It’s not often that an album ticks all the boxes: vocals, lyrics, originality and value in the One Man In The Middle reviews. Here is the most recent, top rated album – Follow Through by Unspoken with a whopping overall review score of 10 out of 10!
Album Information:
Unspoken is a multi-cultural band comprised of four members: Chad Mattson (lead singer), Jon Lowry (bass) both from Maine, Mike Gomez (electric guitar) from the Dominican Republic, and Ariel Munoz (drums) from Puerto Rico. The group grew from a seed planted when Chad went to the Dominican Republic on a missionary trip and began playing and songwriting with Mike. Gomez returned to the states where he met Chad’s childhood friend, Jon Lowry, they immediately added his diverse talents to form the group Unspoken.
Ariel Munoz joined the band when he met Unspoken at a Nashville talent contest. Since then Unspoken has made great strides as an independent group, playing with such high-profile acts as Third Day, David Crowder, Casting Crowns, TobyMac, and Pillar. Their live performances are electrifying because they are a band who loves to worship in the belief that as we seek to know the fullness of Christ personally, worship is freely and passionately given. Their eclectic blend of ethnicities and musical roots has led to one of the most unique and exciting sounds in Christian music today.
Review:
This is the second album from Unspoken and tells the next chapter of the story of these four guys. Their first album which was a self-titled release contained many songs dealing with their history, this album was a great success selling over 100,000 copies. With such success under their belts some artists would go back to their history again and try and re-use those experiences, thankfully Unspoken have decided to move on and this new album “Follow Through” is more of a celebration of what God has been doing in their lives over the last few years.
The praise starts off with the brilliant “Higher” which features some great saloon style piano before a wall of horns kick in and this worship all kicks off. This is a bit of an unconventional praise song, but it works with enough simplicity in the chorus to be able to join in. Chad Mattson is the lead vocalist and does a great job of keeping this on-song but with some great variation in tones making this a great compelling track, compelling to worship and just maybe to get your moving. I was listening to this earlier this evening preparing tea and yes I was dancing around the kitchen, thankfully the guests in the lounge didn’t notice.
“The Cure” is a features a brilliant hook that will be running through your head all day after listening to this track. Again this is a great song of praise that reminds us that “You are the cure, everybody’s searching for it, everybody’s reaching out, trying to grab hold of something real”. There is so much to enjoy in these tracks with the boys having taken the whole feel of the album up a notch. If you are looking for a fun song then “Open The Clouds” will fulfil that need as the band look to the return of Jesus with a joyful track.
The next track “Miracle” is one of my favourite tracks on the album. When you are waiting for your miracle to come to pass it’s easy to give up and this is a reminder of speaking the impossible. “You’ve got to pray ’til your breakthrough breaks through the ceiling, keep on believing, don’t you give up on a miracle.” I love it, what an encouragement and some great word play – along with a great tune. There’s elements of DC Talk and early Newsboys echoing through this track. The word play doesn’t stop there “Life In The Death Of Me” is another clever track that reminds me a lot of Feliz Jordan’s “The River”, but with an extended meaning.. Finding life when you die to yourself and you accept God’s plan for you.
“Soldier” starts with a stomping sound, and quickly brings in the vocals which takes the military theme of fighting for something worthwhile – for me the highlight is the inclusion part-way through of one of my favourite songs when I was a kid “I may never march in the infantry.” Oh I used to love that song! So this invokes a whole range of feelings and emotions for me!
The title track for this album is a reminder of the choice that we make when we choose to follow Jesus. It’s more than just a one-time raising of your hand, it should be a total surrender to Jesus in every area of our life. This is a challenge because when we think this through it’s a huge thing and yet it is what we accept and commit – we have to “Follow Through” with actions too.
As a whole this album has a great sound and I would say that this is one album I would happily have on my regular playlist. Although I haven’t mentioned every track on the album in this review there isn’t one that is particularly weak in my opinion. The only real problem I have with this album is that the publicist only sent me the standard version of the album and not the deluxe edition with the additional tracks! The only other negative thing about this album is of course the title, which, let’s face it, seems a little worrying!
For track listing, ranking breakdown and more check out onemaninthemiddle.com
