Music Review:: Beauty Will Rise – Steven Curtis Chapman

Life hits full force with a series of circumstances that break our hearts and the hearts of those we love.  After a great time of joy, all of a sudden things turn…unexpectedly.  The news hits as we relive that phone call, that moment, that news that changed our lives forever.

Steven Curtis Chapman’s new album, Beauty Will Rise, was written for such a time as this.  Being hailed as Chapman’s “most personal album to date,” Beauty Will Rise releases a year and a half after the world learned of the tragic death of Chapman’s young daughter, Maria.  The songs are contemporary versions of biblical psalms full of poetic lamentation, proclamation, grief, and thoughtful memories—all overlaid with persistent hope for the future and praise for God.

All twelve tracks on Beauty Will Rise are excellently crafted—some are gentle like the album’s first single “Heaven Is The Face” while the title track, “Beauty Will Rise” goes for a bolder, faster melody.  Each song is fused with raw emotion that grips the heart.  Each time I listen to the album, I have a new favorite song, lyric, or melody.  It’s that kind of album.

Beauty Will Rise is profound-no matter what your place of suffering–because it shows that hope for healing rests in God alone.  Steven Curtis Chapman lets us walk through his pain as we try to make sense of our own.  In fact, if I may be so transparent, I have yet to listen to this album without dissolving into tears—for loved ones I miss, for words that ring so true in the difficulties in my life, and for the ever-persistent notion that life can hurt but God is still good.

Amy’s Rating: 5 out of 5

**I almost forgot to inform y’all that I was graciously provided a copy of this very album to review courtesy of Sparrow Records.  Thanks to the FTC for making me do this on every single blog post!**