Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

One of the things I appreciated about the David Crowder Band was the way in which Crowder liked to stretch the boundaries a bit and record songs in different styles. That continues with this latest album where he lets loose plenty of blues influences in what he describes as "swamp pop". This is particularly true on the first single from the album, "Run Devil Run", which is a blistering blues romp and the blues continues on the brilliant "Prove It" featuring rapper KB: I love the message - "If you're free, prove it"! The Americana influences are prevalent elsewhere on "All You Burdens" and the stomping "Promised Land". Just in case you're tempted to pigeonhole Crowder as a blues worship leader, the set includes plenty of more standard fare including the already popular "My Victory" and the prayerful "Forgiven". I love the soulful gospelly ballad "All My Hope" and the closing hymn-like "All We Sinners". Thematically these are songs of struggle and redemption and the album continues to celebrate a worship leader carving his own unique path and not falling into the temptation to simply create colour by numbers bland worship like so many others these days. This is a fine new album from Crowder where he continues to work on the cutting edge of the worship scene.

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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