NEW MUSIC
NOW HEAR THIS | Gerod Bass
RED ROCKS WORSHIP
Things of Heaven : The Other Side over the pianos and guitars giving this song a velvety sweetness .
CHRIS TOMLIN Song Spotlight “ Always ”
1 . The Battle Is Yours 2 . Things of Heaven 3 . Breakthrough 4 . Echo Holy 5 . Now Here 6 . Living God 7 . Breathe Miracles 8 . Living God ( Stripped ) 9 . Now Here ( Stripped )
Red Rocks Worship is the worship ministry of Colorado-based Red Rocks Church . Founded in 2005 with 100 people attending a service at Heritage Square Theme Park , to now with more than 25,000 people attending regularly across multiple campuses . Their worship collective is let by Kory Miller and their latest release , Things of Heaven : The Other Side , is a complete rearrangement of a few songs that previously released in 2021 under the title Things of Heaven : Where We Come From .
“ The Battle Is Yours ” is a powerful declaration of faith declaring that no matter what we face , our God is with us in the struggle and worship is our weapon against the enemy . Worship leader Kory Miller ’ s syrupy tenor floats seamlessly
The title track is an honesty cry for the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself led by Elyssa Smith from the band Upperoom . This track features a very out-of-the-box instrumentation that includes strings , loops , Rhodes piano , a glockenspiel and even the faint sound of birds chirping . All of which paint a warm sonic picture of heaven .
This is a wonderfully rich album whose main intent is to provide an opportunity for the worshipper to place themselves in the presence of God and to celebrate His majesty . These are vertically themed songs written for both the individual and corporate worshipper . The arrangements are more on the difficult end of the musical spectrum but with some re-working , most worship teams could make these work for their church .
“ Living God ” is musical artistry at its best and probably my favorite re-arrangement of the original song . The arrangement envelops the ears as we get the power and majesty of who God is in the constant distorted keyboard in the background while in the foreground , we hear etherial guitars , pads , strings and keyboards that remind us of the wonder and awe of our Creator . Dare I say , the musical arrangement almost overshadows the lyrics , but the track as a whole is still beyond genius .
I am usually not a huge fan of re-released albums , but these tracks are so different from the original it is almost like a totally different release . Great writing and great creativity knocked it out of the park with this one for me .
It can be argued that Chris Tomlin has had the biggest impact on the current landscape of modern worship . He set the trend for what the modern worship song looks and sounds like . He helped usher in the age of singable melodies with words anchored in basic Christian truths that a generation of people still love , and he is still writing great songs for the church .
His latest single “ Always ” follows the trend of memorable melodies that are sure to get stuck the hearts and heads of millions around the world . Based on Hebrews 13:8 the songs heartbeat tells of God ’ s unchanging love that He has for His creation and the importance of God ’ s call for us to pass on our faith to the next generation .
Verse 1 reminds us of the miracles that Jesus performed during His ministry on earth . We hear about the healing of the blind , the raising of the dead and that our God still performs miracles today . The bouncy 6 / 8 rhythm , easy melody and creative wordsmithing instantly stick , and you can ’ t help but sing along . Tomlin quickly moves us from ancient to present as in verse 2 we are reminded of what He did for us and that He never changes .
The chorus is classic Tomlin featuring a soaring melody line as now we get to sing about our response to His faithfulness ;