.
Despite the fact that mainly the disc points toward a hope that a sophomore release will yield more hooks, God or Julie also captured my attention because of their name. Apparently a reference to their friend whose songs were always about God or his girlfriend, God or Julie also makes a great talking point about contemporary Christian music. Many of today’s worship songs are written in such a way that they could be about God or Julie, a praise song addressed to Jesus Christ or a love song written about a girlfriend. While the Bible compares a human marriage to God’s relationship with His people, it isn’t the only metaphor. If all of our worship songs could be about God or Julie, we’re not tapping into the full breadth of biblical imagery.
And actually, these musings about Christian music and God or Julie come together on the song “White,” which could be interpreted as being about a girlfriend or God. If taken to be about God, the lyric shines a light on how Jesus comes to take away the stain of our sins and make us people who reflect His love. God or Julie say it this way:
Take away everything I am
Everything that you couldn’t stand
Wash away all the stains
And then I’ll become white….
You’ll be the anything that I need
I’ll be only what you want me to be
Take all the pain from inside me
And make me white
