Delirious? - World Service

Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

After the sonically darker, more arty and ultimately less successful 'Audio Lessonover', Delirious? return with something more akin to classic Delirious?. A cleaner, straighter, less intense sound mixes in some of the worshipful elements of 'Glo' without it ending up as a "worship album". Certainly these are vertical songs and there are some rip roaring soaring songs like "Rain Down" with its plea for God to pour out his Spirit and the incredible driving "God In Heaven". There can't be many people who haven't heard the excellent "Majesty" after they gave thousands of copies away over the summer. "Everyone Knows" and "Inside/Outside" have a poppier sound and the latter has some cool vocals from Stu G. "Free" is typical of this new set in that it has an instantly memorable singalong chorus. Gorgeous string arrangements pop up here and there adding much beauty to the proceedings especially on "Everyone Knows" and "Mountains High". Another highlight is the broken ballad "I Was Blind" which finds Martin at his pleading best and then there's the introspective but reassuring "Every Little Thing" to close everything off. A definite return to form and an album that gets better every time you play it. Hopefully this will be enough to re-create the band's earlier momentum.