Jeremy Camp - We Cry Out: The Worship Project (Deluxe Edition) (2010)

There are nearly as many subgenres of Christian pop music as there are of pop music generally (if you haven't heard Christian death metal, it's worth seeking out), but frequently Christian pop sells its message subtly, and sometimes even coyly -- you might hear lots of second-person devotionals that could easily be mistaken for conventional love songs, for example. But when an album bills itself as "The Worship Project," you know that there's going to be no mealy-mouthed doubletalk. And even if the word "worship" in the album title didn't tip you off, consider the song titles: "Jesus Saves," "You Are the Lord," "Everlasting God," "King Jesus," etc. Jeremy Camp has never been especially reticent about the faith-based nature of his music, but he's all out on this one, and one nice thing about being this explicit about the religious exhortations in your songs is the fact that it really frees you up to rock out -- no matter how loud the guitars get, no one is going to call this devil music. In fact, these songs work best when they're rocking hardest: "Jesus Saves" is anthemic and gorgeous, and perfectly showcases Camp's rich, chesty voice; "Everlasting God" is similarly (and appropriately) huge in sound and abundant in its melody; and even the relatively tame power ballad "Mighty to Save" delivers a solid hook. "Not Ashamed" and "The Way" both suffer from relatively unexceptional melodies, and when Camp takes a chance on a slow 6/8 with "Overcome," the results are OK but not great. But the cameo from his equally talented wife Adrienne on "You Are the Lord" is perfect, and "You Never Let Go" is spot-on as well. This album is perfect getting-up-in-the-morning music for Christian teenagers who need a little bucking up before they go out to face the world -- and that's pretty clearly exactly what it was meant to be.