Review: Ashes Remain – What I’ve Become | Christian Music Zine

Reviewed By Tyler Hess

Released August 26th 2011

Fair Trade Services

As big and as popular as the genre is, there are surprisingly few big time arena rock bands out there in Christian music and even fewer with a focus on Southern rock.  Sure I can name a handful off the top of my head (Red, Skillet, Disciple, Thousand Foot Krutch, Decyfer Down), but they are almost always guarunteed some level of success just based on the general accessibility of the sound.  Ashes Remain comes out of Baltimore, Maryland, hoping to add themselves into the mix with their debut What I’ve Become.

What I’ve Become starts off with the battle anthem of “Keep Me Breathing”, followed by the rare pop-laced track on the album in “On My Own”.  The band’s first radio single comes by way of “Everything Good”, a lyrical journey of the basic elements of life that can be found in God.

If you’re looking for that first ballad, would it surprise you to hear that it is the fourth track?  No?  The clean up spot is familiar territory for such a song and it’s no different here, having “Without You” begging for renewal via piano ballad.

From there, the album takes a general turn for the hard, gritty, Southern rock, starting with “Come Alive” and continued with the first screams to be found in “Unbroken”.  For TFK fans, you might find a little treat in “End Of Me”, which has a different flow from most of the album, in search of some head banging and air fist punching.

If you need a breather from the heavy rock, you’ll find it with an acoustic track titled “Right Here”, trailed by another radio friendly song in “Change My Life”.  If you’re in need of something along the lines of Red, “Take It Away” is looking your way and “Inside of Me” isn’t far off itself.  The album finishes off with a call to stand your ground in “I Won’t Run Away”.

The genre itself tends to lead to cookie-cutter albums, but even though Ashes Remain follows a pattern set forth by many bands before them in their debut, What I’ve Become, they do it with a fairly polished sound and by consistently mixing things up with different approaches it makes for a solid release.

Score: 3.5/5

Tracklisting:

1. Keep Me Breathing
2. On My Own
3. Everything Good
4. Without You
5. Come Alive
6. Unbroken
7. End Of Me
8. Right Here
9. Change My Life
10. Take It Away
11. Inside Of Me
12. I Won’t Run Away

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