If you didn’t already know that Aaron Gillespie used to drum for screamo heavyweights Underoath, you’d never guess after listening to his solo album, Anthem Song. That’s because it’s full of the most bog standard, mediocre worship music you could imagine. It’s a pet-peeve of mine that every modern worship guitarist wants to sound like The Edge from U2, but Gillespie goes a step further. The first track, “All Things,” is about as audacious a rip-off of U2’s “Magnificent” as you’re likely to hear. Gillespie sustains this terrible standard over the whole album.

If you own an album by Chris Tomlin, Parachute Band or just about any other worship group, you’ve heard this done before, and better. The lyrics give you the impression that Gillespie simply went over his favourite worship albums with copy/paste: “We’re here to be with You / Here to bring you all of our praise / Here in this place / You are God!”  about sums it up.

That Aaron Gillespie left Underoath for this (and that he probably saw it as a move to make real music for God) is just a tragedy.

One and a half stars out of five