Reviewed by Mark Vyner

The second album from the US worship leader whose first was an American mega hit. This is one of those worship albums that has the kind of production that makes you want to give a copy to your church worship leaders and get them to learn a few of the tracks. It's very much high energy guitar-driven rock, almost grunge at times, with some standout songs just waiting to be sung in churches. Shust's gravelly voice suits the modern worship style well. The album opens with a huge guitar riff and a song with lyrics taken from all over the Bible (and quoted in the liner notes) with the refrain setting the tone for the album "Long live the one who gives us life and peace for tomorrow." Each song has a useful set of notes explaining how it came to be written and what it's trying to say. The third track "Create Again" is superb, a standout with a great big anthemic chorus that is shouting out to be sung in church! It's a song of response to creation, "God of everything I see, come create again in me." Not every song is congregationally orientated - "Watch Over Me" is the song of a broken, lonely person recognising that God is watching over them, and "I Will Wait" is a response to faith being tested. One or two songs stray into the AOR territory inhabited by so many faceless worship songs, losing the freshness which differentiates a lot of this album from the crowd. But there are enough standouts to make this well worth giving to your worship leader.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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