Phil Wickham: Heaven and Earth

This guy is almost too good for the CCM genre. His self-titled debut album blew my mind and the follow-up album, “Cannons”, saw him reveal a love for electronic bands like Muse while pushing into even bigger sonic territory. I’m always eager to hear what he does next. “Heaven and Earth” is conceptually bold because I can’t remember many artists talking about Heaven without being really cheesy but PW manages to capture the hope of the believer longing for an eternity with Christ. It’s the way we’re supposed to feel about our destiny – a longing to the point of aching and a profound sense of hope in the darkest of times. Worship Leader Magazine completely missed this in their shortsighted review of “H&E”, accusing PW of “I’ll Fly Away” syndrome. That’s why I say he might be too good and too lyrically profound for CCM…

The album’s first track, “Eden”, is good but transforms into greatness when you hear PW talk about how the song was written from the perspective of Adam, near the end of his life on earth, longing for the days of Eden. This makes the song intensely moving and is a great example of Christian artistry. There are some filler tracks and the first single, “Safe”, sounds like something you’d write when you’re trying to get on Christian radio (ironically, it’s title is creatively appropriate!).

We’re already doing 2 songs off this album at our church, “In Your City” and “Your Arrival”. There are almost zero theologically correct songs about the Rapture or Heaven and they are a HUGE part of our core doctrines, so I jumped at the chance to sing these songs. “In Your City” is so massive as a song; it immediately resonated with both our worship team and our congregation.

PW’s lyrics aren’t just passionate, they’re courageously passionate and delivered with an earnestness that should be the hallmark of songs about our Savior and Creator.

Interesting side notes:

The album cover was apparently shot inside Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. Awesome.

PW offered a genius purchase option that I took advantage of – I got an immediate download of the album and the entire album played acoustically, a MONTH AND A HALF before it’s commercial release; a t-shirt (surprisingly not a v-neck); the hard copy CD with autographed cover mailed to me on the release day; all for $25. Brilliant for everybody.

Standout Tracks:
1 (“Eden”)
3 (“Heaven and Earth”)
8 (“In Your City”)
9 (“Your Arrival”)
11 (“Cielo”).

Skip:
2 (“Coming Alive″)
4 (“The Time is Now)

Bottom Line:
Worthy of a whole album purchase! Amazon Download Link

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