With a successful independent EP under their belts, Slow Coming Day enters the scene with their debut release on Tooth & Nail Records Farewell to the Familiar. Slow, melodic rock along with strands of pop/punk and lyrics intricate enough to keep anyone interested make up the whole of the disc. It's an original and beautiful piece of work that will leave you wanting more. Slow Coming Day doesn't sport the most positive lyrics, but they speak with a lot of truth. Many of the songs deal with lost loved ones. On "A Midsumme's Night," lead vocalist Orion Walsh wishes to turn back the clock and save a now deceased friend, proclaiming "Looking through my eyes you will see what it feels like to be in misery." On "A Part of Me Died," he imagines a deceased loved one living again, and he "Forgot all the pain and sorrow I have felt so many years." (Though he claims, "I'll see you again.")

"Family Ties" finds Walsh at a young age living in a family that is being torn apart, and all the confusion and frustration that accompanies it. "Watching It Fall Apart" deals with a girl caught up in a material world where "What's on the outside is all that counts." God is never presented as a solution however. The song concludes by merely asking, "Could she find the answer?" In fact, God is nowhere to be found on Farewell to the Familiar. Never as a solution, and never for healing. But you will find nothing offensive in Slow Coming Day's lyrics. The guys had a lot to get off their chests when they were writing for the record, and it shows. Musically, the slow, melodic rock is a good change of pace in the world of Christian music. It hasn't been done too much in recent memory, and it never has been this good. SCD's style will probably not cater to everyone's musical needs, but if you're looking for something different in the world of rock, this would be it. Slow Coming Day will be very interesting to watch in the future. If they continue to mature in their sound and a bit in the lyrical department (mainly by remembering God is the source of peace), they will become one of Christian rock's elite. This is an amazing opening entry in the career of Slow Coming Day.

- Review date: 7/31/03, written by Josh Taylor