Review:
Rise
America there’s an ongoing debate among some Christian bands and singers over whether they should see themselves as ministers or musicians. On ‘Rise’, their second album, the Nashville, Tennessee-based post-grunge quartet Building 429 leave no doubt where they see their role, singing devotional songs about God’s love and grace on an album full of songs on and around the God-shaped vacuum in all of our lives (“we’re all searching for a saviour”) and such titles as ‘Empty’ (a duet with Michael Tait of dc talk) and ‘I belong to you’.
Building 429’s upfront stance is underlined by their choice of name, taken from Ephesians 4:29 (‘Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up’). However, the band seem to still be figuring out their musical identity as much of ‘Rise’ falls between a retread of the mega-popular CCM rockers Third Day and Coldplay.
High: The coda to ‘I Believe’ is from Andrae Crouch’s classic ‘Jesus is the answer’ and segues in beautifully.
Low:
Sounding much like Third Day.
Reviewed by James Tweed, journalist, editor and consultant.
£9.97
Authentic
3 stars
£9.97
