Beyond The Turntable

Seventh Day Slumber offers up alternative-flavored modern rock, a laKutless, Creed, Staind, Incubus, etc. While the style is familiar, SDS believes in offering answers as well as raising questions. They're not afraid to tackle issues such as suicide (I Know) and the struggles with sin that characterize everyone's experience (several songs).

Lead singer Joseph Rojas came out of a background of atheism, crime and drugs, so the emotional fervor in his voice comes across as totally sincere when he laments mankind's fallen condition and continuing spiritual battles in songs like Spiraling:

Over and over again / I am spiraling into nothing / What I mean is I don't know / exactly what it is I mean / things I don't want to do I do / What I wanna do I don't

Romans 7, anyone? Rojas overdosed on cocaine at 20, then cried out to Jesus in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. His life was turned around miraculously and he enrolled in a Bible college where he met future SDS bassist Joshua Schwartz. They formed a band with guitarist Jeremy Holderfield and completed the current SDS line-up when "Rhino" Alvarez signed on.

SDS gives a tip of the hat to 80s metal in a few places, not the least being the final song, When The Children Cry, a cover of the old White Lion hit. The band focuses on reaching kids, so they're more concerned with connecting than with blazing new musical or lyrical trails. A bonus hidden track on the CD gives an altar-call message similar to what they share in concert, showing their passion for getting the message of Christ to the teens who need it most.

Picking Up The Pieces will resonate with anyone who likes the typical modern rock sound of Creed and similar bands.

Visit: Seventh Day Slumber.