The Violet Burning

    The Violet Burning

    Long Beach, California15 reviews across 6 releases

    alternative rockgothic rockshoegazeworship
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    The Violet Burning is an alternative rock project formed in Orange County, California, in 1989 around Michael J. Pritzl and the Vineyard church movement. Its first recordings joined college-radio rock to psychedelic pop, dance rhythms, and direct Christian language; Chosen carried that mixture into New Breed Music in 1989. The group was never a fixed ensemble. Pritzl remained the constant writer and singer while musicians changed around him, a structure reflected in the sharply different records that followed. By The Violet Burning Demonstrates Plastic and Elastic, the sound had moved toward goth rock, Cure-like bass lines, synth effects, and moody balladry, though its brighter songs retained some of Chosen's pop pull. Faith and Devotions of a Satellite Heart made worship explicit without abandoning distortion or the ambiguity between a devotional song and a love song.

    Contract disputes, repeated lineup changes, and the deaths of two close friends marked the period after the band's Vineyard years, eventually leaving Pritzl as its only constant member. The turmoil preceded a move away from its original church setting and toward independent production. In 2000, the band issued both Faith and Devotions of a Satellite Heart and I Am a Stranger in This Place, the latter recasting older worship material through echo, chorus, and restrained distortion. Pritzl later separated more glam-oriented material under The Gravity Show, while This Is the Moment brought the Violet Burning back to polished alternative worship with Andy Prickett, Sam West, and Herb Grimaud Jr. The Violet Burning remains active under Pritzl's direction, with musicians continuing to change around him.

    6 releases reviewed