Tonight - Tobymac

Tobymac is back! On the heels of his most successful album "Portable Sounds," he is arriving with probably the most hyped release in Christian music history, and for a reason. His pop/hip-hop style has brought him to the top of the industry, and this record looks to further his trend of writing catchy, but message based tunes. While he debuted with a more hard rap sound, his musical feel has evolved into a (in my opinion) more enjoyable listen, and will no doubt grab a few extra fans on this time around.

Beginning on a driving note, the title track comes right off the bat, featuring guest vocals from Skillet's John Cooper and a handful of noisy guitar riffs that will, no doubt, capture his audience from the start. With big beats and plenty of polished styling already, it is evident that he is going to be sticking with his previous album's formula, while adding a few surprises along the way. "Get Back Up," comes next, and has a welcome radio friendly chorus that will follow the lead single, "City On Our Knees'" footsteps in air-wave success.

Section two is up now, and he didn't forget TruDOG. Nope, and this version ever featues his next son down the line as well. "LoudNClear" is a fun listen, and the kids in the backseat will enjoy the addition, despite some lyrical shortcomings. Some other favorites come towards the end of the disc, with the outstanding "Wonderin'," featuring Matt Thiessen of Relient K, and reminded me off the previous effort's smash hit "Lose My Soul." Another guest appearance comes on the CD's finale, "Break Open the Sky," a duet with Israel Houghton on this throughly refreshing tune, that brings us to a mildly abrupt, but expectable finish.

So wrapping things up, this was a nice piece of music that most likely won't go down in history as one of this decade's best, but will satisfy anticipation and most likely fill the three year gap he's dug since his last record. "City On Our Knees" has already answered the question of popularity. This may go down in the books as one of the most successful, but overall it wasn't the most impressive musically, over anything else we have heard from Toby in the past. And that is fine since "Portable Sounds" was so good, but if his audience is looking for a step forward in his music, they have a slight letdown on their hands. So if that is you, you may find this sounding like a remix album with a some minor additions, but if you are just wanting new material to stick in you stereo, than this is probably just what you are looking for. ~ Christian Lingner

31/2 of 5 stars