"Hymns" is an interesting title for a Corey Glover album - like a message about messages. Corey seems to get deeper than the simple through symbolism and soul searching methods. He opens with "Do You First, Then Do Myself," an intense head banging track about a relationship gone bad, focussed on intense sex. Corey seems to want to get the hard rock out of his system as he slows it down for the next few songs, as he attempts to display his vocal range and soulful lyrics. My personal favorite is "April Rain" (no not "Purple Rain"), but the intensity, passion and romanticism are awesome. Another sad love song, it tells of the pain, the memories, the obsessions, the emotional drain put into music.

Peter Lord (Co-writer, Piano, Background Vocals), Michael McCoy (Backup Vocals), Howard Alper (Drums), Booker King (Bass), Dennis Diamond (Guitar & Sitar), Gary Fritz (Percussion), Joe Mardin (String Arranger & Conductor), Frederick Ziotkin (Cello), Gene Orloff (Concert Master), Julien Barber and Juliet Haffner (Viola), Gene Orloff, Max Ellen, Mark Feldman, Sandra Park, Laura Seaton and Marti Sweet (Violins) are the supporting cast and instrumental talent behind the "rain of pain, the soul pounding, heart wrenching" wizardry.

"Little Girl" has a definite R&B flavor, with a message about the stress of responsibility. I kind of get a Smokey Robinson feeling from this one. I can see Corey crunching his face as he hits the higher notes. As the songs go on, the feeling of the Blues really kicks in. The album is like a music evolution in reverse, back to those soul speaking lyrics and heart pounding sounds. "Times of Depression" and "Things Are Getting In The Way" are about trying to answer life's questions, being misunderstood, misjudged, and misguided. "One" is an orchestral celebration of opportunity. I enjoy the synapses that go off in your brain with a song of this calibur, a beautiful ballad with passionate lyrics, feeling the feeling, again getting deeper and deeper.

"Sermon and Lowball Express" features prominent guitar play, strong and funky. Corey Glover is working on you hook, line and sinker, while seducing you with aggressive, hip grinding beats and "synthetic rapture," to a mixture of instruments that's silky smooth. These tracks will force you to move or turn it off.

Slow it down again with "Only Time Will Tell" and "Silence," two more orchestral collaborations with impressive vocal intensity, balance and range, that have messages within messages about the complexity of relationships; the understanding, support, denial, defiance and union of the souls.

Corey Glover is very strong on "Hymns." I'm impressed with the maintenance of his intensity, and his ability to send his messages with passion, while reaching down to my soul and yanking on its strings. The orchestral mixture, with a southern choir atmosphere, is poetic and just. The ability of the music to re-ignite emotions attached to memories of your own is a gift many would like to have. Being able to relate those feelings to a song is one of the reasons many incredible lyrics are born. Corey is on his way. This is a perfect album for a rainy day; solid.