Last year we had to bid farewell to one of the greatest worship bands the modern world of music had to offer; Delirious. But with their departure, a new venture has begun featuring Stu G, John Thatcher (both from Delirious), celebrated producer/songwriter Jason Ingram, and Paul Mabury. They are calling this project, One Sonic Society. And while their debut EP, One (the first of a three-part series), has great elements of sound… don't expect a booming experience.

The EP opens with "Our God Will Come." With the first strum of the guitar you can hear the echoes of Delirious' years long past. Unfortunately, the song starts at a very low level of energy and sadly remains there for most of the song. Even though the final chorus has cymbals crashing and the lead guitar is ripping it up, the vocals remain very stale and dull. And depressingly, I must say that this sets the tone for the whole project.

"Forever Reign" and "The Greatness of Our God" follow. You might actually recognize these song titles as they were featured on the latest Hillsong album, A Beautiful Exchange. And even though the One Sonic Society EP released these first (by two weeks), some people might say that the OSS version sounds like a cheap imitation, even though Jason Ingram wrote both of them. While the lyrics and melody are decent, it really was a fallacy to believe that these would be the better versions of the songs. If I were to write a song and Coldplay decided to sing it, I'd let them do it and just bask in the awesomeness. Continuing in the soft sounds is "Burn." This is actually the best track on the album with the lyrical content being the star as Ingram sings, "Lord write me into Your great story… into Your great song. Take all I have it's for Your glory. One day all else will be gone." Sadly, the lyrics are the only thing that really has any impact; the song's dynamics really don't make a strong appearance. The lull carries on into the finishing track, "Meet with Me." The song is over 8 minutes long and really, after so many somber tracks, it becomes difficult to listen to. On the bright side, it ends with an instrumental extravaganza, complete with a drum solo. But I must report that it shows up too late to mean anything. It's like going to New York City to celebrate New Year's Eve: you wait outside for hours in the freezing cold with a million people to see a large ball fall and a fireworks show that lasts 3 minutes. At the end of the night, you have frostbite and a claustrophobic complex and you ask yourself, "Was that worth it?"

I will say that it is great to hear that Stu G and John Thatcher still have a heart to minister through music. Unfortunately, One Sonic Society does not pack the punch near as much as their former band. If this is a glimpse of what is to come from OSS then it might not look very good at this point, but who knows, they might surprise us in the future. Nevertheless, if you're looking for something new, original, or even a throwback to the glory days of Delirious... you'll have better luck with a best-of hits collection.

- Review date: 8/23/10, written by Ryan Barbee of Jesusfreakhideout.com