"Free from the constrictions that plague many other Christian Rock acts, Prisoners of Gravity, refuse to compromise their hard-hittling sound or religious beliefs in their music. The group complements their faith-based lyrics with an aggressive sound fueled by layers of textured guitar, making their songs an exception to the weak, neutered sounds of the majority of contemporary Christian bands.
      The group's music and message come together in a sound its members describe as expiremental alternative. Their songs flow from the guitar stylings of Brandon Utterback, an engaging personality who provides the instrumental framework of their material. The end result is a rock-solid sound that veers from the thrash-metal of 'L.A.' to the adventurous 'Colorado Air,' which clocks in at over eight minutes.
     Though the group lists At the Drive-In and Sunny Day Real Estate as musical influences, their lyrical inspiration comes from a higher source. The band memeber are unapologetic, yet unpretentious about their spiritual beliefs. 'I honestly believe that if we weren't doing this for the message and the calling that we have, we would've broken up by now,' drummer Lucas Lykins said. 'That's one reason we've had member changes. There's been times when we've had people who didn't agree with that, and that's created conflict.'
     Despite his differencs with past band members, Lykins displays no arrogance toward anyone's moral behavior, including his own. 'Religion is such a bullshit term these days because people are so holier than thou, expecially toward our generation,' he said. 'We're still human, and nobody's good enough.'
     Prisoners of Gravity were formed in 1996, when Utterback was only 14 years old. He, Lucas and Jeremy Lykins, the band's vocalist, finalized their lineup with the addition of bassist Jake Weston last year. Although the band memebers are all of college-age, they have become a cohesive live unit through their long term friendships and experience in playing together.
    'I think our sound is really unique comapred to most of the bands I've heard,' Lykins said. 'We've played so many shows in four and a half years. The difference between us and quite a few bands is that we've been together for so long.'
     After releasing their debut, 21, in January 2000, Prisoners of Gravity have finished 11 songs for their next album, the in coma, which the band expects to have recorded by mid-summer. In the meantime, it has released a demo CD, Colorado Air, which has enjoyed considerable success on the Internet. All three songs on the CD have become popular downloads on MP3.com, with the title track becoming the fifth most downloaded song out of over 13,000 tunes on the Web site's experimental alternative/ post rock chart in early March.
     Utterback said the upcoming full-length album is a testament to the group's music and personal growth during the past year.
     'It's less about sounding good and more about expressing ourselves,' he said. 'It's a lot more emotional and, I think, mature. We're all adults now. It's all about feeling, no matter what that feeling is, good or bad.'"