Kim Gentes

A while back, I was spending a little time listening to demos from various music companies and individuals.. doing that isn't the heavenly experience you might expect.. so many CDs, so little real worship, so many cliche songs.. then something ballistic happened- I listened to an incredible CD by a new group called "Sonic Flood".

It is just awesome! It has many songs I already knew, from Andy Parks' "In The Secret", to Scott Underwoods' "Holiness", to a couple of Martin Smith tunes. But these are not renditions for the faint of heart-- only groovin' worshipers will handle some of the arrangements of these songs. For those who already know and like Sonic Flood, or just love worship and long for a musical sound that is alot more edgy-- you must check this project out!

Now, here is the coolest thing about this album- it has a simple, yet worshipful (as are all of the cuts) version of Matt Redmans "Heart Of Worship". And that is the beauty and power of this CD- Sonic Flood didn't take themselves so seriously that they had to pummel us with every new song written by "sonic flood". Instead, they put their very considerable musical talents to bear on some already very well received worship songs being used by the Body of Christ. If I had to select a CD in the category of song selection, this project would be at the top. The only thing missing from this great experience? I would love hear this group live!!

oh ya- I almost forgot... some the songs are titled differently on the cover than you may know them as (IE. "In The Secret" is called "I Want To Know You", "Heart of Worship" is entitled "When the Music Fades"). Just a warning in case you look at the released CD and wonder where all those songs are that I told you about..

Product Link Sonicflood

Review by Kim Gentes

Refreshing, enthralling, and God-ward! That is the rapturous sounds of "Draw Near To Me", the independently released devotional music project from Scott Brenner. The CD is sub-titled "Intimate, devotional worship for your quiet time". This is the perfect by-line description of this project.

The lyrical content of the project is prayerful (I Want To Be Holy), scripture themes (Changed by The Mere Reflection), and sometimes direct scripture quotes (O God You Are My God). Simplicity is woven into these lyrics, giving the church gifts of excellent songs for devotion.

The purity and integrity of Scott's love for Christ comes through in his voice and music, as though you are sitting in a room with him and everyone is lifting up Jesus. Melodic and rich, the CD takes a trek of invitation (Longing for the Day) to prayer (O God You Are My God/ Psalm 63) to intimacy (In Silence I Wait) and finally thankfulness (Thank You Lord).

This CD is notably soft music, laying the heart and soul of Scott's prayer's before God with care and kindness. It isn't rushed, and it isn't loud- it is intimate, and it is soft. This CD certainly reminds me of his earlier work on the Vineyard project "Before You Now" (second half of that project). Yet, this project is even more pensive, more intimate.

The thing that made me fall in love with this CD was the music and the arrangements. And perhaps not in the way you might think! The power of this project was the simplicity and care that was taken in giving it lots of strength with a few instruments. Using the guitar, keyboards, a cello and oboe, this project stays uncluttered- and it SHINES! Those of us used to listening to praise and worship music are used to the ever-present bass guitar- but not here! This CD is the first indie project I have heard that absolutely does away with the bass guitar and thrives because of it. I know this might sound strange, but the breadth of instrumentation with just the oboe, cello, guitar and piano give a wonderful diversity in relative simplicity. The occasional visit of electric guitar and some drums and percussion (all without a bass guitar present) make a few songs accented perfectly for some variety to the ear.

You will be turned toward the Lord immediately as "Longing for the Day" begins this project off, and we share an invitation to Christ for His return. Each song leads effortlessly into the next on this whole project. The fourth song (and title track), "Draw Near To Me", is a wonderful invocation song calling out in the theme of the Davidic devotional prayers for the Lord to have our daily lives from the early morning to the "never-ending". The tenth track, "We Cry Glory", is my favorite song of this CD. It's pacing, vocals and instrumentation become so rich (yet well spaced) it reminds me of the intensity of purity and precision of devotion that I first heard from a John Michael Talbot album- different musical framing, but deeply and similarily focused. The CD ends on a unified praise and thanksgiving that brings up such a heart of gratitude, you will find yourself singing "Jesus I Love The Way You Are".

This CD get's my "Editor's Choice" award from Worshipmusic.com.

A great project!

Product Link Draw Near To Me - Scott Brenner

Review by Kim Gentes.

Raw & unashamed - this is the sound of "Burn Service" CD, the new release of youth oriented worship from Vineyard! In an earlier review of a recent Vineyard CD ("It's All About Jesus"), I referred to a new sound in Vineyard Music that is starting to hit stride with truly "new" and truly "fresh" music. And not "new & fresh" at the expense of truly God-centric worship! In "Hungry" (from UK/B. Doerksen) the sound was more progressive rock, here the sound/style is  Americana, country-fied rock. The point is that the style has less to do with the "freshness" than the authenticity of the music, the context and songwriting.

You can check out the sound clips at Vineyard's site here!

One of the signs of revival in church history has been repentance. The Burn Service CD is a venture into musical repentance and prayer. It is this state of heart that has typified the music of the modern day flames of revival. While I absolutely love the sound of this CD musically, what gets you "there" for the Burn CD is the abandon of "self" posed in these song lyrics. Ryan Delmore, Darren Clarke & Jesse Lane lead these songs with uncommon passion. It is clear right from the start that this CD holds nothing back, and pretends nothing! People praying to God in song; speaking their weaknesses; crying out for God's holiness to truly consume and change them. These folks are "tired of lukewarm living" and sing for God to "set me on fire"- the text and title of the opening cut.

"Refreshing" would be too subtle a word to describe this CD. The powerful themes, driving guitar, and abandon vocals make this whole CD more like "gut-wrenching" (and I mean that is a good way). Have you ever had a time when repentance was so deep on your heart that you just wept or called out or repented until your soul was empty? Have you ever read the Psalms and contemplated how the writers were really feeling in penning those songs? Now you are seeing the kind of raw passion I am talking about. Somehow, Vineyard managed to capture the essence of intensity that was going on with this time worship. It is awesome!

In listening to a CD for review, I tend to find myself getting drawn into the technical and musical components of a recording, in order to provide a complete review. I found it almost impossible to keep my mind on "evaluating" this CD - there was just too much worship going on! For those willing, this project rushes you into the presence of God in a firestorm of music, scripture-based lyrical themes and passionate prayer. Don't be fooled by imitations- this is the real thing! With the haunting texture of vocals by Delmore and Lane especially, the guitar powered liturgy of the Burn Service is very inviting. This CD gives you a look into the music and hearts of the 20-something generation of today.

Starting with "Set Me On Fire", the worship band lays their hearts out on the table for God. Moving to the second song, Jesse Lane leads an investigation into our lives as "New Creation"s, using 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 2:20 as underpinnings for this song. The driving groove and repeating 4 powerchord progression makes this an excellent rock contribution. On the topic of musical style, you will notice this CD slips into a country-esqe songs with "Real Love", "I Will Praise You", and "Your Love Reaches Me". "Real Love" is a simple ballad of the search for God's real love. The fourth song, "Father", re-iterates the cry of prayer that these worship leaders keep coming back to. Like "Set Me On Fire", "Father" restates that we truly need God in light of our emptiness. Like many of these songs on this CD, this is a song worth of air play on CCM radio. Unique and edgy, yet simple and with a singable "hook", this is very good material, even at an entertainment level (though, clearly that is not the intention of this music). In my opinion, Vineyard Music should look at promoting this CD to CCM/Alt radio, if they haven't already done that- but more on that topic at the end of the review.

My favorite cut from this entire album comes up next, with "Shepherd". This song is a great, singable, rock anthem, once again re-visiting the theme of trading our weakness for God's strength and coming up with the conclusion that simply-

"You are my Shepherd, and I will follow You,
I abandon my will and yield to Yours"

Taking lyrical content of the sixth track, "I Will Praise You", returns to the book Psalms, with chapter 42 (verse 5) outlining the lyrics source for this song. Another very singable, usable song for worship. The next song, "Let It Come" has a sound that is about as late-60's/early 70's as I have ever heard on a Vineyard album. Another retro sound is rekindled a little in the background vocals of track 9 ,"Friend". The album moves on through "All My Days" and "Surely Goodness and Mercy", once again returning the to Psalms for content, while keeping the beat strong and the guitar chords crunching along to sing to. Very nice, and you don't feel like the album gets stuck on a "blah" song anywhere along the way. The CD finishes with a wonderful love song, "I Love Your Presence". I really liked this song, ambient in the verse, but building into a chorus of thankfulness that gets more and more contagious. Excellent worship material here.

As you can tell, this CD comes with my highest recommendation- the "Editor's Choice" award. Even so, there are some things this project doesn't come with- and that worries me some. First, this project is put out to document Vineyard music as it is being employed in worship throughout their churches. So you might think that Vineyard would encourage the use of the materials through the publication of the printed music for this great project- but you would be wrong. With a great project and no printed music, the songs (though loved) may well go unused in just the contexts they would likely most useful- churches! My hope is that Vineyard puts forward the effort to print an accompanying songbook. The second thing this project does not come with is promotion. I looked through several trade magazines and found no mention of the Burn Service CD, except on a "shared" ad with 4 albums and another music label. I found no strong promotion of it from the distributors either. I also contacted Vineyard Music to ask them what their plans were for this series "Y-Worship", hoping to hear some good news about this bold new direction that Vineyard was taking. Carla Turner, Manager of Media Relations for Vineyard Music, said that "Y-Worship" is the "imprint" under which Vineyard will target future youth oriented projects coming out of the Vineyard movement. According to Carla, there are tentative plans for future releases under the "Y-Worship" brand. With no specific projects already in production, one hopes this is not a "one-time" CD for the "Y-Worship" series from Vineyard.

All that said, Burn Service is a great product from Vineyard. Incredibly useful in worship, yet their most progressive work to date. This CD, along with "It's All About Jesus", and the two UK releases from Brian Doerksen ("Winds of Worship #12" and "Hungry") have loaded my church (and many others) with a excellent cache of great new songs.

Product Link The Burn Service - Vineyard Music

blessings
Kim G.

Another level! That is how I describe the latest project from the increasingly popular catalog of projects from PDI Music. 'Everlasting' releases a new level of musicality, production, and diversity for the listeners of PDI music. From the series, Come & Worship, this latest CD takes on the 'big' labels with excellent musical presentation and very strong song selection.

The project opens with 'I'm Calling Out', a dynamic song of God's faithfulness and our need to call out! Well written, the lyrics simple, but not simplistic. Songwriter Mark Altrogge gifts us with this song of paradox, by comparing (in the manner of Proverbs) our attempts at reaching God to the provisions He has already made to enfold us. Excellent biblical based content while being singable and worshipful! Just take a look at the first half of the chorus of this song, a sample of excellent lyric writing :

So I'm calling out To You who called me I'm holding on To You who holds me I'm seeking You Who came and sought me in my sin

Moving on, 'Great Is Your Faithfulness' is another nicely singable and scriptural based song, again by Altrogge. Next, we run into the title track, 'Everlasting'. For a minute you may think your CD changer moved over to your Jars of Clay CD, as the into and musical interludes of this song mix a nicely rhythmic and acoustic sound with a string quartet from heaven. This is one song in which the listener can hear the strong increase in production and musical presentation put into this sixth edition of the Come & Worship series from PDI. Nicely complimentary percussion, and violin parts make some beautiful listening and worshipful sounds.

I am not sure why, but my favorite song on this entire CD is next with 'This Fathomless Love'. Maybe it is the hintings of Celtic sound, the 6/8 feel, the ringing vocals, or the gut-wrenching lyrics.. who knows, but it works for me! Even writing this review now, I am listening to this song for about the 30 or 40th time, and it still causes me to say 'yes, Lord' as I pray and sing along.

But you don't have to agree with me on the favorite song to LOVE this CD. 'Your Love Is Higher', 'For Your Glory Alone' and 'I Love The Cross' add to the sizeable list of singable and useable songs on this project! 'I Love The Cross' is a simple, but heartfelt, cry of thanks for God's sacrifice. At times this CD stretches quite far vocally and stylistically, making it tougher in some songs to consider them for strong congregation use. Particularly, 'More than Life Itself', 'I Must Have You' and 'For Me' make for excellent solo presentations, with some reaching notes and rushing lyrics in a more CCM style. Having twelve excellent songs, though, it is nice to have the diversity of this CD.

The climax of this project is the song 'I Bow Down'. Ethereal and flowing, visions of the Titanic movie love theme will no doubt come to you as you listen. Super clean vocals with pristine acoustic guitar work, this song could be the track to any movie! Surprise- it is! This tremendous trek of devotion is appearing on the new 'Searching for True Love' videos by best-selling author Joshua Harris (I Kissed Dating Goodbye).

Though not a progressive stylistic project, this CD is excellent and solid with content and very good production.

Product Link http://www.sovereigngracemusic.org/albums/category/sovereign_grace_music/everlasting

Review by Kim Gentes

There is a certain quality that God blesses some with. It is musical, yet it is more than notes. It is confidence, yet it is more than personality. It is giftedness, yet it is more than prodigy for the sake of self glorification. It is that certain something we have found in those that don't just excel, they expand and explore. We have met these people; people like Kevin Prosch, Martin Smith, Darrell Evans, and Brian Doerksen. Meet another one of those people - Kate Miner! And meet the new project "Live Worship from the Strip" out of the new praise and worship label "Sovereign Productions".

All this "newness" might seem like just a fashionable trend to those not aware of the heritage coming with this great worship project. While a new company, Sovereign is no small outfit or a fly-by-night garage recording studio. Run by some of the same people that brought you the new sound of Vineyard music, when it was still "new", Sovereign is headed by worship veteran Carl Tuttle. With worship leader Kate Miner, Sovereign has come out of the gate with an awesome debut project in "Live Worship from the Strip".

Right from the intro, you get the feeling this CD was going to burst with expression. The first cut, "Dream Before You", feels part rock club, part beckoning love song. It isn't long before you realize this CD is no cookie cutter experience. At times Miner's vocals and lyrics become so intimate, it pushes the listener to the precipice of decision- I am either going to participate with this (and worship), or I am shutting this thing off. There isn't much room for "fluff" in any song on this CD. Miner is intense and overwhelming as an artist. Songs like "Dream Before You" and "Better Is One Day" make the point with Pat Benatar-esque vocal power and Delirious?-esque rhythms and strength.

The intensity and raw intimacy don't just reside in rock ballads and driving beats. "Hung The Moon" becomes my favorite cut from the project, as Miner sings a song from God to us, expressing His incredible providence. Hearing Scripture crafted in song and then sung like this is as beautiful as it is riveting. One thing this CD does is leave behind any traces of the pop country/jazz/easy listening 70's sound that has pervaded much of the praise & worship "sound" since the early 80's. This project is clearly rock. There is lots of adoration on this album too - check out "Holy Spirit Come". Excellent.

On the way to making this completely live project a reality, the crisp, cleanness of a studio sound is sacrificed, no doubt about it. But Miner doesn't care, and neither should you. As she powers her voice to heaven, you will wonder how you ended up belting it out along with her (as the man in the car in the next lane looks at you like you're going berserk).

To quote Matt Redman (who listened to a preview copy of the CD) :

"It's 'Intimacy' with guts!"

Enough said! Run, don't walk, and get this great new rock praise & worship CD.

Product Link Live from the Strip - Kate Miner

blessings
Kim G.

p.s. For those who didn't know, the album 'Intimacy' was the original title of Matt's project that came out in the US under the title "Heart Of Worship".

Editor note: this review was originally written in 1999, and like many things in the music industry much has changed, including, sadly, the demise of the company that produced this recording.