| Hillsong - This Is Our God | 
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STYLE: Pop
RATING  
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 47239-14455
LABEL: Hillsong Music HMACD216
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1
RELEASE DATE: 2008-07-07
RRP: £13.00
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Reviewed by Andy Cooper Hillsong's output over the last decade or so has been quite relentless, and here is their 17th live worship album. At times it has been easy to hope that slowing down the release rate would help to increase the quality. But slow down they have not, and here is an album with a dozen or more decent new songs. They needed to do something good after Hillsong United's hugely disappointing "iHeart Revolution" CD. The irony is that the ex-United guys and gals are now running the mainstream band: Joel Houston, Reuben Morgan and Brooke Fraser write and lead the vast majority of the songs, leaving old favourite Darlene just enough space for a couple of duets. And they bring their style with them: energetic rock with a wall of crash cymbals and guitars up to 11. As sophisticated as a slab of Fosters upon first impression, but repeated listens bring out the variety and subtleties as the tunes become more memorable and the lyrics sink in. Hillsong has always been focussed on corporate worship, but some of the songs here actually get quite intimate, and none more so than "Healer", penned and sung by Planetshakers pastor Mike Guglielmucci. The faked cancer testimony of Guglielmucci now of course puts a cloud over this song and indeed the Planetshakers album, and this project, on which it is featured, which is a shame as there are other, good songs here. A number of the new songs are relatively simple (for Hillsong) in form and melody: "He Is Lord", Darlene's "High And Lifted Up", "Stronger" and "Sing To The Lord" are all strong enough with the potential to become congregational classics around the world.at least with those who can accept the new heavier style. In terms of volume and quality, Hillsong have reached another peak.
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| | Product Description |
In March 2008, thousands of worshippers gathered to fill the Acer Arena in Sydney as Hillsong Church recorded their latest live worship album.
We come together and we say, 'This is who we are, God. We need You, we love You, and we're going to give everything to You'. It's actually about the church coming together and singing with One Voice, One Passion, One Heart, giving all our praise to God," Joel Houston, Hillsong Creative Director, said.
A number of new songwriters, worship leaders and musicians joined Reuben Morgan, Joel Houston, Darlene Zschech and Marty Sampson on the platform, capturing the sound of a new generation, and entering into a new season of worship and song. |
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This album is proof that Hillsong is running out of songwriting ideas. Every song sounds identical to the last and worst of all is that the recording quality of this album stoops to a new low. I realise it's a live recording,and normally that would be a mitigating factor, but previous Hillsongs albums have sounded FAR better, both on a sound engineering AND a musical level.
As a veteran worship team drummer of over a decade, I own almost every Hillsongs, United Live and Planetshakers album that has ever been released, so I'd like to think that I know what I'm talking about here. The long and short of it is that this album is lacklustre, poorly performed (feel like writing the drummer and the sound engineers a stinking email) and entirely forgettable in general.
Buy this at your own risk.