Reviewed by Tony Cummings

It's time for a bit of revisionist history concerning Kutless. When the Oregon-based band first emerged on the scene many, including Cross Rhythms, praised their edgy near-hard rock with mainly evangelistic lyrics. But then in 2005 they released the 'Strong Tower' album which with its abundance of cover versions of worship songs seemed, to Cross Rhythms at least, a clear case of a band jumping on the modern worship bandwagon and musically wimping out in the process. This judgment now appears harsh as in subsequent years Kutless have released better-and-better worship projects and though they have never returned to the raw bite of their first two albums and some might argue that Kutless' sound is today too generic and too similar to many other guitar-driven worship teams to really stand out, it now seems the band's move from evangelistic rock to modern worship was more a case of Kutless finding their spiritual calling in music. Certainly 'Glory' oozes passion and sincerity and with original songs, some co-written by the band's frontman John Micah Sumrall and some excellent fresh anthems co-written by the always reliable Scott Krippayne (the opener "Revelation" is particularly strong as is the liltingly melodic "In Jesus Name" written by Nick De Partee and Chad Bohi) 'Glory' is a solid modern worship set. The album is competently produced by Dave Lubben though ironically it's the one track written and produced by Ian Eskelin, the lilting mid-tempo "Never Too Late", which works best for me.

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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