Reviewed by Tony Cummings

The Straight Gate International Church Mass Choir, under the musical direction of Noel Hall and Steven Ford, and the spiritual guidance of Bishop Andrew Merritt, offer this double album of live worship. The theme of the set is that we can "expect to be blessed" because God keeps his promises. The first disc is entitled 'Worship', the second 'Praise', I found those distinctions unhelpful as the tone is the same throughout. With the exception of a couple of brighter numbers on the second disc, the hymns and songs are uniformly mid- to low-tempo with plenty of gospel riffin' and proclaimin' from the range of worship leaders (including on one track Fred Hammond) who front the Mass Choir. The choir themselves, of course, sound awesome when they build up their vocals and really let rip, but I found myself only occasionally moved over the course of the two discs. Overall I didn't discover anything exceptional or outstanding to report, but this may be of interest for less demanding gospel devotees.

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