Frontman John Cooper is the chief songwriter for this Tennessee-based Christian quartet. Since their formation in 1996, Cooper has channeled his love for metal, operatic progressive rock, and power ballads into a sound that incorporates orchestral elements, dual-gendered vocals, soaring choruses, and crushing riffs to illustrate his introspective lyrics about life, love, loss, and faith. In 2004, Lava/Atlantic reissued their independent release COLLIDE, and it was an immediate success on the Christian hard-rock circuit. And by the time of their follow-up, COMATOSE, two years later, they were sharing stages with mainstream acts like Saliva and Shinedown, breaking through on both college and commercial radio.
