“Joshua Aiken” CD
YES!!!!!! I love this cd. It is so good. Warning: Do not get this cd if you expect it to sound like anything else you've ever heard or if you don't have a mature ear for hardcore. Three months ago I probably wouldn't have liked this too much, certainly a year ago I wouldn't have. However, it is fresh, it is tight and you are doing yourself a disservice by not getting it. The singer has a set of lungs rivaled only by Shawn Jonas, the old singer for Zao. He starts screaming and doesn't stop, he's so good. The guitars are beautiful and evil at the same time and the drummer is technical and good. Don't expect this cd to be marked by its overwhelming brutality. I was listening to this cd when I first got it and at one point felt a warmth come over me. It kinda freaked me out because I didn't know where it came from. Then I realized Through and Through had slipped into some really excellent emo-ish melody type stuff. To try and describe how they did it is hard. So, instead of having me try to explain it, just buy it. Although I do really love this cd, it tends to get kind of repetitive. It the words of my cousin who was listening to this cd with me when I said that, "lucky for them it all sounds good." He was right except just like the vast majority of bands, there is still room for improvement. Judging from their improvement I noticed from various compilations to this cd, I'm sure they know that and are improving even as I am writing this. Let me say this, although this cd is not perfect all the way through, it would be an injustice to give it less than a 10. Joshua Aiken is a masterpiece, a work of art on a compact disc. (Dead Zine - #?)

“Joshua Aiken” CD
Thanks you, Boot to Head for this great record! I was beginning to think that all Christian metal bands should be relabeled “Zao bands” because most of them sound like they are imitating Embodyment imitating Zao. With Through and Through you get the metal without all od the Zao cross-references and oh, how sweet it is! Until T&T’s split on Declaration last year I was never hot on the band. I have always thought they were good but not really over the top. With their split CD they got much more technical and metal and the vocals greatly improved (though still scour-pad like). With this album they retained all of the technical parts but they have juxtaposed them with melodic undercurrents and riffing which means that the brutality becomes something that is greatly emotive while still pandering to the metal lover inside you (or me). Until recently I thought Zao’s “Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest” was the best metal album that I have ever heard. For a while it looked like it was going to be a tie with this, Through and Through’s swansong.... - “ The Crucial Times-#13”

“Joshua Aiken” CD
I am speechless. However, that doesn’t help this review so I’ll try to put my feelings into words. I was never a big fan of through and through before. I heard all of their comp songs and frankly wasn’t impressed Then this. Every aspect of this (their final recording) is perfection. First you look at the packaging. Excellent color scheme and use of photo-manipulation. Nice, heavy paper stock and print quality. Then you play the cd. The first track is an instrumental that is pretty erie, but serves to warm the listener to the world that is ahead. Song after song, the sheer emotion they express is excruciating. Not every song is metal either. They have emo guitars (melodic) as well. This is a concept album. The listener will follow “Joshua Aiken’s” life in the lyrics. Needless to say, this record rivals the greatness of Strongarm’s Advent of a miracle (my favorite hardcore record of all time) in emotional power. Like all great performers, they leave you wanting more- “ Side Stage-#4