:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

Sometimes I wonder why most Christian worship music cannot hobble anywhere close to Delirious?: a band that has consistently produced quality records for years. With a fine mixture of songs that rock and songs with a gentle melody, Delirious? combines a passion worn on their sleeves with imaginative lyrics on their latest release: The Mission Bell.

Most Christian artists haven’t figured out how to really rock or how to slow things down without resorting to cheesy, sentimental melodramatic mush. If you listen to most Christian  lyrics, you’ll hear the same collection of words used in every other Christian song reshuffled, lest we confuse God by worshipping him with new metaphors and adjectives.

Just about every mainstream worship mix CD evidences this glaring deficiency, but fortunately Delirious? breaks the mold of Christian artist clones. Beginning with a simple, but powerful call to worship with “Stronger,” they jump right into the meat of the album with “Now is the Time,” a Christian pep rally neatly bundled into a fantastic song.

“Here I am Send Me” is a creative tour of God’s revelation throughout scripture with a strong application for today that manages to take a familiar concept and make it fresh. “Solid Rock” and “Our God Reigns” take older songs and completely revamp them, causing me to even forget that I’ve heard them countless times in church.

The momentum of the album comes to a head with “Paint the Town Red.” Though the metaphor is a bit grisly, it works well enough and the song is flat out one of the best I’ve ever heard from a Christian artist, taking the prize in the raw energy category for sure. I’m trying to make myself only listen to it once a day, lest I drive it into the ground.