Devin Shelton - Life & Death

I know a lot of people were bummed when Devin Shelton left Emery. While is voice added a great element to the band, I loved We Do What We Want and I felt like his absence didn't hurt Emery. But as soon as I hit play on Life & Death, I realized how incredible an artist Shelton is and how much I loved his contributions to Emery.

Life & Death will make Emery fans who miss Shelton's presence happy. But this isn't Emery part two. At it's most Emery moments, Life & Death has songs that sound like they would fit nicely alongside I'm Only A Man (My favorite Emery record). But there's more depth and diversity on Life & Death.

The album's opener, Cancer, is a beautiful somber, introspective song about a man who loses his wife to cancer and having to cope with a new reality. It's a painful song and an extremely powerful song to start the record.  Surrounded follows that up. A song about dealing with death and losing a loved one. The driving pass line gives way to Shelton's strong voice belting out the hook. Less painful than Cancer but so much more haunting as the loss Shelton sings about hits home to anyone who's lost a loved one.

Across The Ocean is the first Emery-esque song in sound. Shelton's voice haunts, as it teeters on the edge of breaking. Worse is an acoustic song about a cry for help. The opening line grips your heart and if you weren't listening closely, you are after you hear "I told all my friends that I was going to end my own life." Land Mine is a great song that shows how great God is and how small and insignificant we are. Trust feels desperate, and the lyrics reflect what we hear in the music. Devin does a fantastic job of having the music reflect the emotion of each song.

So Far Away is a great worship song about how much we need Jesus. It's the perfect end to the album.

Fans of Devin's from his Emery days will love his record. But more than just being an album by the guy from Emery, Shelton showcases his songwriting ability better than he would've ever been able to do in Emery. Life & Death is a heartbreaking record at times. Devon's lyrics and honest vocals cut deep and leave the listener in pain at times. But the beauty and grace of God wins out in the end.