Mike's Mini Music Review - Kutless - It Is Well

A confession of sorts: I really didn't "get" worship music until Kutless put out their first worship album, Strong Tower a few years ago. I thought worship music was kind of boring and stodgy in style and fairly simplistic and repetitive in form compared to "real" music. The Strong Tower CD made me realize that, actually, what I didn't like about worship music was how it was being presented to me - on a church organ with no passion or energy. Worship music done by a band I like in a musical style more fitting with my personal tastes? Tremendous stuff!

A second confession of sorts: I much prefer Kutless's worship albums to their regular rock albums. If I had my way, they'd stick to making worship albums full-time. I really think this is what they're best at.

Without going back and doing a track-by-track comparison, I can't say whether Kutless's second worship album, It Is Well, is better or worse than Strong Tower. The highs of this album are very high: Amazed is a Starfield-like song in the spirit of Reign in Us that is excellent and will be a staple of many church services for many years to come. What Faith Can Do is in the pantheon of "one of my favorite songs ever" and I've been lobbying to have our worship team sing it in church. Absolutely fantastic. The title track is a creative reinterpretation of a classic hymn that pays tribute to the old church-organ version without dwelling on it.

The rest of the album doesn't quite live up to those three tracks, but it's solid and enjoyable. No complaints here.