The inside of the album cover declares the intention of this album. “This album is for anyone who has ever been pushed to the ground and trodden on by life…we believe that Jesus can take your life from the ground up.” It’s pretty clear that this is an album for building up Christians but also for reaching out to others. This ties with the groups history and status as part of The Message in Manchester.
Originally starting as a group of rappers from The Message Academy’s 5 month course Genetik Twelve24 was born as a schools ministry group covering other peoples work and sharing their faith, after a while – and positive feedback, the group started to develop their own style and sound. They have had a few releases, now From The Ground Up is their new full length album.
The development time with the EPs has really paid off with this album sounding crisp, clean and professional from the very beginning. From the sounds and production values this sounds like a top-notch release that you would imagine would be welcome anywhere. With this album having a major theme of love and being who you are meant to be it is no surprise that a number of these tracks sound like anything you might hear on the radio. Some Christians would consider this to be a bad thing – they have songs that don’t mention Jesus at all!
When you listen to the album as a whole then there is a much different story being told here. Yes it’s about love, about being who you are, and even having fun in songs like ‘We Like To Party’, but it’s also about the way life sometimes isn’t fair, but there is hope. The hope is clearly presented in a couple of tracks to be plainly Jesus.
There are a number of influences on this group and there are elements of American Rap/Pop, Afrobeats, reggae, and soul all wrapped up in an electro-dance package.
This makes for some entertaining listening.
The album is aimed at those of the younger scale of the audience, and like any music it won’t appeal to everybody. Having said that it’s hard to find something on this album to dislike. From the strong clear vocals on “Don’t You Give Up” with an infectious beat to the all out dance number that is ‘We Like To Party’ – a song that is simply fun!
There are songs with a message and they are conveyed with as much passion. There is even a challenge that it’s time to love, not in a romantic sense, but in a sense that we all need to be loved, no matter who we are, and the flipside of this is that we all need to love someone.
I enjoyed this album, and I am sure that any fans of youth bands like L.E.D? will undoubtedly love this. Listen to the video and then click above and get this album – or buy it for someone who needs Jesus in their life to build them back from the ground up!
Click link to purchase From The Ground Up and to get tickets for the 2016 UK Tour.
Review by One Man In The Middle
