Reviewed by Matt Lockwood

The Mandate probably needs no introduction – well, not much of one, anyway! The Waterfront Hall, Belfast, plays host each year to Europe's largest gathering of men which serves to help men live as God intended. This album, as with all live worship albums from a conference, is a snapshot of the worship from the event, yet it manages to successfully avoid the trap of long periods of repetitious “free worship” that other live worship albums have so carelessly fallen into, thanks to Caroline Bonnet's sensitive production. Without ever making that transition from anointed to annoying, ‘Experiencing God’ takes the listener through a collection of many well known modern songs mixed with some of the best loved hymns and is a vast improvement on the previous Mandate album. What really sets this album apart are the Celtic arrangements that Robin Mark and the band give to many of the songs. The first two tracks especially – Chris Tomlin's “Give Thanks To The Lord” and “All Who Are Thirsty” from Vineyard UK's 'Hungry' album – have been completely rearranged to give a strong Celtic lilting jig feel that works superbly. The classics “Holy, Holy, Holy”, “All To Jesus I Surrender” and “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” make a good balance with Tim Hughes' “Light Of The World”, Viola Grafstrom's “We Bow Down” and Robin's “We See The Lord”. And this album includes one of the best recordings of Matt Redman's “The Father's Song” you'll hear.

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