Dove award-winning artist, Seventh Day Slumber is no newcomer to the industry. With a career that has produced five #1 singles, 14 Top-10 singles and sales of almost half a million copies worldwide Seventh Day Slumber is certainly not "the new band on the block" anymore, but you might not know that from the energy and excitement they create on their new album, We Are the Broken. Seventh Day Slumber is back to what makes them a favorite of radio and concert goers everywhere, and singer Joseph Rojas has a great deal more to say on this latest album.
Coming from a background of poverty and abuse and rising to the top of the Christian music charts, Rojas has seen the best and the worst that life has to offer. This special perspective coincides perfectly with the message of this record. "'We are the Broken' is about people who have been considered broken or have felt like they have no hope left," says Rojas. "This is my own personal story as well. With Christ, you see these same people that have been "broken" by this world move to being broken for Jesus. He takes each person and builds them up stronger and in the ways He sees fit." Songs for the record were inspired by true stories from fans posting to the band's Facebook page. "This is a very unique record in the fact that it is a compilation of the pain and struggles of our fans and our response to those struggles in song. We've never done a record like this before, and we are very excited about how this will touch our fans," adds Rojas.
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A Return To Rock Roots| Posted May 12, 2014
Seventh Day Slumber has been churning out albums fairly regularly for a while now, but they've also fallen a bit off of the mainstream Christian rock radar. This is perhaps due to their decision to focus more on a rock-driven worship style for the past several releases.
While 2011's Love Came Down attempted to mix the two, Finally Awake was the last time we really got a true full-out rock record from the SDS guys. While nothing was wrong with the worship approach, those craving a follow-up to their earlier work should have plenty to love with We Are The Broken, a full-fledged rock outing and the band's debut on new label VSR Music Group.
Kicking off a pleasantly long string of catchy rockers is "Goodbye," a driving anthem about leaving behind our old sinful selves and embracing a new self in Christ. The SDS we all know and love is in full display here. There is the band's recognizable guitar-driven sound as well as overt Christ-centered lyrics, such as: "You're holding on to the past / it's only holding you back / now's the time to say goodbye."
Hearing about our sinful nature and our need for the healing of Christ isn't unique or innovative in itself of Christian bands, but SDS's style of it is definitely more explicit than many comparable acts.
The title track "We Are the Broken," offers an impossibly catchy headbanging chorus that screams for live performances and hit status. Again harkening back to familiar themes of our fallen nature and subsequent healing in Christ, the song is a quintessential Seventh Day Slumber classic.
Other rockers like "Comatose State" and "In Too Deep" do their part to accelerate the album's momentum, which is considerable seeing as there's not a true ballad until track 6 of 9 with "Trust In Me." Album closer "Skyscraper"--a remake of the Demi Lovato hit--is the other taste of the also well-known softer side of SDS.
The ballads check all the right boxes to be enjoyable but will likely stand in the shadow of the band's classic softer hits like "Caroline" or "Missing Pages." Also, at just a mere 9 tracks, the album ends up being more than a little on the short side--which is strange because earlier press releases listed 10 tracks. Still, every track is at least solid if not memorable. So while this album's lack of anything truly groundbreaking will keep it from reaching many year-end lists, it'll more than serve as another solid entry in Seventh Day Slumber's catalog.
Closing Thoughts:
For fans of the band's rockier albums, We Are The Broken is a solid return to form that offers a number of potential hits. While it feels a little bit on the safe side and lacks anything truly earth shattering, it will definitely provide listeners with another rock record to blast during the blistering summer months.
Song to Download Now:
"We Are The Broken" (Get it on iTunes here.)
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