Reviewing worship albums is always tricky. Live ones, even more so. The atmosphere that accompanies the recording of such albums can’t really translate to your experience when listening after the event. At the same time, it’s not really fair to judge it purely as a recording.‘Facedown’, then, falls into the cracks between live album, worship album and performance. It has its work cut out, then, in succeeding on any these levels, and its to Matt Redman’s credit that it is largely successful. There are some excellent songs here, from the upbeat ‘Praise Awaits You’ to the anthemic ‘Mission’s Flame’ to the singalong ‘Worthy, You Are Worthy’. The last of these is perhaps the most congregational-friendly. ‘Nothing But The Blood’ should be, but it’s octave jumping chorus limits it severely, and the title track’s melody is too complicated to pull off in most settings. This is a shame – they’re arguably the best two songs on the album.
If I were to make one criticism of the record, it’s the fact that a lot of the arrangements are a bit samey – the downside, I suppose, of recording it live. Some variety wouldn’t have hurt...
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