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Kutless - To Know That You're Alive

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Jon Micah Sumrall - vocals
James Mead - guitar
Nick DePartee - guitar
Dave Luetkenhoelter - bass
Jeff Gilbert - drums

             

            This band formed in Portland, Oregon as a Worship band called Call Box in 2000. The band changed its name before releasing their first EP. Their first full-length self-titled album came in 2002. The album jump stated their career as tracks “Your Touch” and “Run” leaped onto the Christian rock chart to numbers 4 and 10. They followed up the debut album with albums Seas of Faces, Strong Tower, and Hearts of the Innocent. Now they release their fifth studio album To Know That You’re Alive. The album begins with lead single “The Feeling.” The track pounds your eardrums right off the bat with great sounding guitars. The shortest normal track on the album does it job with getting the juices flowing yelling lines like: “I Can Not Run Away. This feelings got to stay. While we rock all night long” and “Let’s unite to the rock and roll” Next is an instrumental that leads into the title track “To Know That You’re Alive.” It begins with an eerie but intriguing sound that skates into a nicely placed guitar riff. They quickly follow with decent vocals and a sound that fans can get into. “The Disease & The Cure” is an amazing track that will get everyone going. It’s simple yet super clear vocals drives the track right down main street. Hard guitars riffs and solos compliment the vocals and the additional of pounding drums sets the entire track off. “Complete,” the second single off the album, spins off 5th. It’s a slower track laid with praising of the higher power. It is perfectly crafted with simple but impacting drums, solid guitar play and a powerful message. “The Rescue” is a high energy track with raging guitars, a solid bass, and pounding drums. It has a lot of live energy feel to it as just towards the end it kicks it up into high gear with a scream and a thumping bass. “Promise You” is a heart felt track with an emotional and passionate feel. The vocals are coming straight from the heart in this song and many fans with connect with. “Overcoming Me” is a more upbeat track with a great sound. The guitar play is good with repeating riffs that impact the song a lot more than you would think. The lyrics seem to get lost in the music in spots, as I found myself focusing on the music more.  The last portion of the album begins with the tenth track “I Do Not Belong.” The heart felt track embraces the higher power and explains that they do not belong here, but rather with him in another land “The place of your perfection” as they state. “Loud” is a track that gets the blood pumping once again. It’s not in the top of the classes, but a second tier track that is right on that edge of making to the top. “Dying to Become” has an insane guitar solo packaged so sweetly in between to heaping piles of smooth vocals. The solo will make you melt, your jaw drop and your energy soar. The last song, “You,” serves up a heavy dose of lead vocalist Jon Micah Sumrall. His sweet voice sticks with you on this track and makes you want to play it over and over again. Overall this is a pretty decent album. I don’t think it is an A, but a middle ground B. It starts off strong but seems to just flatten out towards the middle. It never seems to fall under that B zone and there are a few standout tracks that are worth of a lot of radio play as well as a download.

 

Rating: 8 out of 10

My favorite tracks:

The Feeling, To Know That You’re Alive,

 

Track List:

1.      The Feeling

2.      Sleeping City

3.      To Know That You’re Alive

4.      The Disease & The Cure

5.      Complete

6.      The Rescue

7.      Promise You

8.      Guiding Me Home

9.      Overcoming Me

10.  I Do Not Belong

11.  Loud

12.  Dying To Become

13.  You

 

Website (s): www.kutless.com, www.BECRecordings.com 

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