LABEL: SOCIETY REVIVAL MUSIC GROUP
RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 25, 2011 

risis Worship is a near perfect worship project. Not bad for a debut album from a group with little-to-no hype behind them and no major label PR campaign to help with that process. Hopefully, we can do our part to communicate just how much we appreciate their sound. What Gungor is to worship artistically, Pavilion Towers is to worship vocally. The freshmen class of worship artists is certainly offering up a bevy of corporate and performance pieces.

The album begins with a brief sermon snippet of Pavilion Towers pastor Jerel Bland speaking about the nature of worship: “The present condition of our world has crisis written all over it…the crisis should keep us on our toes, listening for God; waiting in anticipation for God and ready to respond to God…” From here, the listener is ushered into worship that sings out of crisis and into glory.

From beginning to end, this project is about glorifying God. There’s less praise and more worship here, which is fine in my opinion. If this album does anything beyond the art is shape the listener theological, preparing hearts and minds to receive the word of God in their lives from the pulpit. There is definitely an emotional connection that happens with this kind of music that a lot of worship music tends to lack (given the anti-emotionalism movement in worship music today). Worship pastor Cortney Joi’s vocals may be the perfect voice to escort the listener into that space. Songs like “None Like You,” “I Want To,” and the imaginative, hip hop-tinged “Heaven on Earth” all serve as hefty “meals” in-and-of themselves. If anything, a person feels spiritually full after listening to this album. Is there even room for the sermon after this kind of worship?

My only gripe with Crisis Worship is that the songs are really long. I mean really long. The entire project clocks in at 80 minutes in length. Essentially, what Pavilion Towers has given listeners is two albums in the space ofone. While people are certainly getting their money’s worth, so many songs can and do begin to sound similar to one another. This isn’t about my inability to “tarry one hour,” but several 7-minute songs work better on a live project rather than a studio effort.

Overall, however, Crisis Worship is the future of worship music. People are often clamoring for deeper lyrics and more artistic expression in the area of worship. Fact of the matter is, the more things we say about God with simple language, the more profound they tend to be. With pop music synths, rock guitars, and hip-hop drums you quickly realize that this isn’t your average worship album. Crisis Worship introduces us to urban-contemporary worship music of Detroit-based Pavilion Towers. It’s refreshing that they opt to keep straightforward language and layer it with beautiful music and “praise team” vocal arrangements. This is one to add to collection. Grab it on iTunes today!