Reviewed by Tony Cummings

First some history. Sabio were originally called Fruit and thanks to a nice line in pop rock and a growing support base through regular Soul Survivor appearances seemed all set to "break into the mainstream." The band signed a deal with a secular management company. And suddenly, at least from the perspective of their legion of faithful Christian supporters, it all went pear-shaped. Neither the breakthrough nor the mainstream record deal happened and gradually Fruit became a distant memory. But now the guys have unexpectedly bounced back and even without a big record company budget demonstrate their ability to make music bristling with melodic intelligence and luminous faith. Just catch the billowing "Control" with its layers of acoustic and electric guitars and where the line "you are in control of me" cuts laser-like to the listener's soul. Or the haunting lilt of the opener "Meaning Of My Life" with almost an alt country feel to the mid tempo rocker. Throughout Aaron Frith's vocals are breathtaking, the playing and production full of multi-textured nuance and the lyrics disarmingly honest and insightful ("With all of my ambition, with all I'm striving for/It's the servant not the surface that you're looking for"). An absolutely superb set of thinking man's rock - the fact that 'Escape' won't make it into Virgin and Our Price is a shame, but, of course, says nothing whatsoever about the quality of the music.

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