MercyMe: Welcome To The New review

Christian music fans get ready, one of the most prolific and well-known bands are finally back. Legends MercyMe are set to unleash the follow up to their immensely successful The Hurt and the Healer record and welcome us all to a new chapter, a new Mercy Me with Welcome to the New. Welcome to the New shows a new side of MercyMe with a heavier, more guitar-heavy sound that epitomizes the album title. Opening with the title track, we’re introduced to a dancetacular song that would be perfect for a live setting and you can’t help but move around to the happy, peppy tones found in the song. Moving into “Gotta Let it Go,” we get a rock-heavy anthem that gives us the first legitimate look at a heavier MercyMe than we’ve seen in the past and a song that’s so infectious you’ll be singing it long after the song ends. With lead single, “Shake,” you think you’re getting a soft ballad from the intro but you’re quickly proven wrong with another guitar-laden track loaded with a blasting brass trumpet back-section that will make you want to find the closest dance floor. “Greater” has that classic MercyMe worship sound that we’ve all come to know and love and has a strong scripture lyrical presence and a powerful country-esque sound. Musically and lyrically, this is a power punch of an album. Welcome to the New is produced to perfection, written immaculately and put together without a flaw. When it’s all said and done, MercyMe have outdone themselves with this album. With a career spanning as long as MercyMe’s, it’s hard for some bands to create a piece of work that can be deemed the best of their career and MercyMe have done that and more- they’ve created not just a great album, they’ve created a masterpiece that every fan of contemporary Christian music fan- and some rock fans- will love and need to check out. Get ready for something big as MercyMe welcome you to the new. Rating: 9.5/10 -Reggie Edwards