Reviewed by George Luke

Commissioned are living proof that losing your best known members doesn't have to be the death of a band. Fred Hammond, Keith Staten, Montrell Darrett et al might have moved on, but Karl Reid and Mitchell Jones have kept going, joined on their latest offering by the amply talented Marcus Cole and Chris Poole. The band's still very much on the R&B tip, but on this album the emphasis is more on worship. I must admit I found the first track "We Will" a tad boring once we'd got past the promising, pompous Intro, but the album improved steadily with each song. The Herbie Hancock/Roger Troutman-style vocoder vocal fills on "Glorious Praise" were a nice touch, although the line "When I think of all his goodness and all he's done for me," is a bit clichéd. At one point, we're transported back in time to a storefront church somewhere for a good old-fashioned gospel service - all testifyin' and praisin'. Just as you're beginning to enjoy it, we're suddenly yanked back to the present with "Testify", (as far as song intros go, this has to be one of the more ingenious ones I've heard). Other highlights were "Psalm 84" with its Christopher Cross guitar riff, "You Stayed With Me," where they go all Take 6 on us, and the closer, "Walk Right".

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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