Our World: Fallen (Compact Disc)

FLAME just keeps ‘em coming. After a successful 2004 debut and a solid follow-up a year later, the young Cross Movement affiliate is ready for his third assault, the conceptual Our World: Fallen. To say the brother’s on fire is an understatement: Like never before, the St. Louis emcee with the Ludacris-like flow is on a mission to revolutionize lives for Christ, using hard-hitting beats and a shameless zeal for the Gospel to drive his point.

But if previous albums were didactic attempts at educating the masses about the Good News, Our World: Fallen is much more urgent. Here, the presentation of the message of salvation isn’t just an academic endeavor; it’s a matter of life or death. In it, FLAME channels the realities of a planet riddled with sin, a world replete with hopeless souls and broken hearts that hide in their iniquity, their neediness, or the fleeting illusion of a MySpace page.

The realness of the imagery and brooding rhythmic atmosphere render Our World: Fallen a dense, hard-to-swallow dose of hip-hop, but the silver lining of Christ’s atoning love runs throughout. (To hear how the story unfolds, FLAME already has the sequel all planned out: Our World: Redeemed is due in the fall.)

ANDREE FARIAS

Review Provided by CCMmagazine.com