Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

The folks at Nashville's Riverside Seventh Day Adventist Church have certainly pushed the boat out to ensure that its music group's debut album is as strong and polished as possible - something that all involved have pulled off with aplomb. Helped no ended by counting Joey Kibble of legendary acappella vocal group Take 6, Stellar Award-winning gospel singer Terrell Hunt and Virtue's Karima Kibble amongst its members, this studio-recorded gospel release from Riverside is simply a cut above the rest in terms of musicality, production and power. The funk-tinged "Praise The Lord" kicks things off in upbeat modern gospel fashion before the likes of "Psalm 63" and "I Love To Love You" help maintain the uplifting nature of the album. Elsewhere, slower and quieter numbers such as "Be Still" and the Bible passage referencing "Sacrifice Of Praise" will minister to the listener thanks to some pitch perfect and utterly compelling performances. A top notch and delightfully tight house band underpin proceedings and some fairly high profile guests - namely gospel star Earnest Pugh, the Kurt Carr Singers' Michelle Prather and Sunday Best finalist Maurice Griffin - add a further touch of class to an already quality affair. An accompanying disc made up of spoken word passages that expand on each song's theme by men and women from the church's sizeable pastoral team is also included and, whilst the tendency for each contributor to build up to a crescendo before yelling their message into the microphone may be off-putting for some, it does add further to value to this accomplished release.

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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