Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

'ROAG' is an album which has long made an impact on the Cross Rhythms team and it's been a couple of years since a copy landed in the office and found its way into our hearts and the UCB Cross Rhythms playlist. Such is the impact of this incredible recording that it inspired the theme of this year's festival. The impending visit to these shores of the man behind the album makes this a timely review. But how to sum up the scope of this prophetic, inspirational, stirring musical gem? David Evans is a musical chameleon who gleans the best of many genres and infuses them with his own trademark vocal passion and lyrical challenge to create a fusion the equivalent of splitting the atom! Opening as it does with '"Prophecy" and a looping rhythmic groovy pop that establishes we are in the last days and shouldn't be surprised when God calls young men and women to prophecy! Radical stuff! This album is a grower rather than a grabber. Aside from the hook ridden catchiness of "Close To Me" and the literally thermo nuclear explosive pounding of the rock funk "Got To Believe", much of this improves the more time you spend succumbing in it's charms! So you get samples aplenty and a rock'n'rap "General Unconditional" proving that Evans has the chops to get down in the 'hood' and even after three years, this still sounds fresh. "The Dream" with its reality checking honest lyrics betrays David's love of U2. The title tune with its epic introduction establish that this album is more than just a set of songs but instead has a prophetic edge to speak into the heart of a generation crying out for spiritual reality. The album closes with the downbeat almost Princelike soul of "What Really Matters" and the truth that at the centre of any life or any ministry, all that matters is intimacy with God. Packed with dangerous truth and great music. 'ROAG' is a total gem.

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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