All That Is Within Me (CD - 2007)

Additional personnel: Mike Haynes (trumpet); Eric Darken (drums); Blair Masters (keyboard programming).

Released in 2007, ALL THAT IS WITHIN ME finds the popular Christian rock band MercyMe offering up another solid set of faith-based songs. Led by earnest and expressive frontman Bart Millard, the Texan group shines on these spiritually uplifting tracks, most notably the soaring, guitar-driven anthem "God With Us," a tune that calls to mind a CCM counterpart to Coldplay.

With All That Is Within Me, MercyMe show why so many bands that attempt to copy their sound will never be able to duplicate their success. Having flexed their crossover muscles on previous records, Bart Millard and company returned to a church-focused theme for their sixth national release. The album title refers not only to the collective substance of the songs, but also to how deeply within themselves the bandmembers had to dig in order to create the album under an enormous time crunch. The group had a mere three weeks to write the entire record. Rather than lower their expectations or sacrifice their craft, they retreated to a secluded Idaho studio with producer Brown Bannister and set immediately to work. And regardless of whether the credit goes to the change of scenery or the backs-against-the-wall pressure, it is impossible to deny that this is the group's best effort to date. What emerged among the recording sessions in the woods were signs that MercyMe had yet again set a new standard for themselves. Millard's raw emotional connectivity on each track, combined with a sparkling array of musical styles, continues to be unmatched by the numberless knockoffs heard on Christian airwaves. There is the Keane-like piano melody of "I Know," the modern rock gusto of "Time Has Come," and the sunny pop flavoring of "All Right." The album's crowning moment is "Finally Home," a mesmerizing acoustic journey that takes listeners to a place where they are reunited with loved ones. Although many things have changed in the five years since I Can Only Imagine climbed the CCM and mainstream AC charts, MercyMe's latest record shows that the band's penchant for making hits might always remain. ~ Jared Johnson minimize