Jesus Culture – ‘Let It Echo’ album review

A consistent stream of energetic, emotional worship releases has turned Jesus Culture into a reliable brand with signature worship leaders like Kim Walker-Smith and Chris McClarney. In the fall of 2014, Jesus Culture started their first church in Sacramento, and their ninth live album, Let It Echo, was recorded in that very space. Let It Echo is definitely the most polished set of live songs released by Jesus Culture yet. The twelve new songs sound straight of a studio with a tight modern/rock sound, led by both Walker-Smith and McClarney, along with familiar voices like Chris Quilala and Bryan & Katie Torwalt.

“Never Gonna Stop Singing” gets the crowd moving early with a great opening set, but the real highlights here are found in the album’s slower moments. After some missteps (“In The River” copies Coldplay’s “Adventure of a Lifetime” and “Fierce” is a bit dramatic), songs like “Let It Echo (Heaven Fall)” and “Everything and Nothing Less” cement themselves as soon-to-be congregational favorites. Derek Johnson closes with the powerful reminder of “Power in the Cross,” bringing a fine-sounding worship set to an end. As if you expected anything less from Jesus Culture.