Mark Roach: Sevenfold

Mark Roach has been playing, singing and writing since the fifth grade, but it wasn’t until relatively recently that he recognized his calling to worship. He’s made up the time with a vengeance, and “Sevenfold” is the evidence. Reminiscent of Chris Tomlin in his approach to arrangements and vocal directions, Mark Roach offers up seven tracks of deep guitar-driven worship, acoustically lush and vertically focused.

Rocker “A Thousand Hallelujahs” is a solid opening, highlighting Roach’s gruff vocals and creative phrasing. The gently percolating “All I Can Do is Surrender” is buzzy worship at its finest, the electric guitars providing a thick web of heavenward sound. The moving “Surrounded” stands out for the its atmospheric feel, matching nicely with its lyrics of glory. Roach inserts an additional chorus into his arrangement of “Amazing,” a good fit, and I enjoyed the percussive take on this tip of the hat to John Newton and his classic hymn. “Overwhelmed” is an energetic pop-rocker overflowing with gratitude, a theme of sorts on “Sevenfold.”

Roach closes out the project with two sterling ballads, both delivered with gritty passion. The closing “The Least I Can Do” is the stronger of the two, although both are worthy of note. Roach’s closer was wisely chosen, a deeply worshipful song that drips with gratitude.

Mark Roach continues to serve as worship leader in his home church in O’Fallon, MO, the Morning Star Church, while he awaits for his first record to release from Myrrh, in the first half of 2007. I’ll close by adding one note: I listen to a lot of music for my gig at Suite, but “Sevenfold” is one album I’ve passed on into my personal worship tool chest. Enuf said.

If you like Mark Roach’s “Sevenfold,” you may also enjoy the worship offerings of Becki Ryan, Paul Baloche, or the Scott Sutton Band.

Print Article

Email Article

View All Articles

How to subscribe to feeds