LABEL: INO RECORDS
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 22, 2011

our years is a long time. A lot can happen in the days it occupies. People grow up. Things change. Your newborn baby will soon start school whilst your teenager finishes high school.  One could even graduate from college. Or, as in this case, a finished band can find life again.

Echoing Angels had a lot of obstacles to overcome in releasing this self-titled sophomore album. Most bands don’t survive the loss of a manager and a booking agency, plus a label change and new members in the group. But they did. After releasing the respectable You Alone, things kind of fizzled out of control. But these boys are back with a self-titled sophomore release.

Their second offering has been billed as pop/rock with a Southern influence. I’d go with Steven Curtis Chapman meets Third Day channelling Needtobreathe with hints of Philip, Craig and Dean. You get feisty pop-rock mixed in with AC worship. The whole experience is a bit mix-and-match. Echoing Angels gives diversity a whole new meaning. The opener “Say What You Believe” is punchy, catchy and brilliantly alive. The closing “Leaving Here” with its banjos and country feel, is a track from altogether a different era.

The musicians in Echoing Angels are gifted. Hearing the guitar riffs in “Burnin’ Through The City” will dispel any myths that suggest otherwise. But the nagging feeling that their sophomore album is trying to be a little too much unfortunately isn’t similarly dismissed. It is not a criticism I often throw. Not to say the album is a disaster. “Give You Peace” stand outs from the rest as a noteworthy track with its message of assurance. Similarly “Love So Beautiful” is a solid worship song.

For those of you who remember “You Alone,” it appears that that the band that composed great “Make It Better” is no more. Echoing Angels underperforms, even in all its diversity. After the fantastic opening, it seems like there is a lack of direction, and focus. There is no idea which shapes the album. The lyrics tend to the dull rather than the dazzling. The album is not a disaster, but neither is it a chart-topper. It would be a shame if Echoing Angels waited another 4 years before releasing another album, but they definitely need to spend time evaluating the sound they want to emulate.