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As a reviewer of music for over fifteen years now, one of the things that annoys me most about the CCM world is that they are very few original concepts.   As soon as one famous group is successful with an album, imitators rush in to capitalize.  It used to be you could predict the arc of a CCM artist's career: debut album, rushed follow up to capitalize on said debut, disc that took more time to make that promises "a return to their roots", live disc, greatest hits album.   Now, you can add "worship disc" to that timeline.

The problem with this pattern is that it tends to take away from those artists who decide to focus on one thing and do it well.   The Jeff Berry Band is a contemporary worship band, which is a genre that seems profligate these days.  However, All That's Left of Us is their sixth album.   They've been doing this for ten years, and judging from this disc, doing it quite well.

Like many worship bands, they have some new songs, some covers, and some rearranged hymns with new verses added.   Berry's vocals are somewhere between a huskier Andrew Peterson and a more melodic Derek Webb.  "Great is Thy Faifthfulness" stands up well with its rockier arrangement and newly composed chorus.   "Fade" shows the band in full on Third Day mode.  "Bring Us Near" is probably the best of the originals, although "Glorious" and "Prayer" give it a run for its money. 

This is one of the few modern worship discs I've heard this year that I'm willing to give another listen to – the material is mostly new, it rocks while remaining worshipful, and one other thing – it's much better than either of the last two David Crowder discs. 

Brian A. Smith
30 December 2005