Alaskan-born Lincoln Brewster returns with his third studio recording Amazed, a collection of new worship songs for those looking for a little more edge to their praise time. Hardly a rookie at leading crowds in worship, Brewster takes the upbeat pop/rock route with Amazed that has become popular in worship music today with the likes of Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and Delirious?

The album opens with the anthemic and peppy "Let the Praises Ring" which displays a sort of Sonicflood flavor. "All I Really Want," the album's first single, follows with its tender acoustic ballad praise, easily a highlight on the album. But probably the most memorable track is actually the addictive "Everybody Praise the Lord," a rock tinged soulful crowd moving anthem.

Production credits go out to Monroe Jones, the brains behind such projects from Third Day, Caedmon's Call, and Chris Rice. Brewster credits the beautiful sounds of his own "Praises Be" to being perfected by Jones, and this is clear to see when listening to the track. "You Are the One," co-written with Paul Baloche, is another ballad bound to become a favorite among worship fans.

"Glory to the King," is another upbeat anthemic praise song, Lincoln wrote for his church who are a congregation of 5,000 meeting in gym without a home to call their own as a body. "I really felt like God gave me this picture of everyone worshipping together and it was like God saying that He will have His way with every part of our lives, whether it involves a building or anything else," Brewster explains in his bio. "It started out as a song about the vision of our church, but it's amazing that God has used it to give me a much broader perspective that I intended." "Glory to the King" stands out as a stronger track musically on the album as Lincoln strays from the norm of the genre a little bit to present a more powerful, signature piece.

Amazed is a solid modern worship record for those who find the common recordings a little redundant or stale. Brewster shines on tracks like "Everybody Praise the Lord," "Glory to the King," and "Praises Be," but still has some room to grow into a sound that everyone will hear and know it could be none other than Lincoln Brewster.

- Review date: 7/16/02, written by John DiBiase