Heather Miller snuck into the Christian music scene considerably quietly with her debut album in 1998, entitled Once Upon a Time. Now, KMG is hyping up her sophomore release months in advance and Grammatrain's Pete Stewart and dc Talk's Michael Tait have teamed up to produce Send Me an Angel.

Heather's debut CD was pretty basic pop with a personality to make her music stand out, but it failed to really grab the listener and make them stay. Send Me an Angel refocuses Miller's direction and takes her down a road to where one might have hoped she's take. Heather plays around with a lot more of a rock flavor than before. The album opens with "Angel," the title song for the CD and appropriately sets the mood of the album, letting previous fans know that Heather isn't the soft pop-dreamy girl she was on her last CD. Instead, listeners are greeted with a rootsy pop/rock tune with more spirit and soul.

Heather's soft child-like vocals double up on "We Will See Him," for a more soulful sound while the drum machine is introduced for "Life To Me" when she slows it down for a melodic acoustic ballad. "If She Could See" pleasantly supplies the listener with a taste of Miller's vocals at a lower tone, for a more mature feel. Unfortunately, it doesn't last very long and there is no other instance of this vocal usage anywhere else on the album.

"Winds of Change" is completely different from anything else Heather has ever offered. More upbeat with a more rootsy, almost southern feel, the song features supporting vocals by both Tait and Stewart. Definitely a highlight on the album. "On His Way Home," is probably the song that stands out the most on the album. Heather passionately delivers this modern rock track to the best of her ability. The rest of the album flip-flops between acoustic and electric pop rock with the complex "Tell Me Why" closing out the CD.

A large step in the right direction but maybe not at the goal quite yet, Send Me an Angel is a quality pop/rock album worth checking out.

- Review date: 5/1/00, written by John DiBiase