We Cry Out - Jeremy Camp

Jeremy Camp’s newest effort, “We Cry Out,” a strictly praise and worship based project, releases this week, and though I have enjoyed his music in the past, I wasn’t convinced about this album from the beginning. Coming in to do a review for the CD, I was expecting a bunch of lightweight covers and songs I had already heard a thousand covers of, and after listening to the first half, I was still pretty sure my thoughts were intact.

Starting on a surprisingly upbeat and pop/rock note, the lead single “Jesus Saves” was a nice thought even if it lacked some depth. “Not Ashamed” is similar with a hand-raising chorus and will no doubt be a concert favorite in the future. So far I was feeling slightly bored but was trying to stay awake through “The Way,” an uninteresting and rather uneventful track that really never dug deep enough in it’s material to keep me mentally conscious. To this point I wasn’t impressed with the overall originality shown here, though I’m pretty sure now that that wasn’t really what Camp was aiming for with this album. Simplicity was the direction he was obviously going but it took me a while to catch on.

A little over half way, “Everlasting God” got me going with a pleasantly raw sound and some extra acoustic instrumentation to add some flavor. I was ready for a turn around. Next came the eight-minute “Overcome,” but though I was preparing myself to suffocate in an overly dramatic chorus and big choirs, the song instead took a more soft-spoken and thoughtful route in what ended up one of the best tunes here. The last couple-were two of the most moving and by this time I was starting to enjoy myself. “King Jesus” and “Unrestrained” both showed off his more down to earth feel, I just wish he’d gone there more on this disc.

So here I am wrapping it up, and although I wouldn’t mention this is the best worship album of the year, I would have to say it was a good CD that Jeremy’s fans should pick up, as well as praise and worship lovers. Some would call this a cover album, but it ended up that his originals were even better than those, and that fact gives me much hope for his next outing. ~ Christian Lingner

3 1/2 (5)