Hillsong Live's "Glorious Ruins" Album Review

(Photo :Hillsong)

"Glorious Ruins" is an oxymoron.  In secular parlance, it would be ludicrous to search for glory within the debris of one's ruins.  But in the demands of the Gospel glory and ruins are, like two sides of a coin, indispensable.  The call of Christ is to die.  We are called us first and foremost to die to sin, ourselves and our selfish desires.  Unless we first learn to die in utter ruins, there can never be

However, in the post-Zschech configuration of Hillsong Live, there is an absence of the female sound.  Initially what set Hillsong Live apart was Zschech's mellifluous vocals.  Even on songs she was not singing lead, she would always add her haunting harmonies to create a rich vocal layer that has become their patented sound.  This time round, Annie Garratt and Laura Toganivalu are the only female representatives here.  Garratt who got to sing lead on two full cuts on "Cornerstone" gets only get to sing lead on the last verse of "Man of Sorrows" with Jad Gillies. "Man of Sorrows" exhibits all of Brooke Ligertwood's (Fraser) greatness:  intricate Scripturally-woven lyrics and a stately hymn-like melodic structure.  Another Ligterwood co-write is "You Crowned the Year" featuring Laura Toganival on vocals.  "You Crowned the Year" is a celebration of God's goodness to all who draw near to Him based on Psalm 65:11.  However, just like Zschech, Ligertwood's voice (she sang lead on previous Hillsong's favorites such as "Lord of Lords" and "Hosanna") is dearly missed.     "Glorious Ruins," the title cut, a song led and co-written by Joel Houston expresses the very heart of this record when Houston sings, "Let the ruins come to life/In the beauty of Your Name/Rising up from the ashes/God forever You reign."  This pensive worship ballad that speaks of resurrection after all we have hoped for in life has crashed has a holy reminiscence of how God raised an army out of dry bones in Ezekiel's time. "Christ is Enough," on the other hand, is one of two Reuben Morgan led songs.  "Christ is Enough" comes into two movements within the song:  the first finds Morgan exalting the eminence of Christ as our all sufficient need.  The second movement seamlessly tags on our response to Him with the hymn "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus."   The other Reuben Morgan-led song "Glorify Your Name" is this album's lodestar.  Co-written by Morgan with worship music's biggest names including Matt Maher, Chris Tomlin, Jason Ingram and Ed Cash, "Glorify Your Name" is a twenty first century "How Great Thou Art." any resurrection into Christ's glorious life.  This Gospel paradox is the apotheosis of Hillsong Live's twenty second live album. Released perennial normally in July, the release of "Glorious Ruins" is to coincide with the Mega Church's yearly conference in Sydney, Australia.  As there's ring of melancholy accompanying the notion of ruins, what's most heartbreaking about "Glorious Ruins" is the complete absence of Darlene Zschech.  For 21 albums, Zschech has been the face, the voice, the pioneer, the orchestrator and the visionary behind each and every Hillsong Live album.  More than just known for writing some of Hillsong's most popular worship staples such as "Shout to the Lord," "Worthy is the Lamb" and "At the Cross," Zschech took what was the worship music of a suburban church to an International level.  Zschech's absence is definitely a felt loss here.  Without Zschech at the helm, the vocals are split between the usual crew of Reuben Morgan, Matt Crocker, Joel Houston, Jad Gillies, Ben Fielding, Jonathon Douglass, Annie Garratt and Dave Ware.  The only featured new lead vocalist is senior pastor Brian Houston's daughter Laura Toganivalu.

Fans who love the fast and sturdy worship builders such as "Running' or "Salvation is Here" or "Better than Life:" will definitely love the hook -laden "Always Will."  However, the blatantly few female leads and far too many sound-alike male leads make some of the tracks flow one into another without much distinction.  Also, tracks like "Closer" and "God Who Saves" may find great affinity with today's modern worship songs but they have pilfered their distinctiveness along the way.  Nevertheless, despite these quibbles, "Glorious Ruins" is still one of this year's best worship albums.  This record again quiets the myth that Hillsong Live is all about hype.  Rather, they are a talented faith-filled worship band that believes that even after our lives are blown into smithereens, we will still rise again from our ruins.  Such resurrection comes not from the outflow of our goodness or our strength.   Rather, it is a testimonial to the death-defying power of our glorious and resurrected Christ.