Less than a year after shedding light on the world’s fall
from grace with the apocalyptic
Our
World: Fallen, St. Louis rapper FLAME continues to spew fire with
Our World: Redeemed, his fourth album on
the Cross Movement label. But don’t expect the two discs to be cut from the same
mold. As if doing a 180-degree turn, FLAME’s
Our World: Redeemed is almost the polar opposite to its
predecessor, favoring slicker, more in-your-face sound beds over the generally
brooding atmosphere of the prequel.
This change is needed. FLAME is no longer
rapping about humanity’s lost cause, but inspiring it to rise above its abject
condition, to choose life in Christ above death in its own trespasses. For the
emcee, bereavement is a cause for rejoicing (“Funeral to Birthday”), pain a
precursor to abundance (“Hold On”), bloodshed the preamble to eternity (“On
That Cross”).
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On
occasion, FLAME tends to place style in front of substance (“Go Buck”), AND the
beats aren’t always conducive to the hope-filled nature of the album’s thesis.
This gives the proceedings an air of self-seriousness that could curtail the
celebratory character of the disc. In all, though,
Our World: Redeemed ascribes all honor and glory to Jesus, so that,
by album’s end, there’s no confusion as to whose name is the only one by which
men and women can be saved.
- Andree Farias