Rockfest Records
Release Date: August 28th 2020
Reviewed by: Jonathan Andre
Seventh Day Slumber – Run to the Father (Single) (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- Run to the Father
Seventh Day Slumber are at it again. After my review of their worshipful covers (almost!) EP of which you can read here, the band are at it again with…yep, you guessed it, another cover, Cody Carnes’s ‘Run to the Father’. Now let me preface this by saying that I thoroughly enjoy the song ‘Run to the Father’- one of the most underrated songs of the 2019/2020 period in terms of worship songs. In fact, Cody’s version of the song is actually on par with Matt Maher’s (a co-writer for the song) and is one of my favourite worship songs that I’ve heard in these last few years-poignant and exquisite, heartfelt and emotional, this is a song that can be listened to, by myself, for quite some time- as the weeks and months progress. And now standing here, what can I say about this version of the track, recorded by Seventh Day Slumber, powerful rock quartet and a band that has been in and around the music industry scene for close to 20 years?
Well…let me just say that this song and how I feel about it, is probably the same as Seventh Day Slumber’s most recent worship EP and all of the songs in there too. Despite boasting songs like ‘Reckless Love’, ‘Oceans’ and ‘Holy Spirit’, to name a few; I’ve said in my previous review, and I’ll say it again, verbatim, that ‘…this band is 10/10 for effort and heart (as evidenced in countless of other albums previously), but here on this release, there seems to be a lot of it lacking. For me I’d just check out the original recordings of these songs- especially ‘Oceans’ and ‘Reckless Love’- two great songs that have impacted a generation and both stand tall out of any other worship song in the 2010s decade (well, maybe except songs like ‘Good Good Father’, ‘What a Beautiful Name’ and ‘10000 Reasons’). Nevertheless, this is an album if you enjoy a lot of Seventh Day Slumber songs…and that’s about it…’ And what about ‘Run to the Father’? Well, unfortunately and sad to say, the same assessment. Listen to the song, but by Matt Maher or Cody Carnes. This rendition? Well, it’s too loud, the music drowns out the lyrics, and the flow of the song is disturbed the endless upon endless needs (yes, multiple needs!) to insert guitar in the song where it sounds added on, forced, or just plain wrong. There are guitar solos where there wouldn’t have needed to be, and the song itself, at least this version, feels a little disjointed, and a song that I can’t really worship alongside to, at all. Sad to say, because I’m sure the band has tried their hardest. And I commend Joseph Rojas and his band for these years upon years of faithful service and release of albums as the years have gone by. But this release isn’t it. For me at least. Maybe for someone else, the people that love rock music. But ‘Run to the Father’ would always be a song that I’ve enjoyed by Matt or Cody. Maybe in time I can grow to appreciate the band’s interpretation of the song, but at this point, there’s a lot more noise than I thought should’ve been there in the rendition. And so with that, let us anticipate Unseen: The Lamb releasing later on during the year. Here’s hoping that has more of a Take Everything sound than the sound embodied by Unseen: The Lion.
Score: 3/5
RIYL: Skillet, RED, Fireflight, Flyleaf, 7eventh Time Down, Hillsong Worship, Cory Asbury