Title: Absolute Modern Worship 2
Artist: Various Artists
Label: Fervent Records
Time: Two CD set / 25 tracks
Released: January 24, 2006
Absolute Modern Worship from Fervent Records opens with a bang as Jason Roy of Building429 puts his Texan vocals to Chris Tomlin’s “Famous One”. Roy one of the nicest men you will ever meet exudes the same passion in his vocals that is always present in Tomlin’s music.
A pleasant surprise for me on this two CD set was the number two track on the first CD. By The Tree’s Chuck Dennie (vocals/guitar), Aaron Blanton (drums/percussion/ vocals) and Ben Davis (bass /keyboards/vocals) hook up with the gritty vocals of Sara Acker and the band Inhabited. Until I heard the song “Your Grace Is Enough” I was not familiar with Inhabited. Since then I have listened to more of their music and I am happy to say they can count me in as a fan! If you like your worship music with a little bit of sandpaper this is one cool band.
Martin Smith of Delirious? lends his lyrics from “I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever” to Nic Gonzalez of Salvador another great Texas band. Salvador is probably the most underrated group by the non-Latino community. It astounds me how a band that demonstrates so much talent both vocally and instrumentally so often flies under the radar. No group since Huey Lewis and the News has made such good use of horns.
Other good tracks from the first slice of acetate include; Skillet’s “Holy And Anointed One” and Sara Groves’ funky “The One Thing I Know”.
Not to be outdone the second disc of this set opens with the rockin’ BarlowGirl consisting of sisters Becca, Alyssa and Lauren Barlow. If you haven’t caught BarlowGirl’s act or heard their music where have you been in the past year. This is a group that has proved that rock music and puritanical values not only can mix well, but can command the attention of mainstream media. The trio has been featured on the Today Show and hooked up with Yahoo Music.
Tree63’s “King” brought back many good memories of sitting in with lead vocalist John Ellis last spring and later listening to the South African band perform this powerful worship anthem.
Jaci Velasquez who has had her own share of heartache during the past year provides emotive vocals to “Sanctuary” a beautiful song for a lady who is beautiful inside and out.
Other great cuts on this side of the set include; the ever popular “Every Move I Make” sung by Fusebox and By The Tree’s encore performing Marc Byrd and Steve Hindalong’s “God of Wonders”.
If you are one of those people who enjoys top hits from a variety of artists you can’t go wrong with this splendid two CD set.
Copyright © 2006 Joe Montague, exclusive rights reserved. This material may not be redistributed without prior written permission from Joe Montague. Joe Montague is an internationally published freelance journalist / photographer.
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