Rockin' live!!. Review on Ardent Worship - Skillet

Ask 10 Christian Worship music fans and 9 would associate worship music with a formal stage, an orchestra, a choir,.... Rock Music has produced very little live praise albums. Step in Skillet and Ardent Records!! Ardent Records has churned out 3 hot new live worship albums by three of their most popular acts - Skillet, All Together Separate and Satellite Soul. Of these Skillet really rocks ya. Satellite Soul is more acoustic. I've heard just a few snatches from the ATS album and can't comment.

Skillet performs this album at the Chi Music Room in their hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. There are 5 new original Skillet numbers mixed into regular worship numbers on this album. The choice of songs is brilliantand results in an awesome performance that stretches from heavy rocking numbers to soft intimacy to instrumental interludes that captivate! The musical interludes explore tha guitar playing skills of Kevin Haaland and piano solos by Korey Cooper. The later half of the album has many such poignant moments. Agreed that John Cooper's voice sounds like he has a sore throat, but he proves himself capable of singing just about anything!! The variation is stunning. Take the songs they've redone. There's the rocking heavy Your name is Holy (Brian Doerksen) that has some really awesome guitarworks. They've also strung in How Deep the Father's Love (Stuart Towend) which sounds like a hymn. Korey's vocals joining in on the last verse is wonderful Jesus, Jesuswhich is sung in earnest awe gives a very intimate mood to the worship experience in the first half.

The album also features Darlene Zschesch's Shout to the Lord. Now John's voice is 134% different from Darlene's! - but the song still has the same powerful feel that Darlene packs into her version!! The above songs are placed in the midst of original songs composed by skillet. Most of these are hard and heavy on guitars. The opener Who is like our God is a great starter and sets the mood for the rest of the album. Really gets you going. Jesus, be Glorified has Cooper screaming out with guitars screeching around that leads into a short Bible reading (read out in a business-like voice by John!). That leads onto Sing to the Lord that carries the rocking mood into the second half. It's a great blend of modern rock and straightforward praise music. Skillet is not all hard rock and that reflects in Angels Fall Down. The song has very few words but the lyrics and the soft piano with Korey's clear vocals accompanying John's create a wonderful song that leads into a prayerful instrumental interlude. I love the way the bass and the guitars blend into the piano and then burst out with John ooo..oo..ind and hmmmm..mm..ing in the background!! An absolutely fantastic moment in the album!! Safe with You has John's sore throat (ooops) cracking up in a few places and somehow does not fit in well. John Cooper says very little through the album. You hear him say Awesome God, We worship you Jesus, and a few other lines, but he builds a lovely intimacy into those few words that clearly show why Skillet perform - to glorify God!!