Song commentary by drummer Matt Greiner (via ReviewRinseRepeat.com):
"’Empire’ is a song about the human race using ingenuity as a means of pride and power. The first lines are the same as the last lines in the song; "Skyscrapers, earthmovers, ground breakers." The song portrays a God-given creativity that should be used for bringing about purpose but is so often distorted and manipulated. I initially titled this song, ’Leveler; Make Level The Road For The Righteous,’ but we decided that ’Leveler’ was a much better name for the album, and thus the song was renamed.
I was on tour in Florida last year reading Isaiah 26 when I started writing some ideas down about God calling Himself ’Leveler.’ I proposed the idea of using that as the title to the band and it wasn’t hugely popular with everyone. A few weeks later the tables turned and I was the only one that DIDN’T like the title ’Leveler’. With enough time, we were all 100% on board and the title was written in stone.
We recorded Leveler with Jason Suecof who also produced and engineered our last record with us. Jason is a genius. He pushed me harder than I’ve ever been pushed in the five days we had to track drums. Instead of always recording the drum parts I had written, Jason pushed me to create fills and beats on the spot. Sick!" - Matt Grenier
Song commentary by drummer Matt Greiner (via ReviewRinseRepeat.com):
"’Empire’ is a song about the human race using ingenuity as a means of pride and power. The first lines are the same as the last lines in the song; "Skyscrapers, earthmovers, ground breakers." The song portrays a God-given creativity that should be used for bringing about purpose but is so often distorted and manipulated. I initially titled this song, ’Leveler; Make Level The Road For The Righteous,’ but we decided that ’Leveler’ was a much better name for the album, and thus the song was renamed.
I was on tour in Florida last year reading Isaiah 26 when I started writing some ideas down about God calling Himself ’Leveler.’ I proposed the idea of using that as the title to the band and it wasn’t hugely popular with everyone. A few weeks later the tables turned and I was the only one that DIDN’T like the title ’Leveler’. With enough time, we were all 100% on board and the title was written in stone.
We recorded Leveler with Jason Suecof who also produced and engineered our last record with us. Jason is a genius. He pushed me harder than I’ve ever been pushed in the five days we had to track drums. Instead of always recording the drum parts I had written, Jason pushed me to create fills and beats on the spot. Sick!" - Matt Grenier