Album Review :
The Glorious Unseen - The Hope That Lies in You
By Michael Mayer III in Reviews | Comments closed
Artist: The Glorious Unseen
Album: The Hope That Lies in You
Label: BEC Recordings
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Review by: Michael Mayer III
Tracklisting:
- All Around
- Take What’s Left of Me
- How He Loves
- We Can Be Renewed
- Heavyhearted
- Falling Into You
- Come, Heaven
- Sustain
- Breathe Life Into Me
- Awakening
- The Hope That Lies in You
- Sweet, Sweet Sound
The Glorious Unseen have crafted a strong worship album that wouldn’t fit in contemporary circles for their sophomore release. Ben’s passionate vocals perfectly mesh with the sound scape of instruments to create an ambient worship album meant to uplift and encourage as well as exalt.
The Hope That Lies in You starts off strong with the moving ‘All Around’ and upbeat ‘Take What’s Left of Me’. The latter of which features lyrics asking if God will be there when it seems like all is lost. The lyrics of this album are all worshipful and inspiring but nothing new for worship music as a whole. You’ve likely heard these many times before written in slightly different ways. Still, that doesn’t take away from the powerful impact they will have on many people’s lives. I will also readily admit to being a sucker for the worship song ‘How He Loves’. Every time I hear it I can’t help but reflect and appreciate all that God has done for me. The Glorious Unseen do the song justice as they offer their own take with Ben’s vocals being spot on to deliver the mood.
After that track the album is pretty much hit or miss with me. Some songs have wonderful climaxes that peak at the right time like ‘Falling Into You’ and ‘Awakening’. Others kind of meander around with little to offer beyond the first few minutes. I am a firm believer that if a song doesn’t have anything new to offer after the three minute mark then it needs to be wrapped up before it overstays its welcome. This happened more than a couple times since most every song is well over four minutes. ‘We Can Be Renewed’ went about two and a half minutes too long with its 5:31 track time, as did ‘Breathe Life Into Me’.
Also, in many cases the fantastic piano playing of Patrick isn’t used nearly enough. They even seem to tease at the end of ‘Sustain’ where a beautiful piano line comes in and fades out just as quickly. I was excited, thinking it was the start of a new song and then it was over. In ‘Falling Into You’, the piano work gives the backbone to what could have been just another mediocre song. They need to let this guy loose more often as it clearly works for their sound.
Overall: Depending on how you like your worship music will determine how much you enjoy The Hope That Lies in You. Their brand of soft, ambient worship music is alien to the radio world and for many that’s a breath of fresh air. The only thing is, if a lot of the songs were shorter or had some interesting twists to keep the listener guessing this would have been a fantastic release. Still, this is solid with some standout songs despite its shortcomings and it should be immediately uplifting to whoever lends an ear. If you need a new worship album that isn’t mired in cliches then look no further.
Gems of this album are: ‘How He Loves’, ‘All Around’, ‘Awakening’, ‘Falling Into You’
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