Review: Jesus Culture's Come Away
4 out of 5
This, I believe, is the album everyone has been waiting for. A CD/DVD package of Jesus Culture worship recorded live at the Encounter conference in Redding, USA, and served up in 5.1 digital surround sound. So is it worth the wait? Well, let’s proceed further.
On ‘Come Away’, their fifth album, Jesus Culture offers us 10 giant songs. Don’t be surprised if you’re still listening to the same track 10 minutes later! This really is a feature length album so get ready to be absolutely drenched in worship.
There’s a nice mix of familiar worship songs and original Jesus Culture creations but what they share in common is reverence and awe for God and that’s in large part due to the richness and warmth of the vocals of Chris Quilala and Kim Walker-Smith.
There are songs to awaken your enthusiasm to, like ‘My Passion’, while ‘Rooftops’ is the perfect song to put your hands up to as we remember once again just whose we are.
My personal favourite is ‘I want to know you’ – a reverential, slow-paced piece in which Chris just lets his words soar out into the open space about giving his all to God. If you want to feel the heart of worship, it’s here.
Yes there are many worship bands out there and many of them I’m glad to say are great. But Jesus Culture really has set a new standard in live worship and they’re answering that yearning inside the heart of so many young people to worship God.
This CD and DVD package give us electrifying beats, atmospheric sounds, rich vocals, worshipful lyrics - all great stuff. And whether the tracks are high powered and turned down a notch, they have a depth that seems to wrap around you as you listen.
And that’s where I believe the magic lies. Jesus Culture is really able to make the crowd feel like we’re all in this together.
There’s something so sincere and heartfelt about their worship that everyone else just can’t help but get caught up in it and that comes through even in these recordings.
It’s not surprising that Jesus Culture is fast becoming the most influential youth worship movement of our time. Fans of worship, buy this album. Other live worship bands, take note.
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