Reviewed by Trevor Kirk Michael Stosic hails from Reno, Nevada, and this album is his fifth in a recording career that stretches back to 1987. On the track list we have Paul Baloche's "Open The Eyes Of My Heart," Jared Anderson's "Amazed," and two Israel & New Breed numbers, "Friend Of God" and "Sweeter", alongside eight of Michael's own material, making a total run time of nearly 52 minutes. Michael's press kit proclaims that this album has (and I quote) "a very contemporary feel with some different rhythms, yet lyrically grounded in God's word." I can't quibble with the bit about being grounded in God's word, but I have to argue with the claim to having a contemporary feel, because to my ears this sounds rather dated. Perhaps it's the fact that Michael's voice is not quite on the note some of the time, and quite occasionally badly off. Perhaps it's his songwriting style, with song titles such as "The Lord Is My Light", "God Is Holy", "He's Alive", "A Pure Heart" and "Lead Me To The Rock", themes and titles over used in the past. Whatever it is, I couldn't get very excited about any of this; Michael's own stuff doesn't bear comparison quality-wise with the four songs that he's borrowed, and even those are dragged down into a bland ordinariness.
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