Shekinah Glory Ministry – Surrender

Shekinah Glory Ministry

Surrender

Kingdom Records (2012)

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.

Although Shekinah Glory Ministry’s 2010 Refreshed By Fire debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart, there were some who felt the two-disc set did not produce a new batch of infectious praise anthems for which the Chicago-based group has been known to deliver.

Worship leaders who eagerly await SGM’s latest offerings with the same zeal that gospel chorus directors once anticipated Thompson Community Singers releases will be pleased.  Surrender, SGM’s new disc and fourth original CD, sounds tighter, leaner, and more vigorous than Refreshed. It may be its best album since Praise Is What I Do in terms of song quality and variety.

SGM demonstrates plenty of extroverted energy out of the gates.  The first three tracks—“Worthy,” “Open Up the Heavens,” and “Come On”—are perky and hard hitting, with fundamentally simple, easy-to-teach lyrics and melodies.  The songs also have pronounced hooks, whether it’s the choir’s wordless vocal riffs during “Open Up the Heavens” and “Without You,” or the punchy urban AC-style rhythm on “You God.”  “By Faith” even contains a smidgen of a sanctified beat.

“Champion,” the album’s current single, is basted in SGM’s cool-down, hypnotic ambience, though the female lead, Danielle Nightingale Cargo, has a heraldic voice that raises the temperature of the praise to near boiling.  “Broken” is a dramatic soliloquy about discovering the unexpected prices associated with discipleship. “Peace For My World” is bittersweet: its meditative message encourages peace in daily life, but the vocalist, Pepe Epting, passed away in June.

Whereas Refreshed By Fire was a Shekinah Glory Ministry worship service in a box, Surrender is a series of SGM P&W songs that should please worship leaders and fans alike.