We Came as Romans is the fourth studio album by American post-hardcore band We Came as Romans. It was released on July 24, 2015 through Equal Vision Records. As with Tracing Back Roots, the album continues to see a departure of the band's metalcore sound found in their previous albums, in favor of an melodicrock sound. The album's first single, "The World I Used to Know", was released on May 26, 2015. This is the last album to feature long time drummer Eric Choi before his departure from the band in early October 2016. This is also the band's final album on Equal Vision Records. The album sold 22,600 copies in its first week, being considered a solid release despite selling less than their 2013 record, Tracing Back Roots, that sold over 26,500 copies in its debut week.
Genre
According to Kill Your Stereo, the band continues to "grow out of their heavier metalcore roots and move towards a more alternative metal, melodic direction" with their self-titled album featuring a "more mature" sound.
Background
Singer Dave Stephens has said that the songwriting was very intense with new producer David Bendeth. 40 songs were written for the album, but only 10 made it onto the final track list. The album's cover painting was done by Paul Romano, who also created the cover of the first three albums To Plant a Seed, Understanding What We've Grown to Be and Tracing Back Roots. The album was streamed via Soundcloud on July 21, through the Huffington Post and Kerrang websites.
Videos
On June 8, 2015 the music video for the first track on the album, "Regenerate" was posted on the Equal Vision Records YouTube channel and We Came As RomansVEVO channel also, due to signing with Spinefarm on Europe. On July 23, 2015, the music video for "The World I Used to Know" was posted on VEVO. On December 16, 2015 the band premiered the music video for "Who Will Pray?" exclusively with Kerrang!. The video was posted on VEVO and YouTube soon after.
Critical reception
We Came as Romans received mixed reviews from critics and fans, mostly because of their departure from the metalcore sound from their previous albums. Awarding the album four stars from Alternative Press, Mischa Pearlman states, "The 10 songs are full of catchy hooks that aren't full-on pop, but aren't too far off, either... We Came As Romans lends weight to the glossy sheen of songs that might otherwise be dismissed as too slick and too superficial." CrypticRock awarded the album a score of 3.5/5, stating that "all in all, We Came As Romans is a decent album. Geared toward broadening their horizons, the album displays many changes to the style of the band. While fans of their previous work may be a little unsure of the new direction, it is still worth a listen to perhaps expand their own horizons." A scathing review from New Noise Magazine stated that "having two standout tracks is never enough to carry an entire album. Had We Came As Romans followed the pathways they had set up for themselves with “Tear It Down” and “12:30” this record may have stood out more and not reflected a plethora of lazy, commercial song writing." Further negative comments stemmed from the perceived poor lyricism, with the review stating that "Tracks like “Memories” feel bland and uninspired with sustained clean vocals, early 2000s alt rock riffs, and forgettable lyrics like “There’s nothing stopping you and me from making all these memories.” In fact, there are moments on this album where I actually wanted to throw the record out of the window, had it not been a digital download."
