Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

Taking its title from the CS Lewis book The Last Battle, Canadian worship leader Tim Mann's first full album is a competent piece of work - thanks in part to his time at Australia's Hillsong College and countless other worship posts throughout the years. Beginning with the meditational "Where We Lay Our Scene (You Are Holy)" before kicking into the thumping proclamation of faith "Our Hope Is Real", the foundations are laid for an album of God-focused self-penned songs of worship. Despite a promising start, Mann tends to default to the kind of Coldplay-style slow driving guitar sound that a lot of present day worship acts seem to favour and, as a result, this release isn't as innovative as it could be. Nonetheless, the uplifting "Great Is The Lord" is a great rock song - showcasing the talents of Mann's top notch backing band - and the long instrumental build in "The Greatest Love" typifies an album that is soaked in atmosphere and passion. Special mention must go to the penultimate track - the impressive "Won't You Please Come Home (For The Lost And Broken)" - which sees the artist take some welcome musical risks as he adopts a more free form and ambient style to cry out to God. Arguably though, this otherwise enjoyable album could have benefited from Mann taking a few more risks to allow it to truly stand out from the crowd.

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.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.