CD Review: Last Chance to Breathe by Spoken

The landscape of modern music is wide and varied. The music industry has grown in a way that provides music that is appealing to audiences of all different backgrounds, tastes, and walks of life. These days even Christians are able to easily find artists whose lyrical content reflect their faith. However with the gates of the music industry being so wide open, it seems that any artist that the record companies feel they can make into a pop icon is signed. This makes for some very weak offerings coming out of the world of popular music these days. Christian rock music has not escaped this fate either. The one thing that much mainstream Christian music seems to lack is something I call "creative depth". Creative depth is thinking outside the box of the usual four-chord progressions backing up lyrics composed mostly of tired, trite phrases that have been used in some form or another before. Contemporary Christian radio rotations are laden with many artists that are almost indistinguishable from one another or else who are continuously re-releasing covers of songs that had been previously recorded without bothering to add any kind of new spin to the old material.

There are some however who strive to rise above this stereotype. One such band is Spoken. Spoken has been making music for over 10 years and has had seven releases in the course of their long career. With the latest work from Spoken, "Last Chance to Breathe", the band continues to refine its hard rock sensibilities but with a renewed focus on reaching a broader audience. There are many more hooks on this record than can be found on Spoken's previous work. But veteran Spoken fans do not despair! Even with a renewed sense of melody, singer Matt Baird still manages to include his signature "screamo" style vocals on some of the album's eleven tracks. One such example is the album's first single, the anthemic, hardcore track "Bitter Taste", a song dealing with the potential disappointments one may face in any given day. However the song introduces a theme of hope and overcoming, a message that is lacking in the greater hard rock genre.

Another album highlight is the album-opener, "September". Declaring the singer's adoration for God and how he has been made more bold and more alive by God, "September" is a driving, upbeat rocker that features an infectious guitar riff by guitarists Jeff Cunningham and Aaron Wiese which is accompanied by Baird's passionately-delivered vocal. This combination of well-crafted guitar licks and powerful vocal performance is repeated on the album's other upbeat tracks, "Wind In my Sails", "4th Street", "1992" and the album's title track.

Though Spoken is a hard rock outfit by trade, the band is not without it's more tender moments. "Home" is a slower cut who's less aggressive opening lead guitar riff and quieter guitars are a nice interlude in the midst of the album's other upbeat tracks. Similarly "From the Inside" brings the album's flow down a notch to catch a metaphoric breath. Though distorted guitars make an appearance in the latter half of the song, "From the Inside" remains a slow-paced, introspective work that reflects on one's desire to yield to the One who is able to change a life that is submitted and willing to be changed.

One last gem that appears on "Last Chance to Breathe" is the band's cover of Cyndi Laupers 80's hit, "Time After Time." They retain the song's depth of emotion and its melody which listeners have come to know and love while managing to keep the Spoken "edge". To turn a pop hit into a rock single is no small feat, but Spoken's experience and creativity allowed them to make the song entirely their own and yet have kept the qualities that make "Time After Time" and recognizable favorite.

Fans of Blindside, Haste the Day, Project 86, and Chasing Victory will all find something they enjoy on "Last Chance to Breathe". All of the tracks have been carefully crafted and produced thus eliminating the "filler" that haunts many other mainstream releases. This album is available at the band's website, iTunes, and all major record stores.