For those unfamiliar with the genre, praise music has been around for decades, emerging and becoming prevalent in the 1970s and 80s, and it’s still going strong in 2024. For a bit of history and context, similar to when I discuss many genres and styles in this column, the basic premise behind Contemporary Christian Music (or CCM) is that rock and pop-influenced music with a Christian message is likely to be more acceptable to a younger generation than the traditional hymns that were the backbone of Church music for more than a hundred years. And that has proven to be the case; today, you can find Christian rock, Christian alternative, Christian hip-hop, Christian rap, Christian metal and even Christian punk music.

Doug Morrison’s song, “King of Everything” is pretty much mainstream CCM, with interesting chord progressions, lush keyboards, lyrics encouraging listeners to sing along and pop/rock-influenced solos. 

None of this is meant to be faint praise; there’s an art to composing and arranging music in this genre, and Doug has done a great job with his tune. A couple of things stand out as particularly interesting. The first is that all of the music was created on an Ensoniq TS 12, including the guitar solo, which reminds me of something that Neal Schon (of Journey) might have played. I also liked how the key change after the solo lifts the production a notch—and then another key change, which allows the vocals to be higher (and stronger). 

While many successful Christian artists record with real string sections or even whole orchestras, Doug was able to add that flavor with synth strings, supported by a nice piano part. Though all of the sounds on this song came from the Ensoniq, the only thing that leapt out at me as being “not like a live musician would have played it” was the drum part.

While the drums as a whole were well programmed, I found myself distracted a bit by the crash cymbal; it draws attention to itself because a studio drummer would not have used the crash that often. If he’d tried, the producer would have most likely asked him to stop.

I’d also like to call your attention to where the drums sit in relation to the rest of the instruments; though most current mixes put the drums up front, these drums are supportive without getting in the way of the message. It is the same with the added percussion, which is quite nice, but again, it doesn’t call attention to itself. It helps to support the song’s message, which is the whole point of CCM.

The vocals, recorded with a RØDE NT1, delivered the song’s message equally, and the harmony vocals were appropriate to the genre.