Entertainment

Making a CD titled Revelation should, well, reveal something.

For Christian rockers Third Day, crafting the career-defining Revelation was an illuminating experience. Religious connotations aside, the disc, which is in stores today, proved to the four members of the long-running Atlanta band that they could step outside contemporary Christian music confines to record with a mainstream producer, Howard Benson, and sign with a top-notch company best known for handling secular artists, Nashville's Red Light Management.

Plus, and perhaps most important, Revelation marks a creative rebirth. After 2005's gold-selling, Grammy-winning Wherever You Are , a pair of bookend hits compilations were released in 2007, Chronology Volume One: 1996-2000 and Chronology Volume Two: 2001-2006, which signified a finality to the group's first decade.

David McClister

Christian rock band Third Day —

Tai Anderson, David Carr, Mac Powell and Mark Lee — seek to broaden their exposure without diluting its religious message.
View larger More photos Photo store

"We were talking and saying that we need to make sure this record does not sound like the first record from a band that is now past its relevancy," says Third Day bassist Tai Anderson by phone from Atlanta. "The greatest-hits records need to be the end of a chapter, not the end of a career. Right from the start we raised the bar really high for ourselves. Our music does have a legitimate place in the larger music world."

Mr. Anderson and his musical mates – vocalist Mac Powell, drummer David Carr and guitarist Mark Lee – found they had fans in rockers Chris Daughtry, Lacey Mosley of Flyleaf and members of the Fray. That emboldened them to sharpen their sound. Enter Mr. Benson, who's produced records for Daughtry, My Chemical Romance and P.O.D., among others. Revelation was recorded in Los Angeles, another first for Third Day. The process was invigorating.

"It's not that when we started this record we were on such a different place then we were before," says the 32-year-old Mr. Anderson, "but Howard took it to a whole different playing field. What everyone is afraid of is that Third Day is going to be something that we're not. We're not trying to cross over. We're just trying to be the best Third Day we can be."

Mr. Anderson downplays the notion that Third Day will dilute its material in order to blend in on pop and rock radio. The group's label, Essential Records, has no intention of taking a song to those airwaves. However, the management company wants visibility on a grander scale. The group members have their eyes on giving their music more pop-culture exposure, whether through television shows, movies or commercials.

"I never heard U2's 'Vertigo' on pop radio, but I sure heard it on the iTunes commercial," Mr. Anderson says. "Working a single on mainstream radio is expensive. I kind of agree with the record company that it's probably not the most efficient place to start. But we want to grow; we want to become more household names, so I agree with Red Light about getting songs placed in movies, in TV shows, in commercials."

And that brings us to an eons-old dilemma: secular exposure versus religious message.

"Our hope is that it doesn't have to be an either-or," says Mr. Anderson, calmly. "The first thing is look at the cover of the record. If we were trying to water down our message, there wouldn't be a cross on the top of the mountain. This is not a band that is trying to disguise its faith. But at the same time we're a band that's ready. We just want to test the limits a little bit."