Music Review: Until the Whole World Hears by Casting Crowns

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Good songs like "Joyful, Joyful" and "Jesus, Hold Me Now"

Cons: Weak lyrics and similar sounding music make most of the disc blend together

The Bottom Line:

This isn't at par

Casting Crowns can be better

But fans will enjoy

The Focus on Worship Leaves This Casting Crowns Fan Disappointed

When Casting Crowns burst onto the scene, I instantly fell in love with them.  All three of their previous releases have been great.  So getting Until The Whole World Hears, their latest release, was a no brainer.  Unfortunately, it doesn't pack the punch of their previous releases.

Casting Crowns' previous releases have been an eclectic mix of several different things.  They've had worship songs.  There are the songs calling the church to love the hurting and actually live the Christian life.  Then there are the songs designed to encourage.  Of those, I have found their worship tracks to be the weakest.  They just don't pack the lyrical punch the others do.  So you can imagine my problem when I say that this one is pretty much just worship tracks.

Not every track fits into the worship mode.  "Until the Whole World Hears" is a song of commitment dedicating to keep singing about God.  It's about as rocky as Casting Crowns ever gets with a strong beat and strong guitar.  It's a good opener.

But the worship tracks come with "If we've Ever Needed You."  Some might argue that this piano heavy track is another song of challenge.  And there is certainly a challenge in there as they sing about how far the church has fallen from God.  But the chorus is just four lines with plenty of repetition, which is usually one of my complaints about worship songs.

There's no doubting that "Always Enough" is a worship track as lead singer Mark Hall sings about how God helps in all seasons of life.  The piano solo of the first verse gives way to strong drums, guitar, and violin as the song progresses.

"Joyful, Joyful" is a new arrangement of the classic hymn.  Yes, you hear the familiar Beethoven inspired melody on the verses, but it's missing on the new chorus.  Thanks to a full string section, this sounds very triumphant.  I love it.

We're back to the slower tracks for "At Your Feet."  This piano ballad offers all of our past and future to our Lord.  It's pretty to listen to, but the lyrics are too trite and I just don't connect with them.

"Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me)" is a modern hymn.  It's mid tempo and starts quietly with piano before adding the rest of the band on the chorus.  The lyrics aren't bad here, but the song isn't especially memorable.

Strong electric guitar riffs are your welcome to "Holy One."  It's a nice upbeat song, and that really does help set it apart.  It's another song I really do enjoy here.  As a bonus twelfth track, we get "Shadow of Your Wings," which is an early incarnation of this song that Mark Hall used with his youth group.  That's a pure rock song, and I love it even more than this one.

"To Know You" slows things down again, and opens again with piano before bringing in the electric guitar and drums.  The reminder of what knowing God means is certainly fine, but again, there isn't anything here to make the song stand out.

"Mercy" is one of two songs where the Melodee Devevo and Megan Garrett, who normally sing back up, take the lead.  The piano stays in the forefront for the majority of the song.  The problem here is that the chorus just repeats over and over after about the half way point.  It's a pretty song with a great reminder about God's mercy, but I get bored with it.

"Jesus, Hold Me Now" is an interesting song.  Basically, they took the verses from "The Prodigal" off their second release, wrote a new chorus, bridge, and melody, and rerecorded it.  It works quite well.  Honestly, if you didn't know, you'd think they wrote everything new here.  And since I love the original, I love it here.  The verses about the problems of living on your own truly lead into a fervent cry for God to come and comfort and renew.  Again, it's a slower keyboard song, although the drums are fairly strong when they come in.

The women close things off with the last official track of the disc.  "Blessed Redeemer" is yet another slower ballad.  This one praises Jesus for His sacrifice for us.  Violin has a strong presence in this song from the very beginning.  It really is beautiful.

But too many of these songs sound like each other.  Casting Crowns has always been a contemporary/pop band, but usually they offer a little variety in styles from one song to another.  Here they seem to stick to one basic formula for their songs.  You can have the best lyrics of all time, but if the package is always the same, my mind wanders, and I miss it.  Frankly, these aren't their best lyrics, so you combine the two, and I leave disappointed.

Taken individually, the songs here are good.  And if anyone else had released this disc, I would probably enjoy it.  But it isn't nearly as good as Casting Crowns' previous releases have been.  Until The Whole World Hears won't get nearly the play time of its predecessors.

CD Length: 51:02

Tracks:

1. Until the Whole World Hears

2. If We've Ever Needed You

3. Always Enough

4. Joyful, Joyful

5. At Your Feet

6. Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me)

7. Holy One

8. To Know You

9. Mercy

10. Jesus, Hold Me Now

11. Blessed Redeemer

12. Shadow of Your Wings