By Thomas Jenkins & Lydia Akinola
GENRE: LIVE WORSHIP
LABEL: INDEPENDENT
RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 17, 2009
THOMAS’ RATING: 2 OUT OF 5
LYDIA’S RATING: 2.5 OUT OF 5
OVERALL RATING: 2.25 OUT OF 5
THOMAS’ REVIEW:
Praise and Worship is an interesting thing. It can be an awesome experience for the listener, and I myself have been moved time and time again by a heartfelt worship experience. That being said, it’s extremely hard to translate that experience onto a cd, especially if the style is the typical contemporary pop sound that everybody’s heard, and even more so without the experience of actually being at the event. Thirdly, whoever is leading the worship will often make a decision to prolong a verse, play a chorus several times in a row, or just generally make a song longer than it normally would be. And don’t get me wrong, whatever the worship leader feels led to do by the Lord is great, and only adds to a great worship experience. Yet again though, this isn’t something that can translate to a cd, and although that isn’t a huge problem with One Life it rears its ugly head a few times through the course of the album.
One Life has a nice cover and a few songs would sound great in a church setting (as they’re played in the album) and those are the two best things about it. This album is incredibly long. And incredibly boring. And I mean that as nicely as possible. This is the typical worship fare that we’ve heard for years on end, and Anthem reproduces that sound perfectly. From start to finish, they deliver song after song of repetitive music that I’m willing to bet would be fun to listen to live, but is just plain boring on a cd. To make matters worse, almost all of the songs in the middle of the album start off with a quiet piano intro, crescendo a little bit towards the third chorus, and generally manage to stay remarkably constrained during their 3-4 minute time period. A few of the songs near the end of the album give the impression of wanting to get a little bit louder and excited, but even then the songs are so formulaic and repetitive that they’re still hard to like. And although this isn’t a huge issue, a few of the songs just feel stretched way beyond their intended time limit and just continue on until the listener finally presses the skip button or sits through in agony.
I probably sound like I hate this album and all worship music right now, but even if it may be hard to believe that’s not the case. I don’t hate this album, but there’s almost nothing in it worthy of note. I don’t want to insult something that’s so clearly aimed at glorifying the Lord, but it could be done so much better. I don’t have anything against Anthem, and I hope they have success in their work. But this album can be summed up in a single sentence: We’ve heard it before, and we’ve heard it done so much better.
LYDIA’S REVIEW:
Trying to be another ‘Hillsong United’ isn’t exactly a recipe for success. Failing at that… doesn’t bode well. Navigating the “modern worship” genre can be like swimming in shark-infested lakes. Care is critical. One Life is a sad example of how underwhelming the over-crowded genre can be.
Recorded live at one Cornerstone Church of Ames, Iowa, One Life sounds too much like a worship service trying to be a rock concert, with none of the passion or talent that lifts contrived formulae into an extraordinary experience. Throughout the album, I anxiously awaited a climax or defining point that stopped all the tracks from blending into one.
The operative word for One Life is ‘safe’. In trying to replicate experiences of other live services, Anthem has missed an opportunity to express themselves, and to offer up their work in worship. The result is disappointing. “Anthem exists to give the next generation a lyric and melody to express their passion and love for Jesus Christ. God is at work all over the world, adding to the song of His redeemed ones. We are just another of his many choirs, giving glory to Jesus for his life, death and resurrection” states their press release. The closing statement “we are just another of his many choirs…” is correct, at time it seems like Anthem has made no effort to stretch musically or develop stylistically.
The good stuff, (as Christians, we must always point out the good ) is lyrically the content is solid. The songs are song of praise, the words glorify God, and each chorus is meant to be used in a modern worship service. The vocals are not bad, and I cannot really fault the musician’s ability. It is really only the execution, the overall delivery that is in urgent need of some inspired thinking.
Maybe One Life grows upon acquaintance, but I’d say it would be better to give this album a miss.
Review copy provided courtesy of Anthem Worship.
This is disheartening to me, as I really enjoyed the album.
I disagree that the album lacks passion or is boring. I think the good that Lydia “had to mention because she is a Christian” is more notable than she implied. For instance, the lyrics are my favorite part of the album. I admit that some of the songs are rather simple lyrically, but others have more thoughtful and worshipful lyrics than I’ve heard in a long time, from any band. (One of my favorite lines: Incite every vacant heart, to be with you where you are.”)
I also think that the intention of most, if not all of the songs, was to be used in a modern worship service. It almost sounds as if Lydia found that to be true, and if so, even the critical got the point of the album. I’d consider that to be another success.
Ryan Seiler of Anthem Worship emailed me earlier today talking about the review. I won’t reprint what he wrote, but he was saddened and hopeful about the future. As am I. Here was my response to what he wrote, giving my thoughts about the album and the difficulty of reviewing the “worship music” genre itself:
The worst thing about all this is I LOVE the album for a number of reasons and dislike it for others. But, overall, I felt it was better than the reviewers gave it credit for.
When it comes to worship music, I find the reason for it is not necessarily beautiful artistic expression or saying something patently new, but rather to create a SIMPLE means by which people can engage God. When it gets too complicated musically or lyrically, you run the risk of being performance rather than corporate expression and losing the worshipper altogether. In that respect, I think “One Life” succeeded.
That said, I do wish more worship acts would take their lead from such acts as DC*B or Delirious, rather than Hillsong and Chris Tomlin. Not that every group out there should be emulating what’s popular. But, I look at DC*B and Delirious as experimental, boundary-pushing artists. I recently attended a DC*B concert thinking, “Why should I care? We sing their songs every Sunday.” But, then they floored me with how experimental and experiential worship can be at the same time. Never once did I feel like I was at a performance. I felt like we were taken to a next level of worship corporately. The same goes for Delirious shows, though they are also rock artists (sometimes). But, Hillsong and Chris Tomlin have created clones that belt out the same standard fare surface-level lyricism and arrangements. I have less of a problem with the lyrics than I do the arrangements. From one track to the next, I can tell you what will come and what it will sound like.
I suppose this is the difficulty of reviewing “worship” music. How do you critique an offering to God, even though it is released for public consumption? Again, I enjoyed “One Life” and I was genuinely able to worship. In that sense, you and I have certainly shared life together. In terms of what this album offered my reviewers, I’d say “frame it,” let it fuel you, and take the latent potential Anthem Worship has and experiment with “how the wheel is turned.”
All that said, “One Life” is worship. Regardless of whether I praise it or my reviewers critically-pan it, the point is your faithfulness. You might delete this and keep everything “as is,” and you’d still be faithful to Jesus. We don’t stand before the judgment seat and give account for the faithfulness of other people. We give account for our own faithfulness. Keep being faithful. I look forward to continuing to worship with you.
I think that musically Anthem is unique. The thing with Anthem is that they don’t just try to imitate another type of sounding music like you hear many others worship bands do. I really believe that Anthem has a unique sound. One of the goals of the Anthem band is to make music that is very relevant to the middle school age to college age group. I think that Anthem definitely succeeds in doing that. From song to song some things sound the same and may sound like another song from the album. I agree that the album doesn’t really have a climax, but it wasn’t designed to be that way.
One thing that I think that Anthem really does a good job with is the lyrics that they writes. Anthem’s lyrics are probably the most unique thing about them. The lyrics use a lot of scripture and really flow well. Anthem’s lyrics also use really descriptive words and words you usually wouldn’t think of when writing a song. For example, “Incite evey vacant heart, to be with You where You are.” I’ve never heard any lyrics by a worship band that have that much thought put into them.
Overall I would say that Anthem is a band that makes great music, and a band that desires to see God worshiped through their music. The overall goal of Anthem is to impact people in a relevant and to let God’s anthem ring above all of the lies in this world.
I have the drums sound checking behind me for a writing session. Writing music is simply what we do and so we continue doing it! I don’t have time to write a response, but I don’t want C.E. Moore or anyone to have the impression that we are saddened! We have deeply appreciated our dialogue between the Christian Manifesto and ourselves and certainly are hopeful of engaging our creative hearts with the Lord and sharing our offering with the public. I encourage people to use the album if they can! Free chord charts are available for you to use on our website! We are confident in what we are doing, even if reviewers don’t find it fully manifested in THIS album. Whether or not “One Life” is a great album, if it is our only offering, we have failed. We will not fail. with love, Ryan Seiler. Anthem
To clarify: By “saddened,” I simply meant that no one likes receiving a review that is less than stellar. Ryan communicated that he greatly appreciated the review and that they are going to use it to fuel their future creativity.
I strongly disagree with Christian Manifesto on their review of this album. Sarcasm is one of the three things this site describes itself as, and that must be the case with this review. I feel that while Anthem adds a new flair typical worship music, at the same time, every song on the album could be used in a Sunday morning worship service. I have never before heard a worship album have the diversity that “One Life” did musically or lyrically.
This album has been doing better than it was ever expected to do, and I believe it will continue to do so. I recommend this album to anyone that has a heart for worshiping the One True King. Whether you are a worship leader, or if you just want an album to crank up so you can worship God, “One Life” is a great album to have!
To “Name”. You are absolutely right. What I said about “finding good because I am a Christian” came out wrong, and you have all been left with unintended interpretation of my words. It was supposed to be a light-hearted comment, because I felt bad at completely knocking down One Life.
There is some good, and I pointed it out. I’ll articulate myself better now, the lyrics are inspirational, with words of praise and adoration that reflects hearts of worship. Yet, this is where I’ll finish this point– I was not drawn to them, because I couldn’t get past the music, which I could not connect to. I am not perfect, so I could be terribly wrong, so I apologise for any offense caused.
In mentioning Hillsong United, I was making a reference to live albums, where the band runs through the motions. Whilst at the time, they may the best faith-building experiences ever, on a CD, that is incredibly hard to translate, and in One Life, the passion didn’t come across. Maybe I was wrong, in suggesting it is not there at all, but in the time I gave in listening, I couldn’t find it. That is what I was looking for.
Reading the comments above, yes- it true every song could be used in a Sunday morning worship service, I said that. I wasn’t being sarcastic, and would love to hear more from Anthem… But if I am being honest, at this time, I don’t love this album, but I have been replaying it, and am open to hearing what others think.
In Christ,
Lydia
Wow, this got a lot of comments. The thing about this album is, it’s not particularly bad, it’s just unimaginative. I have nothing against this band, I hope their album does extremely well. In the end though, I agree with Calvin. I wish more bands would just branch out. If the Anthem guys are reading this though, you’ve got potential. If nothing else, you can make consistent worship music. All you need is a little more creativity and you’ll be there. I wish you nothing but the best in your career
Worship Music has one goal: Helping Christians worship. Therefore you don’t grade worship music on how fancy/unique it is, like normal popular music.That is meaningless and petty.
The Dude,
If that is true, then why did the Temple choir practice for a YEAR before performing a single note in the Temple? Why did God turn away from offerings of “strange fire?” I think if we just bring whatever we want “hodge podge” to God, then we are telling God he is only worth whatever we want to bring, rather than worthy of our creative best. Just my thoughts.
I’m with ‘The Dude’ on this one. Worship music shouldn’t be all fancy-like, what with more than two chords and actual lyrics (instead of classic lines like “Yay Jesus, you rock like my guitar!”). Nope! Worship music should be easy for Christians to follow, which clearly means it has to be dumber than even the crap mainstream culture pushes out. If we follow The Dude’s sturdy logic, that is.
Or, you know, a worship leader might actually write music worth engaging.
I believe they’re capable. And I believe Christians are smart enough to keep up.
But I’ve been occasionally known to have faith in things.