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There exists a train of thought that says, after a given amount of time, a person's artistic creativity either begins a slow, but steady, decline or, at best, holds more or less constant at a level somewhere below its former high-water value.  If such is truly the case, nobody bothered to inform Twila Paris who, after 14 albums and nearly a quarter-decade singing Christian music, has turned in one of the most solid efforts of her estimable career.  Indeed, from the first strains of the new House of Worship project, it is clear that Paris' unique singing voice is in top form, sporting an imposing power and precision that perfectly highlight its distinctively piercing, yet ethereal, quality.  And Paris once again manages to turn in a set of compositions that is both catchy and relatively easy to learn without sacrificing her characteristically intricate and thought-provoking songwriting style.

Perhaps as much as anything else, the new record sports a fairly diverse array of songs.  The subdued, piano-based ballads "Come Emmanuel" and "Make Us One" hark back to the majestic and poignant character of Paris' watershed 1991 Sanctuary release.  Elsewhere, much of the album seems aimed at those waiting for the artist to make a return to the harder-rocking textures of 1994's Beyond a Dream release.  To be sure, the bracing tempo, organic percussion and tenacious vocal work of the lively opener, "God of All," are far more of a piece with "God is in Control" than they are with, say, "Lamb of God."  And the grittier, stripped-back aesthetic of the likewise rousing "Glory and Honor" and "Fill My Heart" seems destined to impart heaping amounts of joy to fans who have waited nearly a decade for Paris to, once again, pull out all of the stops.

While House arguably lacks a destined-for-the-hymnal entry on the order of "Lamb of God" or "He Is Exalted," standout tracks like "Christ in Us" and "You Are God" nonetheless hold their own quite nicely with venerated Paris staples such as "Cry for the Desert" and "What Am I Without You."  And the fact that listeners will arguably be hard pressed to choose between reworked renderings of "We Bow Down" and "We Will Glorify" and their original versions offers solid testimony to the singer's ongoing inventiveness and vitality.  At a time when it seems as if every third artist is busy releasing a worship project, it should be noted that those doing so with all-original material constitute a decidedly smaller subset.  And, as the House of Worship album proves, very few in either group manage to pull off the feat as consistently well as Twila Paris.

Bert Gangl 3/8/2003