Unity.

The idea is simple, but its application is incredibly difficult.

Unity is a basic tenet in the rise of Third Day, the Gospel Music Association’s Artist of the Year. It also provides an underlying plank in the creation of Come Together, whose title is far more profound than the band anticipated when it started planning the album more than 18 months before its release.

While Come Together reflects Third Day’s cooperative environment, the band humbly wishes the larger church could adopt a continuously unified spirit, similar to the one demonstrated by the American culture in the wake of September’s terrorism.

“We came up with this ‘come together’ idea maybe a year-and-a-half ago,” guitarist Mark Lee reflects, “but after that, to see the election last year, and see how divided this country was afterward, I just think it’s a really fitting title for the time that we’re in right now.”

Come Together also fits the current period of Third Day’s career. The band’s creative ideals and commercial appeal have come together at the same time, with the five-piece ensemble progressing from an underdog in the Christian marketplace to a significant force. The band’s ceaseless work ethic and unwavering desire to make a difference earned fierce recognition at the 2001 Dove Awards, where the Atlanta-based act racked up five trophies, becoming the first band in two decades to win both Artist of the Year and Group of the Year. At the same time, after veering between modern rock, pop, Southern rock and praise & worship music on its previous albums, Third Day’s diverse influences all combined in a cohesive musical melting pot on this album.

“It’s the coming together of all the different identities that we’ve had,” Lee says, “all summed up in this one project.”

Come Together unifies not only the hearts, minds and spirits of Third Day, but also the multiple styles that have represented the band’s recorded past: tuneful, edgy sounds in the title track, cagey pop in “My Heart,” Southern rock shades—crossed with a Rolling Stones/Black Crowes flavor—in “Still Listening,” and worshipful attitudes in the obviously titled “Sing Praises.”

“Come together: that’s the essence of what being a band is about,” Anderson says. “It’s the five of us, plus the huge support team of 50-plus people. We go out and do our own things. We go to our own houses; we have our own families; we have five different personalities and five different denominational backgrounds and perspectives on life. But when we come together as a band, it’s something special.”

Get a behind the scenes look at how Come Together was recorded here.