- Every Day I Live
- Sun & Shield
- Holy Holy Holy (Savior & King)
- My Everything
- When I'm With You
- Victorious
- Great Great God
- Victorious (Radio Version)
- Great Great God (Radio Version)
- Holy Holy Holy (Savior & King) (Studio Version)
Release: November 1, 2011
Genre: Worship
Rating: 4/5
Gateway Worship is like every other live worship band: they have amazing vocals and are really good at what they do. I personally like live music over studio music. It always feels so much more raw and it definitely takes more talent to perform live than in a studio where you can edit everything. I recently heard a live version of one of secular rapper Flo Rida's songs and he sounded horrible. He played the whole song in the background and then just yelled some of the lyrics out throughout the song. That is definitely not what this album sounds like. Great Great God is a really great new worship album that I am super pumped about. I wish it was a little longer, especially since there are really only seven new songs on the album. Gateway has serious talent and I enjoy listening to almost every song on their latest project.
The album starts off with the very worshipful, and very upbeat, "Every Day I Live." This is probably one of my favorites of all the songs on the album and is super catchy. In my mind it takes a lot of talent to write a new worship song. There are so many factors that go into writing a worship song. First of all, you have to write it with the mindset that this song will be sung by many people and has to be written for performance. Then you really have to be careful when you write the lyrics because they have to be theologically sound or else you are misleading people and will be discredited by a lot of listeners. Gateway did a great job of writing these songs, as well as performing them. "Every Day I Live" has a very nice beat and the lyrics are very solid. The song sounds a lot like Hillsong and is one of the best worship songs I have heard in a very long time.
Another very solid song is "Sun & Shield." The singer on this song has a very smooth voice and is perfect for worship songs. The lyrics are perfect to worship to and I can definitely see a lot of churches using this song in their worship services. I have very quickly grown to love this song in particular. The chorus has speculator lyrics. It says, "You are my sun and shield beyond what I can feel. I put my trust in You. You are the strength in me beyond what I can see. I put my trust in You."
Gateway's remake of "Holy Holy Holy" turned out pretty good. "Holy Holy Holy" was never one of my favorite hymns. That may be because in fifth grade we spent like two months learning that song and singing it for like 30 minutes a day. It was torture. But I have to say that Gateway's version of this classic hymn makes me like the song so much better. I am not sure if they lead worship at churches but I would love it so much if they were to come to my church and lead worship for one Sunday. After hearing this song I realized just how much talent they have.
"Victorious" is very Chris Tomlin-esque. I could easily see Chris Tomlin performing this song just because the instrumentals and the lyrics sound a lot like something he would do. It almost makes me wonder if he had any part in the writing of this song. I am pretty sure he did not but man does it sound like his music. "Victorious" is one of those songs that I like to close my eyes when I listen to it because you really have to focus on what they are saying. Once you do that the song will have so much more meaning to you.
As I said earlier, my biggest concern with this album is the shortness of it. The seven new songs they recorded are pretty spectacular and I would have loved to hear more from the band. Another thing I was not a huge fan of was the female vocalist. Usually I like female worship singers, but for some reason her voice just did not sound as good to me. Her voice is decent, but not spectacular like the guy's voice. Although, I did love Kari Jobe's voice on "Holy Holy Holy (Savior & King)." It is always nice to hear the voice of a familiar artist.
Great Great God is definitely one you will want to add to your CD collection. When I am in the mood to listen to worship music I could listen to this all day long. It is just as good as most Hillsong or Passion albums. I am pretty sure everybody who likes worship music will love this album, but will also be upset about how short it turned out. I have been so excited to listen to this album and I think it turned really well.
Favorite Song: Great Great God
Favorite Lyrics: "There is no one like our God." (From the song "Great Great God")
The album starts off with the very worshipful, and very upbeat, "Every Day I Live." This is probably one of my favorites of all the songs on the album and is super catchy. In my mind it takes a lot of talent to write a new worship song. There are so many factors that go into writing a worship song. First of all, you have to write it with the mindset that this song will be sung by many people and has to be written for performance. Then you really have to be careful when you write the lyrics because they have to be theologically sound or else you are misleading people and will be discredited by a lot of listeners. Gateway did a great job of writing these songs, as well as performing them. "Every Day I Live" has a very nice beat and the lyrics are very solid. The song sounds a lot like Hillsong and is one of the best worship songs I have heard in a very long time.
Another very solid song is "Sun & Shield." The singer on this song has a very smooth voice and is perfect for worship songs. The lyrics are perfect to worship to and I can definitely see a lot of churches using this song in their worship services. I have very quickly grown to love this song in particular. The chorus has speculator lyrics. It says, "You are my sun and shield beyond what I can feel. I put my trust in You. You are the strength in me beyond what I can see. I put my trust in You."
Gateway's remake of "Holy Holy Holy" turned out pretty good. "Holy Holy Holy" was never one of my favorite hymns. That may be because in fifth grade we spent like two months learning that song and singing it for like 30 minutes a day. It was torture. But I have to say that Gateway's version of this classic hymn makes me like the song so much better. I am not sure if they lead worship at churches but I would love it so much if they were to come to my church and lead worship for one Sunday. After hearing this song I realized just how much talent they have.
"Victorious" is very Chris Tomlin-esque. I could easily see Chris Tomlin performing this song just because the instrumentals and the lyrics sound a lot like something he would do. It almost makes me wonder if he had any part in the writing of this song. I am pretty sure he did not but man does it sound like his music. "Victorious" is one of those songs that I like to close my eyes when I listen to it because you really have to focus on what they are saying. Once you do that the song will have so much more meaning to you.
As I said earlier, my biggest concern with this album is the shortness of it. The seven new songs they recorded are pretty spectacular and I would have loved to hear more from the band. Another thing I was not a huge fan of was the female vocalist. Usually I like female worship singers, but for some reason her voice just did not sound as good to me. Her voice is decent, but not spectacular like the guy's voice. Although, I did love Kari Jobe's voice on "Holy Holy Holy (Savior & King)." It is always nice to hear the voice of a familiar artist.
Great Great God is definitely one you will want to add to your CD collection. When I am in the mood to listen to worship music I could listen to this all day long. It is just as good as most Hillsong or Passion albums. I am pretty sure everybody who likes worship music will love this album, but will also be upset about how short it turned out. I have been so excited to listen to this album and I think it turned really well.
Favorite Song: Great Great God
Favorite Lyrics: "There is no one like our God." (From the song "Great Great God")
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