Reviewed by Tom Brock

Christianity magazine recently ran an article Has Worship Music Lost Its Soul? which lambasted the Christian music companies for putting out far too many albums that stuck to a safe, formulaic pattern. So Joining The Dots are to be congratulated for picking up the distribution to this hugely inventive album which in no way tries to clone Hughes or Hillsong United but instead brings us a head-spinning variety of sounds that take in everything from blues-orientated ballads to '80s sounding techno and does so with a creative flourish that few recent albums have got near to accomplishing. Singer, songwriter and producer Dave Griffiths, much respected for his years of service with Bournemouth rockers Bosh, has got together with keyboard player and studio whiz David Evans (not the Australian singer, the worship composer of "Be Still"; and not the New Jersey TV preacher/pastor) to pull together an invigoratingly eclectic album that works as a collection of modern congregational songs but stays well clear of cookie-cutter arrangements. The collective that is Chaos Curb make room for some well known guests, Delirious? man Tim Jupp (playing piano), Vineyard UK/Verra Cruz veteran Marc James and [dweeb]'s Tim Alford (playing drums) and Gareth Hutchinson and the Burn Band's Deborah Hartup all make appearances with the latter contributing one of the most stunning moments when she sings in the Spirit on the climax of "New Songs". And if all this creative dexterity wasn't enough the album featuring 10 songs written or co-written by Dave Griffiths also reflect a heartening desire to see the worshipping Church commit to social action - Chaos Curb working with charity The Trussell Trust committed to setting up church-run food banks across the UK. As the advert in the CD sleeve states, "Chaos Curb is proud to partner with the Foodband network. This amazing project is showing the world how true worship transforms." A powerful message and a groundbreaking album.

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.

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1. To make something that sounded fresh which stayed true to the teams artistic leanings
2. To put more of a collective or ‘us’ language into the congregational songs
3. To write outward-looking songs on the themes of God’s heart for justice and love for people