Many who have heard of Teen Mania Ministries and their Acquire the Fire circuit are already familiar with the worship rockers Unhindered. As a partner with the organization for years, the band is finally releasing their own record as a signed band to Ee-Taow Records, a label created specifically for the band (and any future signees, as well). Unfortunately, Unhindered's debut has much that, well, hinders it.

The main problem with this album is that there is nothing about it that really takes off to be anything more than a standard worship experience. To be fair, however, Unhindered integrates an unashamed rock 'n' roll sound to try to make their effort more unique, but instead there's ultimately nothing that sets them apart from a typical youth group band. There are absolutely no surprises to be found here, and every track is just as predictable in its compostitions as the next. The opening track (and first single) "You Are My Creator" isn't necessarily a bad track, but there's nothing even remotely unique about it. Being this is the first track, which usually tries to grab the attention from the listener early on, it gravely fails at this, and the rest of the album fares no better. "We Will" has a catchy guitar intro as well as good incorporation of keyboards, but the commonplace lyrics are the downfall of the song. When Unhindered slows down a bit for some tracks like "Father Will You Come" and "Who Is Like The Lord," it's never a good reflective song like it should be, but instead, the listener will be wondering, "When is the song going to finally wrap up?". Lyrically, most of the worship "catchphrases" are used extensively ("You are always with me," "My heart cries out to You," "There's no other name worthy of praise," etc.), and this just makes the whole album seem even more ordinary than it should have been.

It's pretty easy to say that Be is anything but a fresh effort. One could do much, much better in the worship genre, and Unhindered offers very little to the table to make themselves distinctive or garner any special attention. It's records like these that are quite disappointing to see released from a signed band, especially considering how much experience Unhindered has attained. One would be wise to pass this album up and seek one of the better worship albums from this year instead.

- Review date: 10/18/09, written by Roger Gelwicks of Jesusfreakhideout.com