Review

I'll have to admit that I don't know a whole lot about Eoghan (pronounced Owen) Heaslip other than the song "All I Want To Do", from his last CD that I absolutely love and we use quite often in our weekend worship sets. I have been spinning his newest disc "Grace In The Wilderness" a lot in my CD player the last month and there are a couple of really strong songs. In fact I have added track number four "Great Redeemer", to my newest list of must do songs that I give out to our worship team. There is something about this song that resonates with me. One of the cool ideas that Eoghan incorporates into this song is the pronunciation of many of the multi-syllable words in which he puts the emphasis on a syllable that is not the way at least I typically annunciate those same words. It's just quirky enough that it is really kind of cool. The song also incorporates the great line from a familiar hymn, "Oh for a thousand tongues to sing". It also has another line in the chorus that I really found striking which sings, "Awake my soul and celebrate, the wonders of His grace, let heaven and earth join in the song". It just comes off as a really encouraging anthem to remember God's greatness.

Another highlight from the CD is the song, "You Shaped The Heavens". It is a song that reminds us of God's majestic power and that He is the great Creator of all. The verses are very poetic and flow very well while the chorus is incredibly hooky. I found myself singing this song, long after I had left the CD player in my truck. It also has a very cool bridge section that incorporates a pretty crankin' guitar part playing a seventh chord on each turn that just gives it a nice rock edge.

Eoghan also covers the Paul Baloche song, "Offering" which we have been doing quite a lot lately in our services. He has put together an arrangement that is a little less laid back than Paul's and incorporates a march cadence on the snare drum woven in and out of the song. There is also an acoustic guitar driven arrangement of the Doxology (Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow). This arrangement grows as the drummer adds in a fill on the toms that remains throughout the rest of the song. It turns out to add a lot of passion to song and has a bit of a feel remeniscant of Matt Redman's "Better Is One Day". Nonetheless, it works very well and definitely freshens up a traditional song.

There are a couple of other songs that seem to be a bit too repetitive for my taste. In the song How Majestic, the chorus just kind of drones on repeating the phrase how majestic, over the chord changes. Another song that does the same thing is the eleventh track, You Are Enough. While it starts with a great intro and melody over the verse, it slides into a chorus that just repeats and repeats, You are enough. A number of the other songs are a bit sleepy on the CD and I found myself skipping over a few of the tracks.

As I find so often with the plethora of worship CD's that are out there, this CD has some definite strengths and in my opinion some weaknesses and some meandering. All in all there are enough strong songs on here that you may want to check it out. I feel that the overall tone of "Grace In The Wilderness" is likened to one sitting back at the end of the day and letting the songs wash over you as you meditate on the words and just let them soak into your soul. I guess it seems more of a meditative CD and less likely that I would use more than a song or two for corporate worship.

Review by Bryan Bloom