Reviewed by Gareth Duffield

Worship compilation albums are always a risky business; if you like your worship then you are likely to have half of these songs in other recordings which means it has to be a good production to make you want to buy them again. But noting the artists aer one-time teen pop princess Bethany Dillon and Matt Hammitt (lead singer of rockers Sanctus Real) does raise one's expectations, even if it is a slightly strange collaboration. The opening track, Tim Hughes' "Clinging To The Cross", is a beautiful performance by Dillon and well arranged with strings and backing vocals in the chorus, a great opener. After a punchy percussion focussed arrangement of "In Christ Alone" the album then takes a turn from Bethany's roots/acoustic style to a big brass band feel which doesn't seem to suit her and ruins the very good opening sequence. Other popular modern songs on here include "God Of Justice" which has a strange off beat tempo that doesn't quite achieve the reflective atmosphere that Tim Hughes and Martin Smith were trying to create when they wrote the song. So overall, this is a curate's egg of an album with too many low spots for me to thoroughly recommend it.

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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