Speaking Louder Than Before [PA] (CD - 2008)

Personnel: Jeremy Camp (background vocals); Jerry McPherson, Tom Bukovac (guitar); Scott Dente (acoustic guitar); Karen Winkelmann, John Catchings, Jim Grosjean, Pamela Sixfin, Monisa Angell, Sarighani Reist (strings); Blair Masters (piano, keyboards); Chris McHugh, Dan Needham (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Adie Camp, Matt Balm, Luke Brown (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: J.R. McNeely.

Recording information: Dark Horse Studios, Franklin, TN; Townsend Sound.

Photographer: Dave Hill .

Arranger: Donovan Chapman.

With 2008's SPEAKING LOUDER THAN BEFORE, singer-songwriter Jeremy Camp once again proves why he is one of the most popular artists in Christian rock by offering an emotive set that mixes upbeat tunes and touching ballads. Largely calling on an amped-up post-grunge sound, the deep-voiced Camp conveys his faith through both the Foo Fighters-like title track and pensive moments such as the string-tinged "I Know Who I Am."

No longer the widowed praise rocker who stole the hearts of Christian music listeners and radio programmers early in the decade, Jeremy Camp has a whole new outlook on life. Since hitting it big, he has remarried, fathered two children, and bought a house in Nashville, CCM's de facto capital. These changes are somehow reflected in the tone and tenor of Speaking Louder Than Before, Camp's fifth studio album and first with über-producer Brown Bannister (Steven Curtis Chapman, MercyMe). That doesn't mean Camp is now singing about homeownership or reading bedtime stories to his daughters, mind you, but he is certainly settled -- he has never sounded more staid and comfortable. Having emigrated from the pop subsection of post-grunge, Camp still entertains big choruses and a certain Scott Stapp sensibility, but there's no doubt he now belongs in the adult contemporary realm, right alongside the likes of Casting Crowns and MercyMe. It's those artists' constituencies that songs like "There Will Be a Day" and "Healing Hand of God" are meant for, not the twenty-something crowd that took a liking to him during his breakthrough Stay period. There are a couple of edgier diversions, like the frenetic "I Know Who I Am" and the propulsive, almost danceable "I'm Alive," but both are quickly forgotten in light of all the tempered pop/rock numbers, which Bannister is an expert at polishing to perfection. Leading up to the release of Speaking Louder, Camp said he wanted the new material to minister to younger demographics, but in an age when Christian kids are gravitating to the likes of Underoath, Flyleaf, and Paramore, it's anyone's guess how successful his outreach efforts will be. At the very least, Speaking Louder does entrench Camp even deeper in the conscience of mainline CCM -- far from youth's choice style, but at least good enough to be enjoyed by their parents. ~ Andree Farias minimize