I had a chance to speak to Justin of The Great Commission a few weeks back and I asked him about the changes in tempo from the demo to the full-length and this is what he had to say:
"In all honesty, when we wrote the music and the lyrics for this album I had a lot of things running through my mind. Towards the end of my old bands career (Every Man For Himself), I wrote lyrics based off of anger, and hatred and tried to write music that reflected that. With The Great Commission, I had this concept: I WROTE MUSIC THAT I WOULD WANT TO MOSH TO IN HEAVEN. REGARDLESS OF TEMPO, TONE, GENRE, I WROTE A WORSHIP ALBUM BETWEEN ME AND GOD. I wrote the majority of the riffs, drums, structure and all the lyrics. At the end of the day despite of what critics, reviewers, or interviewers think...I know it brings a smile to Gods face. This album is truly worship to me. We obviously cant play all of the songs from the album live, but I find myself listening to it and worshiping to it. If anybody reads the lyrics to any of the songs, they will know where I stand, what I believe, and who I wrote this album for. Don't get me wrong however I do love when we play shows, when I can look into the crowd and see kids singing along, tearing it up and just straight worshiping the way our culture was made to worship.
I know I'm not alone because we just spent 3 months on tour and have met other kids that feel the same way I do. And it's that encouragement that keeps fueling the fire in my heart."
This was all I needed to hear. I have told several people (including Justin) that when I first heard the album that I absolutly hated it. I didn't like the changes that were made. However, after hearing the reasoning behind the changes, it really doesn't matter if I like it or not. I know Justin enough to know that he will do what God asks of him. If he says that God told him to write the album this way I trust that God told him. I hope if anybody felt the same way I did that this post helps to understand.
GOD BLESS
~sean
