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1. I suspected it was going to be a great album.
2. They donated all of the profits from the release day to support a Compassion Child Survival Program in Uganda.
That adds up to $25,000 for that project, enough to fund it for a whole year.
Compassion's CSP focuses on children from womb to 3 years old, which is a crucial period for children, especially in developing nations. Visit www.compassion.com/help-babies.htm to learn more and sign up to sponsor a CSP for $20 a month.
And, even though you missed the release day, I still recommend you download the album. Not only because I love what they've done with Compassion, but because I think there's some good stuff here.
If you've never watched or listened to Elevation Worship (or Elevation Church), they're definitely a younger crowd. I find it interesting that, because Elevation Church is so very young, trendy and exuberant it gets some hate for being shallow or "too relevant." I'll save my thoughts on that for another day and share my very early thoughts on the album.
The Deluxe Edition on itunes is $14.99. That comes with 6 videos and a digital booklet that includes the chord charts for the entire album. There's also a message from Stephen Furtick (the pastor of Elevation Church) that tags onto the end of one songs. The story behind how that happened is actually pretty cool, you can hear it in the video below.
On the critical side, For the Honor occasionally has the unpolished vocals that often come with a live worship album, occasionally tone or pitch are sacrificed for the sake of volume or energy. The other common issue with a live album is that some of the tags may feel a little long long if you're not in the mood, but it's great driving music. There's also not a ton of diversity on this album. All the tracks feel pretty similar, not only to each other but to a lot of live-worship albums by other bands. But hey, I dig it.
For your edification, I'm also presently digging All Things New, Our King Has Come and, of course, For the Honor.
I'm a lyrics girl so I could do with a bit more richness lyrically, but there are some pretty things here:
we've seen redemption
at the heartbeat of our church (We Rejoice)
relief swells like air in my lungsThe whole album is very praisey and celebratory but gives you some meditative moments with For the Honor and All Things New, and I love way the album ends:
and freedom releases my shame (Give My Life to You)
He is alive and we are freeBeyond lyrics, there is a mountain of energy on this album, which you need on a live worship album. I love it when young people are passionate, empowered and really feel like they have a vision for their ministry. It makes me hopeful about my generation.
He is alive and we have found our peace
Our King has come (Our King has Come)
So, have you downloaded For the Honor yet? What do you think? If not, what are you listening to these days?
Thanks for this recommendation - I'd not heard of them. My husband and I were just commenting how "out of it" we feel when it comes to music these days. We used to know all the new bands and now we seem stuck in a time warp. I think we will love this. I just wish we had known on the release date so our money could have gone to Compassion!
ReplyDeleteI hope you like it! If you enjoy Hillsong or Jesus Culture you'll probably like Elevation, they have a pretty similar sound.
ReplyDeleteI'm kicking myself for not posting something sooner to the release date. In any case, the project is funded for a whole year!