Another day, another modern worship band trying their hardest to sound like Coldplay or U2. The Robbie Seay Band have been around for a while now (their first release came out in 1997) and they do a confident and above average take on the familiar shtick.

“Awaken My Soul” highlights this by displaying accomplished songwriting chops that occasionally veer closer to performance than corporate worship. Lyrically, Seay manages to avoid most of the overused worship slogans, and from time to time on Miracle he comes up with genuinely thoughtful turns of phrase. The flipside is that many of the lyrics here sound like they would fit awkwardly in a corporate worship context.

However, for all of that, the highlight is actually a cover of Jon Foreman’s “Your Love Is Strong,” itself a reworking of the Lord’s Prayer. Seay ditches the original’s hushed acoustics for “With Or Without You” bombast, but the result is the same: passionate uplift.

Three out of five stars

– Rhett Snell