After Edmund [Hello]
Posted September 24, 2008
By christianmusicreview,
[Main Review]
After Edmund, the new 5-piece rock quintet from La Grange, Georgia brings us the long awaited debut, ‘Hello’, from the Spring Hill music-based Slanted Records. I know, when you think Slanted Records you probably think of DecembeRadio off the bat. Well, now along with their Blacksburg, VA based band mates, After Edmund steps out onto the music scene with a new and fresh sounding debut record.
The band consists of Mitch Parks on lead vocals, Yates on keys, Matt McFadden on bass guitar, Adam Stanley on drums and Ben Hosey on the guitar. The name After Edmund comes from a familiar source. It’s actually named after the Edmund character in C.S. Lewis’ best-selling book series The Chronicles of Narnia. The band has toured relentlessly since its humble beginnings back in 2001. Well, let’s move onto the record…
The album’s first track, “Thank God” has an interesting concept to it with very thought-provoking lyrics. The beginning of the song opens up with a catchy, Marvel comic movie style techno sound. My first thought was, this is going to be good! In a sense, we often lose track of the things that we should be focusing our attention and lives on. The things of God. The song almost challenges you to forget everything that’s not of God and get lost in His plans for you. The first part of the chorus really says it all, “Thank God I lost all my hope / In everything that isn’t You / And I’ve come much too far / I’ll never turn my back on You”.
The second track, “Fighting for Your Heart (Let It Go)”; in my opinion talks of the one thing that truly sets us free. Love. God’s love to be exact (1 John 4:16). Has someone every broken your heart? How about forgotten about your needs? Made you feel unloved? Well the Bible mentions in several passages that God is love. Allowing that love to consume you and knowing and having the faith to know that God’s love can drown out anything you can be going through. Love is essentially fighting for your heart to be free, of hurt, of anger and of anything that holds you back.
“Like A Dream” has got to be one of my favorite tracks on the album. I really liked both the message of the song and the music as well. They flowed well together. “Like a dream coming true / I believe in You / Don’t let me go / I’m hanging on to You” is the words of the chorus that really spoke to me. Call it simple wording, but these are the kind of things that I like to hear in the music, and the kind of things that keep me grounded, knowing that God has hold of us and isn’t letting us go (John 10:28).
The sixth track, “Come and Rain Down” points out one of the characteristics of Jesus, that He’s our strength. One verse which says “If you’re too weak to move / He’s your strength” refers to one of my favorite scriptures and life verse, found in Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”. We can all admit that we can definitely use more of Jesus in our lives. Let His presence, love, mercy and strength rain down us. This is actually part of a prayer I pray a lot in my own life. I often pray and say, “Lord Jesus, let your love, mercy, patience and strength rain down on my life. Be an even bigger presence in my life then ever before. I want people to see Jesus in me”. I admit, I can never get enough of Christ in my life!
The lyrics of “Stealing Away” are a constant reminder to me that I was definitely in need of a Savior, to cleanse my life of my sin. When Jesus died on the cross, He ‘stole’ then sin of my life and bore it upon His own body, giving me hope and a future. “Tell me who’s to blame for the sin on my lips / I can’t repair the stains that I tried so hard to fix / But You wipe away the stains / And in love You called my name / Now I’m running back to You” We can’t save ourselves. Only God can ‘steal away’ the sin in our life. God loved us (John 3:16) enough to offer those who believed in Him the removal of our sin and stains left by in our lives, through His Son’s sacrifice on Calvary. Repent. Ask for forgiveness. Turn Away. Be saved.
Okay, now comes the most exciting part of the album (in my opinion)! The ninth track’s title, “Go Oboe” kind of throws you off. At first glance, I thought maybe the song would have an oboe solo in it, but it was nothing more then a catchy name to a very cool instrumental track. It reminded me of something out of a Danny Elfman (Batman & Tim Burton movies) soundtrack, with beautiful piano and string harmonies. What starts out as a classical but dark sounding groove turns into a more progressive beat, until it fades into another ‘techno’ sounding bit with the echoes of a voice saying “Hello”, before finally bursting into my favorite track of the album, “Clouds”.
The song in itself has a stellar intro with some hard rock guitars before jumping into the bass-laden verses. The song got me thinking of a devotional I did recently with my family on the story of Noah. Noah lived in a wicked, pervasively violent world before the Lord stepped in and put a stop to it. You can compare the time of Noah to this time we live in now. Violent. Disrespectful to God, and just plain wicked. I know this doesn’t really have to do with the song that much, but as I mentioned, it got me thinking. Especially when I heard the first verse, “The clouds are coming in again / This always happens to me / And I am caught between / I’m caught between Your love / And this world that’s against me”. It’s similar with us. As believers, we’re caught in between the world and God, just as Noah was some 5,000 years ago. But we’re constantly reminded each and every day of God’s promises toward us each and everyday and that He has not left us nor forsaken us (Hebrews 3:5). The chorus of the song serves as a reminder, “I know that You’re not that far away / Hello, hello / I’m not alone / You make daylight from grey / Hello, hello /You’re always lifting me above the clouds”.
I guess if anything I was surprised at After Edmund’s debut release. ‘Hello’ treads out like an album put forth by music veterans. Except there’s one thing to consider here. This album was written and recorded by ‘newbies’. It just goes to show you that the true talent isn’t always in the places where you would expect.
This album was supposed to come out in the summer of 2007, but with its thought provoking message, re-energizing lyrics or hope, security and love, it’s sure to be a fan favorite soon enough!
CLOSING THOUGHTS
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After Edmund’s debut release, ‘Hello’ is absolutely amazing! It’s got great message with some down-right catchy music that will keep you not entertained for an hour, but minister and uplift you in a way that few projects have been able to do lately.
Rating: 9.3 out of 10 (93%, A-)
Review written by: Jay Heilman
(jay.heilman@christianmusicreview.org)
Review can also be found at:
http://www.christianmusicreview.org/afteredmund_hello.html
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