The Eden team have all had a listen, here's what we think of Hillsong Chapel's latest release 'Forever Reign'.
Anna - Online Store Manager
One of my favourite worship albums of all time is Hillsong Chapel's previous album, Yahweh; a beautiful and moving collection of stripped back Hillsong songs that speak right to the heart. So I couldn't wait to hear Forever Reign. Following the same format of your favourite most recent Hillsong tracks many from their latest album, Cornerstone, this album does not disappoint. The selection of tracks is a real win, including the powerful Desert Song and a rendition of It Is Well With My Soul – each tells a story, each a cry of praise to God. This is an album that will refresh and nourish the soul. With its laid back and peaceful approach, Forever Reign, for me, will follow in Yahweh's footsteps and become another firm favourite.
Rating: 5 out of 5
James - Marketing Assistant
I’m perplexed by Hillsong Chapel – the name makes me think “a dusty organ, choir boys and please turn to hymn number 437.” Obviously I’ve been chewing on the wrong end of the stick!
It’s a much simpler concept. They haven’t replaced their thousand-seater stadium for a peaceful chapel. Instead they’ve held an acoustic-style worship set playing familiar songs. So in essence, all they’ve done is recycled songs and hollowed out their guitars... wrong!
If you’re looking for an album that hasn’t recorded songs but captured worship, ‘Forever Reign’ is worth a listen. When they recorded the worship set they invited a group of worshippers onto the stage and hung some microphones above them (you can see them in the featured video of the title track). For me this shows they’re trying to break down the ‘performer-listener’ barrier of modern worship. The whole album encourages you to join in, like the people worshiping on the stage with the Hillsong band.
The songs are undeniably beautiful. Anyone buying this album will quickly discover there’s no hype, ego or bravado to be heard... just worship.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Les Ellison - In-house Writer
Forever Reign could almost be a best of Hillsong ‘unplugged’. Tracks from previous albums, including God is Able, This is Our God and Cornerstone run together into a continuous expression of praise and worship. Branded with the ‘Chapel’ label, these new recordings of old favourites are about as close as the characteristic sound of the Australian church band will get to truly acoustic arrangements. Really, they ought to braver and genuinely pull the plug; they have the talent, both in composition and delivery. Album highlight for me is their rendition of the old standard, ‘It is Well With My Soul’. Over engineered, with unnecessary additional words and astonishingly poor phrasing on the vocals, it still reaches the depths many lesser hymns can't find.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
February 26th, 2013 - Posted & Written by Anna Hockley
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