Bethany Dillon & Matt Hammitt - In Christ Alone

Producer:  John Mark Painter
Record Label:  Sparrow Records/EMI Christian Music Group
Website:  http://www.sparrowrecords.com

Last year, Sparrow recording artist Bethany Dillon and Sanctus Real frontman Matt Hammitt began the recording process with producer John Mark Painter on a new album full of modern hymns.  The song choices were meant to usher in a new set of songs from this century that would hopefully earn their status as this generation’s hymns.  The result is something much more intricate - more along the lines of an alternative based worship project rather than anything a congregation would pick up or would work well in other corporate settings.  All of the songs included on In Christ Alone: Modern Hymns of Worship on this compilation were written within the last few years and include newly written songs from Tim Hughes, Martin Smith, Vicky Beeching, Stuart Townsend, Marc Byrd, and more - artists and songwriters who have already made their mark on the over-crowded modern worship genre.  The song choices are really nice - everything from common songs like “In Christ Alone” and “How Deep the Father’s Love For Us” as well as stunning newer songs like Tim Hughes and Martin Smith penned “Clinging to the Cross” or Beeching’s “The Wonder of the Cross.” These are some truly great songs, unfortunately, the arrangements is where they fall short.  Bethany Dillon and Matt Hammitt pull of vocal duties well enough - but perhaps a few more voices (artists like Shawn McDonald, David Crowder, Rebecca St. James, or even Martin Smith and Vicky Beeching would have been nice additions to the record) could have propelled the record to greatness.  Dillon and Hammitt swap back and forth, and at times share duties on songs, but they really lack variety in their performances.  Musically, the album touches on everything from soft, ac-focused folk to ethereal modern rock - and most of the time things just don’t mesh from one track to another.  It’s unfortunate that an album with so much potential ended up being strikingly disappointing.

Purchase In Christ Alone: Modern Hymns Of Worship.

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