American Standard

Released in 1997 on Alarma Records, this is the band's second album.
American Standard contains lyrics on the topics of rape, the exploitation of Native Americans, as well as the dark sides of the music business and church politics. HM described it as having "insurgent lyrics and subversive undertones that challenged the status quo of our society."
The band has received criticism from churches for their unusual sound and the content of their albums. In one incident after a show, frontman Cookerly was surrounded by a crowd of Bible-bearing teenagers who told him that his actions were a reflection of what the Antichrist would do. "I cried a lot that night," Cookerly reported. One specific criticism of the band is that they don't often use "God" or "Jesus" in their lyrics. On that topic frontman Cookerly stated "It has never been our position that Christ would be prostrated to gain industry status and give foundation to our [bands'] Christianity... Why, just for the sake of using his name, should I say Jesus?" "Fact is this," Cookerly told 7ball, "some bands are called to be a praise band like The Supertones, and some are called to educate Christians like The Blamed, and we are here to bear witness to the disenfranchised."
"Christians are still out there selling their testimony as if it's some great infomercial for the Super Salvation 9000, you know, 'It slices, it dices, it saves you from your sin.'" ~Tedd Cookerly
American Standard was named for the toilet manufacturer. The album contains social criticism aimed at society, as explained by the lyricist: "our standards have slipped. They're crap. And without getting too vulgar, we as a society piss out all this hypocrisy." The criticisms also extend to Christian culture, "Christianity, we're in trouble, because Christianity for the typical white family isn't that [stereotype] anymore. It's a single parent family, it's still having to deal with alcoholism, it's still having to deal with drug abuse, it's still having to deal with date rape. And any of the things that the world dictates happens to the average white family that's Christian in American society... Our God is a wonderful, just and redeeming Jesus Christ, but people see the need to bring out all these unnecessarily. You know, the Word of God stands alone, and it almost seems as though they have to put powdered sugar on what's already sweet."
Production of American Standard was handled by Mike Knott. One reviewer found that the songs "tend to mesh into one another, creating the 'one long song' effect... the best way to tell each separate track apart is the tempo and length of screams," but that that didn't detract from the musical or lyrical relevance of the album. Another commented that the album could set the standard for "Christian hard, heavy, and puncturing music." A reviewer in a more conservative publication disagreed, calling the lyrics "downright absurd" ramblings and criticized the album for the lack of direct references to Jesus.
The song "Salt Circles" received a GMA Dove Award nomination in the "Hard Music Recorded Song of the Year" category in 1999.

Lineup

Tedd Cookerly - Vocals
Carl Weaver - Guitars
Michael "Oxx" Albright - Bass
Eric Wilkins (Jordan) - Drums