Reviewed by Tony Cummings

MIC, as any Christian music buff will tell you, are South Africa's most popular Christian band and their frequent UK appearances have given them a sizeable British following. Now, with their seventh release, they introduce their new five man lineup and, even more intriguingly, weigh in with a worship album. There's also been a subtle musical change with the band moving their sound from the rather dated pop techno dances of old to a thoroughly contemporary urban pop sound, fusing R&B and boy band sounds to make an invigorating radio-friendly sound. Gunther Schroeder and Stephen Rothquel are still the band's songsmiths and on a declaration of abandonment to God, like "Blaster" (grab that vocoder lead voice) or a song of praise with "Through"(with a seriously funky groove), the effect is delicious. Lyric writing is a tad uneven ranging from the intelligent (the Euro-influenced "Picture" is the first song I've ever heard to include the word omnipresent) to the banal (the rap on "Great Big God"begins, "Let's rock non-stop the beat that we drop/God's what we got so we're heading for the top") but any band pitching their music so defiantly at today's teenager have to keep it simple. They do some revolutionary things with Hillsongs' "Eagles Wings"and fans of MIC's dance grooves of old will love Cameron Dante's eight minutes, 10 seconds Ascension Remix of "I Am Yours". To my ears "Give You Love" is MIC's best ever album and one which will surely connect with youth wherever it's released.

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.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.

This track data is supplied by the Cross Rhythms CD/DVD review library. Please note that CD tracks may vary according to release region or product version.