The year of 2002 was a magic one for me because many bands that I listen till today were presented to me by my brother back then, bands like Tourniquet, Stryper, Relient K, Whitecross, Bride, Switchfoot and Anberlin. It was also presented to me the band Narnia which, initially, hadn't pleased me, but I would eventually listen to it because my brother listened on the computer. A side note here: most of these bands, that my brother presented to me, were presented to him by our cousin Thiago.
Fast forward to 2006 or 2007. My brother was already living on his own and from time to time he would visit the place where I was living with my parents and sister. In one of those visits, he gave me as gift a green Kelpex CD with some songs I could enjoy. There weren't any artists or songs names written anywhere. Amidst those songs, I remember being included Liquid Tension Experiment, Bride, U2, P.O.D. and Narnia. I remember that Narnia's song caught my attention and I really liked it, maybe because it reminded me the beloved Mega Man X6's PlayStation 1 soundtrack. It was the song Judgement Day, and after that, when I discovered what band it was, I sought on listening to all of theirs and, from then on, they became one of my favourite bands.
Every release or announcement, there I was enjoying and supporting it, alongside the parallel projects of each member. The departure of the singer Christian Liljegren and admission of Gérman Pascual on vocals; the hiatus and eventual return with Christian, again, on vocals, yielding the production of new material in 2017. Even one of my greatest sad moments was not being able to attend their first concert in Brazil, also in 2017, that gave in to a live recording named We Still Believe.
Although, in 2019, with their new album, From Darkness To Light, they returned to Brasil and, for a great happiness, my cousins Vinicius and Larissa gave me the tickets to their concert, that would be in partnership with the bands Tourniquet and Stryper, already mentioned in the first paragraph. Because of a disagreement with the producer, the band Tourniquet didn't attend to the concerts, only Narnia and Stryper came and played which, even so, was a marvellous moment of my life. Besides, I had the opportunity to have the albumautographed by Christian and also a picture with him.
The album From Darkness To light is the band's apex. Though some changes have occurred in their 24 years, some details from the classic albums showed up here or there, making it the most innovative and also reaffirmed their musical roots. Another thing I must point out is, even with some musical changes, one thing was always the same since their very first album in 1996: their belief.
Just like me, they are Christians, and this is something very clear in their lyrics and even in the way they pose, which I have witnessed in the concert and they the singer talks. This was no hurdle to them on covering songs of non-Christian bands during their career, like Uriah Heep, or even being on tour with non-Christian bands, like Stratovarius. In this album this pose is not different at all. On the contrary, they bring as the main theme what many preachers have been forgetting to mention: the return of Christ. We can also notice in the lyrics that a Christian being goes through hard times, that a life with God doesn't spare one from facing problems, but the way we see and deal with them is different.
From the beautiful and sharp Christian Liljegren's vocals, CJ Grimmark's arrangements and guitar solos, Andreas Johansson's drums in simple and complex time signatures making the heart pulse along with the beat, Jonatan Samuelsson's bass (the most recent member in the band) filling "the kitchen" of the band in perfect accompaniment with the drums and punctual arrangements without differing from the group, and the keyboardist Martin Härenstam, which have already been in other albums but not as official member hitherto, contributing with the fulfilling ambiance to the songs. This album is a voyage of about 45 minutes that looks like 10. Musicianship overflows.
Even loving all songs and knowing all beginnings, arrangements and solos, I highlight these, in the order they show up, as main ones:
- A Crack In The Sky
- You Are The Air That I Breathe
- MNFST
- The War That Tore The Land
- Sail On
- From Darkness To Light (Pt. 1 e 2)
My darling one in the album is "The War That Tore The Land", which even I already had been fond of before the concert, seeing it being played live had made a special moment, where hairy, bearded and grown-ups were crying while singing it. The album as a whole has a special and separate place in my heart, which is the most played in my last.fm (though I have listened to it many other times without registering through the website).
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