Reviewed by Matthew Cordle

The American Idol man returns with his followup to 2013's 'A Messenger', and to meet the challenge of following a successful debut has surrounded himself with a bevy of established songsmiths and a production team comprising David Garcia and Red Decibel Productions. Additionally Colton has kept his spiritual focus, recently saying, "I have a strong passion for my generation, to motivate them to the keep the torch lit." Hence the album title. Musically the style is similar to the previous album, rock with pop and dance elements, but with more noticeable raw edge. After a moody stadium-concert-style intro such as you might have found at a Petra concert in the '80s we're presented with "Our Time Is Now", written with TobyMac. It's the sort of song to get you up out of your seat and pounding the air with your fists. Other highlights are the title song, a powerful cry for help that poetically depicts the helplessness of the human condition, "More Of You", a highly singable declaration of abandonment to Christ ("I refuse to gain the world and lose my soul/So take it all, I abandon everything I am/You can have it/The only thing I need is more of you"), and "Dare To Believe", which takes the listener from a child's belief in the stories of the Bible through to an increasingly hard adult life. It reaches its climax with the declaration, "I will dare to believe that you are the Saviour living in me/You are the Son of God/You lived and died for us/You're here and you are still alive." While there are a couple of weaker, less inspiring moments and there could have been a little more sonic variety, most of the songs here are uplifting and thought-provoking. About the album Colton has said, "My hope is that at the end of it all, you feel closer to God than you did when you first pressed 'play'." It worked for me!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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