Review: United We Stand

1. Intro
2. The Time Has Come
3. Take It All
4. From God Above
5. From the Inside Out
6. Came to the Rescue
7. [A Reprise]
8. None but Jesus
9. (Selah)
10. Fire Fall Down
11. Revolution
12. Kingdom Come
13. No One like You
14. Sovereign Hands
15. The Stand
16. (Selah)
17. Hallelujah

my first purchase of a united album is way back in 2000 when i bought a cassette copy of their debut release, everyday. although the boys sound somewhat nervous in this live recording, it effectively captured the r-a-w passion of the emerging youth ministry in their church. six years and seven (? sorry i have lost count) albums later, united has become the most-admired youth worship band in the world. they played to sold out crowds in canada, the states, japan, and some parts of europe.

in their latest offering, united we stand, united was able to use the current musical trend and integrate it in their music. while look to you shows hints of U2-styled guitar, united we stand plays on danceable, post-punk guitar riffs reminiscent of bloc party and franz ferdinand. the first three songs in the album, the time has come, take it all and from God above, is sure to make the congregation dancing. i really like the challenge they have mentioned in the time has come:

the time has come to stand for all we believe in
and i for one am gonna bring my praise to You
today, today it's all or nothing to give You praise
in everything i do, yeah all the praise goes out to You

excellent guitar works on these songs, their main guitar dude boasts of an arsenal of amazing guitar pedals (drools). on the slower songs, from the inside out is sure to pick up where the song til i see You left off. this sweeping, heart-felt ballad exemplifies joel houston's maturity in his songwriting. the stand is a song of abandon, this pretty sums up the theme of the album.

in most respects, this album is similar to previous releases of united. the dynamics and the flow of the songs are the same but it is worthy to point out how their songwriting has matured. dear united, please come to manila. we love you guys and hope to see you lead worship here...