Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Reuben is of course a world renowned composer of worship songs with "Lord I Give You My Heart", "My Redeemer Lives" and "Eagles Wings" known and sung by countless worshippers. Such is Reuben's strong association with Hillsong tough that it will probably take more than this sleeve's cover pic of studied rock music louche for our man to cut much ice with the mosh pit crowd. Also, his voice is soft and in truth rather colourless and not entirely suited for the layers of full on rock guitars favoured here. But there are also strong melodies and one or two unexpected twists in the arrangements, like "Gloria" with its Latin groove and the closer, "Waiting Here" which builds to a crescendo of anthemic praise. Reuben's song lyrics are avowedly vertical but seldom get much further than "Jesus I believe in you," "Glorious is you name Lord" and "I'm on my knees waiting here for you"-type declarations are fine though not exactly John Wesley. Such lyrical simplicity might explain why a less predictable, non-worship song like the confessional "In Over My Head" stands out. But as we know worship is Reuben's main thing and when you get a song as haunting and magnificently arranged as "All I Am", the Australian singer/songwriter's pedigree must be admitted.

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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