The opener "All Around You" has a gutsy guitar riff and a plaintive vocal but, in truth, is way too formulaic. And it doesn't help that the next song, "I Will Follow You", has an almost identical rhythm. I listen on. A cover version of Delirious?'s "Rain Down" doesn't get within a mile of the original classic. Now of course, By The Tree are a band in transition with drummer Aaron Blanton taking over at the vocal mic. Maybe it's that which explains this album's peculiar lack of freshness. All the arrangements sound like any one of a thousand rock worship recordings while lyrics like "God's love is perfect every time" hardly stretch the brain cells. I really liked the band when they were fronted by Chuck Dennie but here they sound so stylised it will take a complete rethink if they're to recapture this reviewer's interest.
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By the tree grabbed me the 1st time I heard it. I WILL buy the album just for that song!