Five Score and Seven Years Ago CD

The fifth full length album from Christian punk pioneers Relient K is destined to become a fan favorite, matching their trademark charm and with catchy hooks and clever composition. Includes the hit single "Must Have Done Something Right" as well as "Forgiven," "Up and Up," "I Need You," and more.

They say Relient K named itself after the cheap car that everybody made fun of in the ’80s. After recording Five Score and Seven Years Ago, the band should probably change its name to Corvette or Lamborghini. Relient K is well known for its quirky sense of humor and the fact that these guys never took themselves too seriously. Now they will be known for writing amazingly artistic songs—epic songs about death, forgiveness, loss and hope. This is the band’s fifth album in seven years and the novelty is all but gone, and that’s OK. If you put aside the dorky album title and the unnecessary (albeit short) novelty track “Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care,” you are left with a brilliant and compelling album full of wonderful power-pop and alternative pop-punk songs.

Lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Matt Thiessen and the band have matured by leaps and bounds in every possible way. The beautiful Brian Wilson influenced a cappella opening track, “Plead The Fifth,” has a mind-blowing vocal arrangement with a hook that will leave you breathless. It’s like audio candy for power-pop fans. From there, they quickly give the rock and pop-punk enthusiasts something to get excited about with the fast and fun “I Need You,” and the stunning “The Best Thing,” with its pop pianos and quick rock chorus. The commercial hit of the record has to be “Must Have Done Something Right” with one of the best hooks in recent memory.

Complimenting the fantastic songwriting is the stellar sound. The majority of the production, this time around, is handled by the renowned Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, All-American Rejects), and the result is a sonic treat.

What makes this a truly great record, though, is the final track, “Deathbed.” Over 11 minutes long and with more than 100 tracks used to record it, this is an artistic tour de force with Jon Foreman of Switchfoot on guest vocals. This is not art for art’s sake, however, or hard to listen to—this is a powerful and moving story of a man dying of lung cancer, his final thoughts of his past life and his journey into the next. The lyrics are straight forward: “Then Jesus showed up/Said before we go up I thought we might reminisce/See one night in your life when you turned out the lights/You asked for and prayed for my forgiveness.” Not since Terry Scott Taylor’s A Briefing For the Ascent or Rich Mullins’ A Liturgy, A Legacy… have we heard something this beautiful or emotive. This is how you effectively put the message of Christ, forgiveness and eternity into a song without making it sound like a witnessing track. Honestly, you may not recall the last time you were this moved by a song. “Deathbed” is the powerful engine in this really cool car that everyone will want to drive.

DR. TONY SHORE- CCMMagazine.com

Average Rating:

8 of 36 Reviews Showing:(View All Reviews)

Reviewed by CMR (USA), April 14, 2009

This Cd isn't as good as "Mmhmm" (also by Relient K) but it is still a really good Cd. I my favorites on this CD are "I Need You" "Devastation and Reform" "I Must Have Done Something Right" and "Deathbed."

Reviewed by Rock / Alternative Fan (Hedgesville, WV), April 05, 2008

This CD is one of the best Relient K's CDs ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Come Right Out and Say It," "I Need You," "Devastation and Reform," "Forgiven," and "Bite My Tongue" are the my top favorites!!!!!!!!!!!! Most of the other songs are 5 stars as well but the ones I listed are the top best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RELIENT K ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reviewed by Josh (A Hick Town, Canada), March 30, 2008

This CD is one of the best CD's Relient K has come out with so far. I only rated it 4.5 stars is because i think that they could have maybe done a better acoustic song."Faking My Own Suicide", and "Deathbed" is REALLY long, but they are still pretty good songs. But i think they should have done one like "When I Go Down" from MMHMM...but other than that it's a really good CD.

Reviewed by Grace (Minnesota), February 29, 2008

I really enjoyed this cd. While not as silly or fun as other RK stuff, it has a charm of its own. It has some hard stuff, some pop, and the totally awesome Deathbed. Seriously, if that was the only song on the cd that I liked, I would still have bought the cd. Great job RK!

Reviewed by former Relient K fan (Braceville Il), February 24, 2008

This is positively Relient K's worst album. They have TOTALLY lost their good old punk rock style and replaced it with slow, boring, laid back, calm songs.

Reviewed by chrissy (south bend, IN), January 14, 2008

i liked it!!!! i espcially liked the harder songs, like "i need you" and "devistaion and reform" but some of the pop songs were ok too. i <3 relient k...

Reviewed by d_P (South Africa), December 10, 2007

This album is absolutely BRILLIANT!!!!! The music has been compiled so well that its easy to listen to and doesn't feel monotonous. Great inspiration from an awesome band. Tracks 2,11,13 are great but "deathbed" has to be an all time favorite. Best album I ever bought!

Reviewed by Geoffrey (Colorado), November 29, 2007

We "Must have done something right" this time because this record will surely knock your socks off! I found myself "faking my own suicide" to get it. 5 stars no doubt!!!

View all 36 Reviews

Write a review of Five Score and Seven Years Ago CD

• Genre >> Punk
• Genre >> Rock
• Music
• Music >> General
• Start A New Christianbook.com Search

I'm the author/artist and I want to review Five Score and Seven Years Ago CD.