“Do you believe this world lacks the common courtesy to thank us all for this love?” track one, “The Nerve,” asks the brotherhood of man, whose members demand to know the answers to universal questions of why. Why do we give so much without receiving? Why do we continue to fail in our daily lives? Why can’t I reach my dreams?

The name Armistice promises to reconcile these issues, but instead it stirs the pot, bringing up old questions and posing new ones. The new questions are formed from beyond Mutemath’s lyrical puzzle; the guys take every musical instrument they know how to play and add them to the mix, creating the only true reconciliation of the album— musical harmony. The use of the violin, piano, cello, sax, trombone, and electric guitar simultaneously heighten the emotional nature of each individual track.

If you didn’t know the band began as Christian rockers, you might miss the possible spiritual meanings where genres collide, and of the lyrics where “One life ties to another” and assuring us “It’s all in how you cope in spite of knowing.” You can miss the Christian dimension without missing something crucial, though, because those concerns are human, not just spiritual.

We may never know the answers to the big questions, yet Mutemath try to bring us some satisfaction of assurance—we are in it together—and Armistice strives to create a peace treaty through sound.