VaShawn Mitchell – Triumphant

VaShawn Mitchell
Triumphant
EMI Gospel 2010 (available August 10, 2010)
http://www.emigospel.com/

One could use the title of triple threat VaShawn Mitchell’s latest project as a one-word review:

Triumphant.

Mitchell is a talented producer, singer and songwriter, but Triumphant takes his artistry to a whole new level. This album is among the best I’ve heard this year. It serves notice to the gospel music community that VaShawn Mitchell is a force to be reckoned with.

The first twenty minutes of Triumphant are especially exquisite. The songs clip along at a brisk, energetic pace. “Conqueror,” the opener, sets the tone, its marching beat in cadence with the lyric description of a people victorious over the enemy. The album’s current single, “Nobody Greater,” is bright and melodic, and “I Need You,” a praise and worship selection, features supercharged vocals by Toneisha Jefferson. The project hums with power, passion and energy, aided in large part by the superb background vocals of Mitchell’s “Friends” and several other singers who contribute to hooks, bridges and the like.

The highlight of the album is Lisa Page Brooks’ lead vocal on Mitchell’s neo-traditional “His Blood Still Works.” Brooks shouts the devil out of the tree and out of the county. She sings the glory down so hard that you sense the musicians are veering toward a praise break, but it doesn’t materialize, at least not on the CD.

Produced by Mitchell, Daniel Weatherspoon and Rick Robinson, Triumphant is as good as it gets. This album ought to earn VaShawn Mitchell a Stellar nod or two.

Five of Five Stars

gPod Picks: “Conqueror,” “Nobody Greater,” “His Blood Still Works.”

Reviewed by Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.