Newsboys "Restart" functions like a matrysoshka doll or better known as a Russian doll.  Just like the Russian doll which contains of a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other, there are layers of meaning one enveloping each other on this record.  Not counting their worship-focused "God is Not Dead," this is officially their "restart" record after their hugely successful "Born Again" since DC Talk member Michael Tait takes on the lead vocals.  Musically, this is also a restart for the quartet.  Despite amassing 25 number one hits, 5 gold records (selling over half a million copies each), and with almost 8 million copies of their albums sold over their multi-decade old career, they are not ready for the rocking chair.  "Restart" is cheekily described by group member Duncan Philips as "God is Not Dead" on steroids.  "Restart" finds Newsboys ready to recapitulate back into radio's favors with songs imbued with the freshest beats and some of their most engaging melodies to date.  There is not a second where the sounds are grungy or anhedonic.  Moreover, a who's who of CCM is brought in to solidify its success, and this includes Chris Stevens, Seth Mosley, Joshua Silverburg (Edison Glass), Kipp Williams, David Garcia, and Jon White (Capital Kings).

"Restart" is one of those albums that make you scratch your heads.  This is because the best "must have" songs are only available on the deluxe version.  A career move in the right direction is their take of Mike and the Mechanics' "The Living Years."  There are some secular songs that brim with a spiritual fervor that readily invites Christian covers.   This is the case with "The Living Years"; but for some reasons unknown it has escaped the ears of song scavengers until this year.  The Isaacs have just cut a bluegrass-gospel rendition on their latest record; now it is the Newsboys' turn.  In a world where we are quick to blame our parents for all the warts we find in our lives, "The Living Years" is a song about forgiveness and reconciliation.  This is a song that is needs to be heard in our churches today.  The other "bonus" track is their take of Hillsong Live's "Stronger."  After Newsboys' take of Hillsong Live's "Foreign Reign" a few years back, it's a joy that they have re-visited the Australian mega church's canon giving "Stronger" a slick pop wrap.  While "Man in Action" has to be more of the best songs testifying to Christ's transforming power: "I used to act like everybody told me, I tried to just fit in, but then I met my Savior, and He showed me a new way to live."

The bonus tracks aside, let's get to the album proper.  Throbbing with heavy basslines, galactic sounding laser sounds and pounding crisp drum sounds, "That's How You Change the World" is not one of those light-headed bimbo theological-lite self-empowerment positive songs.  Rather, it brims with holiness as Tait sings, "Cos it's the prayer in an empty room, little things we do when nobody's around... It's the smallest spark that can light the dark, that's how you change the world."  Don't let the disco-funk of the title cut "Restart" distract you from the song's heartfelt message that embeds a touching narrative of how the protagonist came to repentance after a pastor's message.  All the religious rhetoric we speak about Christ is like those yellow post-it notes that fall off over time if we are not willing to be a sell-outs for Jesus.  This is the theme of the upbeat lead single "Live with Abandon."  "Go Glow," on the other hand, moves into the electronica territory where Owl City has a reign on.  Though every button is pressed for what may end up as the hottest song to be, one feels like the band's personality is lost in the jamborees.

Two ballads are to be noted: first, "One Word" starts off slow but is given in to some overcrowding glitzy synths and pounding bass drums by the time the chorus hits.  Much better is "That Home."  Gone are the dance beats and the thumping bass, instead what we have is a piano ballad.  Here we meet a Christ-like mother who truly lives out Proverbs 31.  Rich are the details of holiness we glean about her with a standout being:  when asked what her favourite song is?  Without a wink she replies "the Psalms."  It is such attention to details that truly make "That Home" a lodestar of the record.  "Restart" is definitely destined to "restart" the Newsboys reign on the charts.  And it is quite a stellar record though one would wish the bonus tracks were part of the album proper and it would have been even better if they had more ballads.