Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Husband and wife team, Gary and Jacky Farquharson, are the team behind Huddersfield-based band Peniel. The band name means "face of God" and these songs are certainly designed to bring you into face to face contact with your creator! Flowing, worshipful, psalm-like songs stretch out with plenty of space for personal worship and those selah moments that encourage you to ponder what God has done. Big songs like "Hide Your Word" and "Who Is This God" open up proceedings so that you are left in no doubt that this is music with big themes and a big mission. Acoustic driven but the album avoids the tendency towards the bland, nicey, niceyness of a lot of worship music. This is partially achieved by the fact that, though this is acoustic, there's a strong rhythmic ele­ment bursting through, propelling things along. Gary and Jacky share the vocals, and this is one of my reservations, as Gary has a gritty voice similar to Ray Bevan which can take a little acclimatisation, as he sometimes holds a tune in a Bob Dylan style approximation! It's certainly distinctive and doesn't grate, it's just, erm_different! Recorded in South Africa, the album has a clear sound that underpins the spiritual power of songs like "War In The Heavenlies" and "Not Given A Spirit Of Fear". If you're looking for something that's a little differ­ent but designed to stir your soul, this is good!

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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