Reviewing an album seven years after it came out rarely ever happens. However, as NF told us in his song "Real" from his sophomore outing Therapy Session, "every time I look into the mirror I don't forget about where I started." Released in 2010 under his full name "Nathan Feuerstein," Moments takes us back to an independent artist from Gladwin, Michigan trying to get himself heard.

The album opens with "Escape," a four-and-a-half-minute song about seeking to get away from the trials and tribulations of life. The delivery of this song (and indeed the album as a whole) is littered with NF's classic aggressive vocals and rhyme schemes, something which has often led to him being compared to Eminem. This opening track is conversational in style, as if he's appealing to the listener as an individual. This style writing that has become a common trait in his music for example, "Wake Up" (NF EP- 2014). The songwriting here is brilliant, going to great lengths to express thoughts and feelings that many will find all too relatable, such as, "See all of us need a place, where we can go escape / Get away from the pain, be ourselves and just run away." NF sets himself up here as someone who can articulate exactly how people feel.

There seems to be a sense throughout the album that NF is looking for his sound and style as an artist. The beats are, for the most part, quite generic, and they lack the depth and atmosphere that his music carries now, however we must remember that it is an independent release. Perhaps the best example of the variance within the album can be heard most clearly in the song "Your Grace." It is an auto-tuned, fast-paced track, wrapped in a dance-beat, something which we don't hear from him now, arguably because, it's not his style. In fact, my greatest criticism of the album is the use of auto-tune, which cheapens a lot of otherwise well-crafted hooks such as can be found the song "Beautiful."

What sets Moments apart from the rest of NF's repertoire is the more explicit Christian references found in songs such as "Reality," "Wrap Me in Your Arms," and "Overdose." Whether this is a positive or negative shift in content and direction is up for debate. One thing for sure, is that NF has most certainly progressed as an artist, spending hours honing his craft, and of course his signing to Capitol CMG back in 2014 helped to shape his sound. NF himself acknowledges that his early music was not on par to where he is now, but everyone has to start somewhere.

JFH Reader Review: written by Joshua Hussain, 2/19/16, for Jesusfreakhideout.com