Emery's You Were Never Alone Concept Album Review and Bible Verse Explanations

It's been over a year since Emery's 2015 release, You Were Never Alone, came out, so it's been long enough for everyone to reflect on it.  I really enjoyed the Break It Down Podcast episodes where Matt Carter and Toby Morrell from Emery explain how the record is a concept album and each song is a Bible story.  Toby wrote the lyrics in the first person perspectives of different people from the Bible. 

As a Christian I see a devastating lack of originality in most "Christian" music, so this concept greatly intrigued me.  It's refreshing to find a faith based album that isn't generic and shallow.  It is deep and thought provoking.  The podcast episodes are definitely worth listening to, but I thought I would give a run down of each song and the correlating Bible verses/stories.  I'll also provide the podcast discussion times for each song.

The first podcast episode is called Toby Morrell of Emery explains that You Were Never Alone is a concept album Pt. I (S2 Ep7) and it contains the discussions for tracks 1-3.  The discussion about the concept of the album starts at about 35:30.

1. "Rock, Pebble, Stone"- Mathew 3:13-17 & 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13 (39:20 in the podcast) 

This song is about Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist, His 40 days in the wilderness, and being tempted by Satan.   The title represents the Trinity.  Jesus is the rock, The Holy Spirit is the pebble, and God is the stone.

2. "Thrash"- Acts 7:54-60 (46:55 in the podcast)

"Thrash" depicts Stephen's thoughts as he's being stoned for preaching the Gospel.  The beginning is really heavy as the stoning is going on.  The poppy chorus is where he explains these people are breaking his heart for doing this and the slow jazzy part at the end is him going to heaven and realizing everything he stood up for is true.

3. "Hard Times"- Judges 13-16  (51:45 in the podcast) 

Samson's thoughts are explored in this song.  He is reflecting on his sins and apologizing to his parents.  He talks about literally being blinded because of his love for Delilah and at the end he pushes the pillars, killing himself and everyone around him.

The next podcast episode is called Toby Morrell pt. II You Were Never Alone is a Concept Album (S2 Ep8) and it explains tracks 4-12. 

4. "The Beginning"- Genesis 3 (12:00 in the podcast) 

Adam's perspective is shown here as he reflects on his sin after the fall.  The sexuality of the first humans and the realization of what death is also ties into these lyrics.

5. "The Less You Say"- Matthew 16:13-23 (19:19 in the podcast)

These lyrics are about Peter pleading with Jesus to stay with him and not go to the cross to die.  He's telling Jesus how powerful He is and how they should just run away.  This shows Peter's selfish desire to keep his friend and his lack of understanding the big picture.

6. "Pink Slip"- Exodus 7-14  (25:00 in the podcast)

Moses' perspective is shown here as he calls Pharaoh out.  The end of the song also discusses Moses' thoughts as he's standing at the red sea waiting for God to move as Pharaoh's men are approaching and the fear he might have felt in that moment.

7. "To the Deep"- Genesis 6-7 & Genesis 15-17 (42:17 in the podcast)

This song starts in Noah's head as he realizes the flood is coming and goes into Abraham's perspective as he wonders about the future God promised him.

8. "What’s Stopping You"- Matthew 1:18-25 (31:59 in the podcast)

These lyrics give Joseph some space to process anger and disbelief as he realizes Mary will give birth as a virgin.  It also depicts his dream of the angel speaking to him about Jesus being born and him accepting this.

9. "Go Wrong Young Man"- Acts 9:1-22 (37:28 in the podcast)

This song is from Paul's perspective as he's traveling on the road to Damascus.  He realizes everything he's doing is wrong, even though he felt like it was for God.  He sees Jesus in the light and then goes blind.  He is changed from Saul to Paul and becomes a new man.

10. "Taken for a Bath"- 2 Samuel 11 & 12:1-23 (41:09 in the podcast)

Aptly named "Taken for a Bath", this song is about King David realizing his sin of sleeping with Bathsheba after seeing her bathing on the rooftop.

11. "Salvatore Wryhta"- Matthew 26:36-46 (46:25 in the podcast)

The title of this song means "savior carpenter" in old English.  These last two songs flow into each other and are both in Jesus' perspective.  This one depicts Him being led to the cross and accepting His role as the savior to His Children.

12. "Alone"- Matthew 27:46, Luke 23:28-31 (51:53 in the podcast)

"Alone" is about Jesus hanging on the cross waiting to go home to heaven.  He feels the sins of the world as God turns His back on Him.  Jesus has pity on us because we're enslaved here on earth to these sins.  The record ends with Jesus feeling what it's like to be truly alone more than anyone ever could.

The title of the album, You Were Never Alone, has a double meaning in that Jesus knew what it was like to truly be alone, but we never will because we have Him in  our hearts.  It's also a reference to Emery fans who have stuck by them through the years.

You can enjoy this album whether you are a Christian or not.  Please check it out and listen to the podcast episodes linked above because they are the real source of this information.  I just wanted to make a list of all the songs with the correlating verses so they can be easily looked up.  Some of the verses were a little harder to nail down but I did my best.

Alternate track listing on the vinyl.