Reviewed by Richard Dawson

Brian Ortize is a singer/songwriter who served as a worship pastor in Los Angeles for five years and developed a culture of worship which included developing worship leaders and musicians, leading the songwriting team, and overseeing multiple studio and live albums. Now signed to BEC Recordings, this EP was released in November 2018 and he's now moved on to a full length album. Anyway this project is a good introduction to a gifted worship man. The first track "Emmanuel" could be taken as a Christmas song while "Oh The Joy" has a lyric which begins with an examination of the God of miracles and then moves to proclaiming the joy of the Lord being our strength. "Your Love" speaks of not holding back in worship while another good congregational song is "Sing Hallelujah" which focusses on the cross. The arrangements/production are pop rock with one or two imaginative twists stopping 'Open The Windows' from getting too generic. Is there a classic song here waiting to impact the world Church? Probably not. . . maybe the album will deliver that.

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