It’s hard not to consider Seventh Day Slumber’s Finally Awake without making a flurry of comparisons. You could say, for instance, that they have channeled the once-fresh energy of Chevelle into commercialized grooves cut by Nickelback and similar heavy-but-safe combos, using familiar forms to get its Christian message across.Finally Awake should please those who like anguished post-grunge testimonies and strutting assaults against sin. SDS inclines towards midtempo tracks with subdued verses and hard-slamming choruses — “Broken Buildings,” “Always” and “Missing Pages,” for example. They swagger with righteous authority on “Burning Bridges” and “My Only Hope,” flexing real rock muscle. “Awake” and “Last Regret” deliver some solid guitar crunch as Rojas lacerates his larynx with Eddie Vedder-like wails. But for all his heroic moves, the singer is at his best when confessing his need for God’s love, as in “On My Way Home.” The band’s playing is assured and its faith is self-evident. There’s nothing shockingly original to be found here, but Finally Awake slams, slinks and smolders in ways that satisfy.
- Relentless Flood
- Day of Fire
- Thousand Foot Krutch