Album Review :
Third Day - Move
By Joshua Clark in Reviews | Comments closed
Band: Third Day
Title: Move
Label: Essential Records
Release Date: October 19th, 2010
Reviewer: Joshua Clark
Track listing:
- Lift Up Your Face
- Make Your Move
- Children of God
- Surrender
- Trust in Jesus
- Follow Me There
- Gone
- What Have You Got to Lose
- I’ll Be Your Miracle
- Everywhere You Go
- Sound of Your Voice
- Don’t Give Up Hope
Wow, what to say about this band? Third Day is a multi-platinum-selling rock band, which has released seven previous studio albums; two greatest hits collections, a couple live albums and a Christmas recording. Not to mention they have played to millions of fans around the world and have a slew of Grammy and Dove Awards to go with their dozens of number one hits. To say this is one of Christian music’s long-standing and great bands is not too far off. With such an impressive track record behind them, Third Day keeps trudging forward and with no signs of slowing down.
I have always admired Third Day and been quite impressed with their consistency in providing thoughtful, spirit filled, and worshipful rocking songs. I had really enjoyed their rocking album Wire and their previous studio album Revelation. I have always liked Mac Powell’s strong, gruff vocals and the pleasant guitar solos found on many of their songs. In Move, Third Day pulls influences back from their earlier catalog and matches it with the southern rock of 2008’s Revelation.
Right off the bat Third Day starts with the intense “Lift Up Your Face,” which is a fun southern rock tune. Lead singer, Mac Powell, tries something different here and shows off a brief falsetto, which you don’t typically hear from Third Day. “Make Your Move” continues off from the opening track and grabs the listener’s attention with the awesome baseline and treats the listener with this really engaging rock track.
Next Third Day takes a softer, worshipful approach with “Children of God.” This song has an amazing bridge and some powerful lyrics, check them out:
We are the saints/ We are the children/ We’ve been redeemed/ We’ve been forgiven/ We are the sons and daughter of our God
This point gets driven home when the track ends with a children’s choir singing out these words ,making the track even more special.
“Surrender” offers some southern twang from guitarist Mark Lee and has a nice stomp/clap beat, until the end where it blasts off with a truly epic ending. This is a strong track off the record and great message about surrendering to Christ. The next track “Trust in Jesus” I think is a great follow up track thematically to “Surrender.” Musically and lyrically this song is superb with great lyrics encouraging Christians with their walk in Christ and trusting in Jesus for every step of the way in life. There is also a sweet guitar solo in the middle of the track.
The next track “Follow Me There” has a great southern flavor with some pounding drums, a catchy rhythm, and is just a comforting track talking about if you follow Christ you will fine comfort, a friend, salvation, and forgiveness from your sins. “Gone” is an upbeat acoustic, rocker and is a song you can’t help but enjoy listening to.
The track “What Have You Got To Lose” follows and compared to the stronger tracks before hand this one is just kind of there. It’s a nice ballad, but this one didn’t do too much for me. After this ballad “I’ll Be Your Miracle” is a true southern track thru and thru. This is a really catchy tune, fun chorus to sing along to and just an exciting track.
Next up is one of my favorite tracks off the album, the song “Everywhere You Go” picks up the pace and has one amazing chorus you won’t get out of your head anytime soon. This song is a rocking track and has one of my favorite messages on the album. Definitely a highlight of Move.
Everywhere you go/will you take me with you?/Everywhere You lead, I want to be by Your side/ Everywhere You Love, I want to love just like You love me/ Everywhere You go, I want to go there.
The last acoustic track on the album “Sound of Your Voice” is a duet with Kerrie Roberts. It reminded me a lot of “Born Again” off of Revelation, but just not as powerful. Even though Kerrie Roberts has a nice voice and does a good job here, it would have been nice if they could have got Lacey Mosely again, who sang on “Born Again.” But anyways it is still a decent worship track and is a good way to wind this album down. The last track “Don’t Give Up Hope,” gives the listener an encouraging message to leave them with. I don’t think it is the strongest track on the album by any means, but its message of hope is a good way to wrap things up.
Overall: I was quite pleased with this album. This band has a great heart and I just love the honest worship they put into their lyrics. It leaves something for everyone to grab a hold of and be encouraged by, while worshiping God alongside Third Day. This album has some great southern rock and Third Day has a lot of great messages to encourage listeners who are going through a hard time and remind them that God is there to turn to. So is this the best album by Third Day or album of the year material? Probably not, but it is a solid southern rock album by Third Day. If you love guitar solos, strong vocals, songs that honor and worship God then this is an album for you to check out. If that’s not up your alley, well you may want to look somewhere else than here.