My first introduction to Pillar. It was in 2001 when their video for 
“Open Your Eyes” debuted on TVU’s Ten Most Wanted. The video was only the studio version of the song played under live concert footage. The song was kind of interesting in that it was a mixture of rap and hard rock guitars, currently known as the genre of RapCore. What struck me the most about the video was their energy. They flew around on the stage and jumped into the audience for some body surfing. I later learned that Rob Beckley, the lead singer, was also serving in the Army reserves. I thought that was pretty cool. What a role model to the teenagers who look up to rock stars. The band was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album for their previous release “The Reckoning” earlier this year. You can read about their adventures at the awards show here.
Pillar has changed their style quite a bit over the last three albums. Their style is solid in the modern hard rock genre. Rob Beckley has gone away from the rapping he used to do and honed his vocal talents as a rock singer. He does more screaming now than rapping. Their new release “For the Love of the Game” was released on February 26th, 2008. The title track is the first song up. “For the Love of the Game” has been used by ESPN’s Baseball Tonight program, and it was used during montages hightlighting the 2007 World Series. The song itself crunches out with Noah Henson’s patented driving riffs and Lester Estelle’s pounding drums with Rob loudly proclaiming:
Count me in, but don’t count me out,
You can’t shut me up, you can’t shut me down,
Fight through the hurt,
Fight through the pain,
Without the ache there is no gain,
We live our lives for the love of the game
Upon This Rawk 