Feel the music...

Nothing better than a good album review, right? Anyhow, if you didn't know, delirious? (it's a band and yes the question mark belongs there) is my all-time favorite band. I reviewed their latest album World Service from December and it lies below...

Brilliant. Ferocious. Charming. Startling. Huge.

It’s impossible to sum up Delirious?’s sixth studio album in one word.

There’s one thing for sure, though.

WORLD SERVICE is unquestionably their best album yet.

With the intimacy of Cutting Edge, the honesty of King of Fools, the depth of Mezzamorphis, the mammoth sound of Glo, and the raw muscle of Audio Lessonover?, delirious? have finally done it. After years of, no doubt, transforming the Christian music scene with some of the most sublime tunes ever, the d:boys are finally offering a gem that proves they’ve found their place...in their own words, “happy to be part of God’s world service”...and, on their knees.

But to get beyond the hype, the Christianese expressions, the anesthetizing generalizations...WORLD SERVICE is anything but a genre-sensitive album. WORLD SERVICE presses past all old boundaries, annihilating every old impression you had of the band and presenting some really savory stuff.

What is the nature of the stuff? The fact is it simply cannot be classified as “rock,” “worship,” or “evangelistic.” “Contemporary” seems best...but the fact is the eclectic mix of sounds creates an atmosphere ethereal-bound, to say the least. The band - Martin Smith, Stuart Garrard, Stewart Smith, Jon Thatcher, and Tim Jupp - each contribute ingredients of the overall sonic panorama with keys, screeching guitars, and heart-pounding drum thumps.

As far as melodic specifics go, the music ranges from soft-spoken beauty to frenzied bedlam. Take the opening track, for example. A shrieking guitar opens the album, leading into a series of rising and falling guttural electric roars that blend harmoniously into a chorus of jingle-jangle guitar chords. Or compare two songs. Listen to I Was Blind, with its piano driven serenity, compared to the riotous ferocity of Feel It Coming On’s pungent live-for-the-moment guitar riffs.

And the lyrics - well, folks, truth is, they don’t come any better on a delirious? album, perhaps, in the world of music, period. While some songs are reflective with lines like “the sands of time have let me see Your faithful shadow next to me,” other songs are steamed with the drippings of divine euphoria, in anthemic choruses like “To God in Heaven be the glory.” Others still, mourn that “sorrow came quicker than a fire”, and a few seem to say senseless, happy things, like “You still captivate me fascinate me, saturate me, liberate me.”

From beginning to end, the listener takes a trek through territory that’s much “too high for us”:



GRACE LIKE A RIVER - With raw-sounding guitars seeming to hedge Martin in, the words “heaven played it’s symphony, I took Your hand, you rescued me” drive comfortably into a simple chorus about the grace of God. It’s a mind-boggling opening, really, a track that keeps the listener guessing, expecting the unexpected. A rollercoaster of textured guitars are the heart and soul of this album launch pad.



RAIN DOWN - “Doo-doo-doo” raindrops mark the beginning of an anthem that builds layers upon layers of fervent desire into the rip-roaring chorus. A steady bass line and drum beat provide the backdrop for meditative verses that crescendo in a techno-vocal cry, “Do not shut the heavens, but open up our hearts!” The song seems to spread like a wildfire till its sudden extinguishing at its fade out.



GOD IN HEAVEN - A thrashing rock beat opens up a modern hymn that packs in a powerhouse of energy, unlike anything delirious? has produced to date. Gentle poppy drum beats meander through filler verses that climax in the screamed chorus, “TO GOD IN HEAV’N BE THE GLORY!” Louder and louder, the songs looses itself to several layers of guitars exploding all at once. Through the cacophony the vocals seem to ride sonic currents into an atmosphere of pure abandon in worship. Never letting go until the end, God in Heaven is one of the boys’ best upbeat worship songs ever.



MAJESTY - Simple. Beautiful. A break from the holy madness of the previous 3 tracks. “I’m nothing but alive in your hands,” this grace song sings to God. Probing strings and juicy acoustic guitar, along with vocals latent with adoration, make this song’s 5 1/2 minute length seem much shorter than it is. Guaranteed to get you looking heavenward, Majesty uses sensitivity in melody to accomplish its serene serenade.



INSIDE OUTSIDE - One of the best tracks to come out of d:land. Soft guitar picking and a constant beat throughout the song is interrupted only by a juicy bridge and hauntingly catchy vocals. The guitar is handled with a certain sublime dexterity. Martin’s “youuuu stiiill captivate me, fascinate me” is a high point of the album, as are Stu G’s mysterious verse vocals. Very moody, but yet open-aired enough to allow plenty of meditation, I.O. is a tune that you surely won’t be able to get out of your head easily.



FREE - “I’m free to be the man you want me to be, I’m alive when I’m alive in You.” The guitar riff is really sweet and hearty. With another “big chorus,” this track drives slowly, but surely with its hazy verse guitar and hearty repetitive riff uses great economy at a time of just under 4 minutes.



EVERYONE KNOWS - A song that’ll make you smile...guaranteed. Acoustic-led and containing plenty of little orchestral poppy hooks that contain a rising and falling “sunrise, your eyes!” vocal, this track is a happy, country-influenced path whose gentle bass, happy-go-lucky strings, and pop sounds will have the tune in your head in no time. A definite “album song” that excels in its simplicity - which it’s proud of, thank you very much.



WITH YOU - Points the way to new musical directions, for sure. The continuous, pounding drum, stirring keyboards, and intermingled guitars create a track that yields a golden melody. “It’s OK, cos I’m with you, I’m with you, only you, to steal another day, is all that ‘s on my mind,” the vocalist declares in a chorus whose driving beat and prickly guitars eventually detonate a bomb of a bridge with classy, classy distorted vocals that simmer down then burst once again into a musical reprise. A really pleasant track to listen to; again, simple, but ingenuous in its catchiness.



MOUNTAINS HIGH - The soft piano leads into beats, which lead into raw emotion, which lead into frenzied guitars, which lead into crazed outbursts of sorrow suffered by the band at the loss of John Thatcher, Sr., relative and friend of the band. The frankness of the song draws the listener in as it works it way higher and higher into a shouted prayer to God to “make me, break, wake me up.” The vocals are ethereal and the lyrics are sensational.



I WAS BLIND - A titillating musical environment, stirring the senses with lovely piano and an underlying, understated chunk of flowing guitar. “I was broken, but you carried me.” The song meanders unapologetically, stuck on the phrase “Let it shine on us,” as a fine musical texture supports an environment pregnant with hope and appreciation.



FEEL IT COMING ON - Stunning. In every sense of the word. A rare find, a modern masterpiece. Unapologetically candid, the singer groans, “All I want is to see Jesus, just one touch and I’ll be free,” until he gets to the chorus, practically howling “I FEEL IT’S COMING ON!” With sensational guitar riffs, clever drum beats, and a wild, screaming vocalist crying out to God for deliverance from a leprous heart, this track grabs ahold of the heartstrings and never lets go. From the beginning, the listener gets the impression of one heck of a ride, with a benevolently agitating guitar strumming intensified by a background “whoooooooooooo!” The song builds and builds until it’s dumped in the hands of Mr. Stu Garrard, who gives the track a megadose of adrenalin with one of the best riffs he’s ever injected into a song’s lifeblood before. As it seems the song may burst at the seams, it settles down with a steady beat and Tim’s interspersed keys to Martin’s resounding “Hold me tonight!” Unbelievable.



EVERY LITTLE THING - An encouraging closer. Perfect mix of keys/light guitar. Boasts some of the best lyrics, with “I’ve built my house where the ocean meets the land. It’s time to live again, pull my dreams out of the sand.” The highlight is certainly the chorus, with its catchy enthusiasm, it’s reassuring optimism, its gentle vocals. A nice little jam session ensues in the catchy bridge until the reassuring vocals carry the song through to its end.



There’s not much more that can be said, folks. This is the product of God, a few saints, and one impressive instrument collection. Furthermore, it’s the product of a journey...though the path for delirious? has been long, hard, and even misunderstood, God’s grace has brought them thus far, finally to their definitive album. And that’s the grace that shudders in the very fiber of the beats and melodies of WORLD SERVICE. Whether it’s shouted, whispered, or hummed, that grace proves to be bigger than this world we’ll leave.



Review by Joshua Clayton

12/22/03

So there you have it. Buy the CD.