Believer opens with a rousing guitar-driven rocker, the anthem "If It Ends Today," which led me to expect that this would be an all-out rock CD. However, it's immediately followed by the radio-friendly ballad "Carry On," and then "All Yours," a modern worship tune. The remaining 10 songs have only one real rocker, "This Is Love." That's not to say the other songs are bad--"Even If" is an excellent worship power ballad telling us that
Even if the healing doesn't come / and life falls apart / and dreams are still undone / you are God / you are good / forever faithful one / even if the healing / even if the healing doesn't come
K-Love radio has plenty to choose from here and I believe this album will be quite successful with its mix of pop rock and worship interspersed by a couple of rockers. It's just very different from the past, when kids would bang their heads to "Your Touch" and rock out to "To Know That You're Alive." Ironically, reviews have ranged from ecstatic proclamations that Believer is the best Kutless album ever, to disappointment that they've played it safe and avoided originality. The bottom line is that they've become very good at producing polished radio-friendly and worship tunes, and that seems to be their current focus. There's nothing wrong with that, and I'm sure concerts will still feature many crowd-rousing rockers.
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