I can remember very clearly the first time I heard my favorite artist blaring through the van speakers. I sat sipping on a red bull beside my friend Jordan in a fifteen passenger van. I was disillusioned and roaming aimlessly across the country side with my friends on a nationwide tour. (<a title="La Dispute" href="http://www.ladisputemusic.com" target="_blank">http://www.ladisputemusic.com</a>) We listened to the entirety of the new Mountain Goats album, 'The Life of the World to Come' as we trekked for days through Texas.

I go out of my way to avoid the cringe that often accompanies my exposure to Christian culture. However, I'm always keen to hear a nonreligious exploration of religious themes, and that's exactly what this album is: an exploration of the biblical retellings of universal struggles. Each track is inspired by and titled after a single verse in the Christian bible and each track is about a hard lesson that singer John Darnielle has learned from the verse.