Bethany Dillon & Matt Hammitt - In Christ Alone: Modern Hymns Of Worship
STYLE: Roots/Acoustic RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 45398-13938 LABEL: Sparrow 5099950010622 FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1 RRP: £13.00
Reviewed by Gareth Duffield
Worship compilation albums are always a risky business; if you like your worship then you are likely to have half of these songs in other recordings which means it has to be a good production to make you want to buy them again. But noting the artists aer one-time teen pop princess Bethany Dillon and Matt Hammitt (lead singer of rockers Sanctus Real) does raise one's expectations, even if it is a slightly strange collaboration. The opening track, Tim Hughes' "Clinging To The Cross", is a beautiful performance by Dillon and well arranged with strings and backing vocals in the chorus, a great opener. After a punchy percussion focussed arrangement of "In Christ Alone" the album then takes a turn from Bethany's roots/acoustic style to a big brass band feel which doesn't seem to suit her and ruins the very good opening sequence. Other popular modern songs on here include "God Of Justice" which has a strange off beat tempo that doesn't quite achieve the reflective atmosphere that Tim Hughes and Martin Smith were trying to create when they wrote the song. So overall, this is a curate's egg of an album with too many low spots for me to thoroughly recommend it.
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