Review

"Freedom" is a brand new project from the band Sound Of The New Breed who are basically Israel & New Breed sans Israel. I'm sure everyone that has listened to an Israel & New Breed CD has noticed that New Breed is one of the tightest, musically proficient bands in worship today. With their blended urban/rock/gospel rhythms, jazz runs and sometimes complex arrangements, it's hard to imagine that anyone listening to their music isn't blown away by their musical prowess within minutes. However on "Freedom" the band uses constraint and concentrates their talent on a different kind of project.

The basis for "Freedom" is simple. Select songs that many churches are already singing on Sunday (not necessarily CCLI's Top 25 either), and rearrange them into an accessible urban gospel arrangement. The results are pretty exciting. For example imagine Moen & Baloche's song "Arise" presented with African rhythms and singers that take the rejoicing to a whole new level. Another cool song is "The Freedom We Know" by Hillsong, done in a not-heard-nearly-enough urban/rock style. Also included are Darrell Evans "Freedom", Jon Egan's "I Am Free", Miriam Webster's "Made Me Glad, Tommy Walker's "Break Through" and more. All of these songs are done in a way that you have most likely not heard them done before. There are also a few songs included that we have heard before from Israel and New Breed including "Again I Say Rejoice" and the very powerful "Alpha and Omega".

From a listening/personal worship point of view, "Freedom" is a rewarding worship experience that is both joyous and intimate. There is no doubt that worship is the goal above any musical expression. As a resource, "Freedom" offers arrangements that are suitable for both urban churches that want to integrate more "rock worship" songs or for "rock/modern" worship teams that would like to expand into urban sounds. While there are currently no resource materials for this CD, I would hope that Integrity will eventually release at least a song book but preferable an entire suite of resources for "Freedom" in the future. While I don't listen to a lot of gospel/urban worship, I am inevitably drawn to the music of Israel and New Breed and "Freedom" from Sound Of New Breed is no exception.

Review by Jeremy Dunn