Fuel On the Fire

Fuel on the Fire is such a catchy collection of Christian Contemporary pop tunes that it almost seems to exceed Cryer's talent. Cryer is not a musician (he doesn't play an instrument on the record) and he's not much of a songwriter (for the most part, his writing contributions are limited to the lyrics). He's not even a particularly good singer, saddled as he is with an intrusive Southern accent and nasal tone. But he gets a lift here from his collaborators, producer Roy Salmond and composers Ty Tabor, Doug Pinnick, and John Schreiner. This team provides Cryer with foot-tapping ditties like "Pray in the USA," "Under the Rug," and "Sibling Rivalry" and tuneful ballads like "Underneath Your Feet" and "Strength of the Weak," which Cryer's paper-thin tenor just barely pulls off. The record's best track may be "Break the Chain," which features Cryer's most thoughtful lyrics. The song's keen psychological observations about the tendency for abuse victims to become abusers themselves are expressed in religious terms: "sometimes sin is just a family tradition but it'll burn the family tree to the ground." The song allows Cryer to accept some of the credit for an above-average CCM pop album.