Delirious? may just be the busiest artist in Christian music, next to maybe Kirk Franklin. They've been churning out albums at the rate of one per year ever since their music arrived on American Shores in 1998 with the back-to-back re-release of Cutting Edge (the band's first material, mainly worship songs) and King of Fools (their first full-length rock album). This helped to lead off what many call the "modern worship movement", with the bouncy single "Deeper" all over multiple radio formats, and the older songs "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" and "Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?" becoming mainstays in worship services around the globe. Delirious? was fully primed to throw out yet another set of easily digestable, high-octane praise songs for their hungry audience in the summer of 1999. But they chose a different route instead, opting for the quirky and often harder-to-digest songs that became Mezzamorphis.

I was working at a camp on Catalina Island at the time, so I didn't have access to a music store. I hadn't realized Delirious? had put something new out until a good friend of mine taped Mezzamorphis and sent it to me. I had become used to King of Fools by then and I was catching up on their Cutting Edge years, and both had some great songs, but they also had some songs that just dragged. Something about their overall style wasn’t “delirious” enough for me – they had the ability to rock, but often didn’t use it, except on barn-burner hits like “Deeper”, “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?”, “I’m Not Ashamed”, “Revival Town”, etc. The majority of their songs took a gentler approach, and the overall feel was similar to an old U2 album. Well, Mezzamorphis was definitely not more of the same, but it had to earn my love. My first few listens to the album left me a bit perplexed, wondering how these songs were ever going to fly with the fans. Most of them were under the five-minute mark, and many fans felt that they lost some of the spontaneity of the old jam tracks, but a lot of those tracks seemed repetitive to me anyway. Ultimately, I found many of these odd new tunes stuck in my head at unexpected moments during that long hot summer, and I had to keep going back and listening, each time noticing some subtlety that I had missed. This was the beauty of Mezzamorphis. If Cutting Edge could be paralleled to U2’s early days, when their Christian roots were a bit more obvious, and King of Fools matched up with U2’s massive rise in popularity during the era of The Joshua Tree, then Mezzamorphis is definitely Delirious?’s equivalent of the Achtung Baby/Zooropa/Pop era. They’re not as cynical as U2 became during those years, but you have to dig a little more to get the meaning, and they’ve ruffled a few old the old fans’ feathers in the process. (Interestingly, 2000’s Glo marked a return to the old worship focus while maintaining key elements of their new sound, much like what All that You Can’t Leave Behind, which came out later in the same month, did for U2. Okay, end of analogy.)

The Mezzanine Floor
I’m at this bolted door, but I’m coming through without permission…
This odd tune starts the album off, fading in on some electronic noise, then hitting you with a weird stop-start melody. Right out of the gate, you can tell that Delirious? has been experimenting – the song ambles along at an odd pace, something of a curious marriage between falsetto-singing Bono and OK Computer-era Radiohead (and what band hasn’t aped Radiohead these days?) I honestly expected it to suddenly speed up into a rocking song, but it just kind of continues along, soaring on Martin Smith’s ever-ascending vocals and some equally high-strung meandering guitar parts that wouldn’t be too out of place on Kid A, now that I think about it. The lyrical focus is on that of a transition, which is what makes this weird soundscape fit so perfectly. We’re somewhere between Earth and Heaven, not really deserving to ascend to the place we’re headed towards, and yet not really fitting in down below. Something in me is stirred emotionally as Martin sings, “I’ll get to Heaven” again and again, and as the song crescendos, purposefully missing a beat at times, until the whole thing suddenly collapses in on itself and Martin can barely be heard in a distorted voice: “Through the sinner’s door.”

Heaven
The ancient stone knows a deeper tale about a bloody King who won the Holy War…
An electronic beat, couple with a razor-sharp guitar riff from Stu G, start this song off immediately after the last one falls apart. It doesn’t kick in with quite the power I expected it to, driven more by electronics than real drums, but this is still a powerful song, with the lyrics obviously taking their cue from some of U2’s finest political anthems. The song deals rather translucently with the unfairness of the world, and the horrible things that we and our children have had to endure, but it looks toward Heaven as a place where those who persevere will be free from the injustice. If you’re not paying close attention, it’s easy to confuse this song with “The Mezzanine Floor”, since both talk about Heaven so much, but I like to see one as a reflection of the other. Delirious? once again shows us their newfound penchant for abrupt endings – just when this one’s burning hot, it suddenly vanishes, as if someone pulled the plug on the recording studio.

Follow
There’s a song, and it’s louder than music. Can You hear me when there’s no sound?
A ballad so early on? Don’t be fooled. Though this song opens with a gentle drum beat and piano, it’s actually a feisty little number. It’s based around a simple song of devotion to God, run through the wringer of Martin’s ever-challenging lyrical approach, and the music seems to be trying to hold down the band’s rocking instincts, which escape one line at a time during the verses, only to suddenly be bottled up again. It’s an odd effect, but it really helps pick the song up. The chorus is very simple – “I will follow” over and over again, which puts them a bit dangerously close to two things – U2’s song “I Will Follow” and Delirious?’s old song “All I Want Is You”, which has a similar melody, and to make matters worse also shares its title with a U2 song. Still, “Follow” is a lot of fun and it knows just when to break free and rock out. It also ends a bit suddenly.

Bliss
It’s the simple things that satisfy, keep my feet on the ground and my head in the sky…
There has to be at least one track on every Delirious? album where the band decides to rock out and not look back. This is probably the best example of that, and definitely my favorite Delirious? song of all time. It starts of with a wonderfully electronically distorted bit of guitar noise that repeats and builds the framework for the song, and the drums and everything else join in with a power unrivaled on the rest of the album. The verses are more subtle, allowing Martin’s odd musings to draw you in until you’re hit with the defiant and catchy chorus – “I’m not backing down.” (The way Martin sings it, it’s more like “I-yi-yi-yi-yi, I’m not backing down.”) This basically seems to be the band’s mission statement – we’re going to rock, we’re going to praise God, and we’re not going to do always do it in the way you’d expect us to. The bridge is especially interesting, where everything falls away except for Martin singing in a very low tone of voice (this man has a range!), and then Stu G’s guitar comes slicing back in at just the right moment. Excellent!

Beautiful Sun
Grace is my story, hope is my song. You have been so good to me…
This should keep the more traditional D? fans happy. Floating along on a beautiful bed of acoustic guitars, this track is reminiscent of “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever”, though I find the lyrics to this one much more intriguing. It’s about reaching for God in a time of spiritual blindness, waiting for the day to begin again. Some may find the blindness analogy to be eerily close to yet another U2 song, “Staring at the Sun”, but frankly, the lyrics are less awkward here. It’s a gorgeous song (probably one of their best “sleeper hits”, since they never seem to play it live), and it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to incorporate it into a worship service.

Metamorphis
I know one day I will be free, my cynical clothing will fall from me…
This song picks up where “The Mezzanine Floor” left off, with a similar musical tempo and theme (it being the other half of the origin of the album’s title). It’s not as weird as the aforementioned track, and it takes a few listens to recognize it as one of the more interesting cuts on the album. It bleeds in on some backwards, almost Beatles-style sound effects, and from there mostly relies on a simple beat and the lyrics (this time written by Stu G), with some more heated guitar playing during the chorus, to carry the song. From the get-go, the lyrics are a point of curiosity, likely streaming directly from Stu G’s stream of thought to paper to his guitar (which is the way Martin often writes as well): “Hello friend, it’s been some times since I sat at Your table and drank Your wine.” The song’s only real weakness lies in its chorus: “Can I be somebody? Not who they want me to be/Just a pale reflection of who You want me to be.” Many of the band’s songs often contain these vague “you”s and “they”s, which can often refer to different people within the same song. It’s very conversational, but it takes a little work to comprehend.

See the Star
We live the life and dream the dream, but what you gonna do when the walls come down and fall on you?
This was supposed to be the band’s first big single from the album (at least in the UK), but I don’t think it ever really took off. I can see why – it keeps the same tempo as “Metamorphis” and a similar musical approach, which seems a little clever at times since you might not even realize the last track has ended where it does, but ultimately, the song is too slow to have the inspirational effect the band desired. It’s supposed to be a sort of anthem depicting Christians uniting and running the race together towards a common goal, but it just doesn’t soar the way it’s supposed to, and the chorus is a bit repetitive: “So we run, never stop, set my feet on the road.” When you jump from “we” to “me” like that, it kind of kills the more corporate feel of the song. This is probably the low point of the album for me.

Gravity
This generation is full of religion, fed up with a diet of nothing, give me the real thing flowing through my veins…
Woohoo! Bouncy fun pop song, just what we needed! This was the first US single, and it performed quite well, roping audiences in with its jumpy combination of live and programmed drums and the circular lyrics (“The future looks back to learn her lessons”, “Show me the truth ‘cause I wanna be blinded”, etc.) From its immediate opening where Martin sings “Round and round and round and round and round” to its catchy chorus (“My head’s spinning, the world’s twisted/My head’s twisted, the world’s spinning around”), this one’s a keeper, a fairly accurate assessment of the spiritual confusion that plagues our generation (not like it didn’t plague other generations, but this is the one we’re in now, so don’t be picky). This is the rallying anthem that “See the Star” should have been, and even if it seems a bit silly at times, it’s definitely one of the coolest songs they’ve ever done.

It’s OK
She’s as pretty as hell and her eyes have no home, the beauty has run from your face…
I wouldn’t normally expect great things from a song with such an inane title as this one. It’s a very subtle ballad that begins with Martin pleading, “Take me or leave me, don’t have to believe me.” To be honest, it doesn’t get really interesting until the second verse, where Martin has the guts to sing the line “She’s as pretty as hell”. Apparently they caught some flak from conservative Christian audiences over this, and Sparrow records very nearly declined to include the song on the American release. Contained in such a gentle song, the line is a sad one and not an offensive one – the irony people are missing is that hell is not a pretty place, and the girl who is “pretty as hell” is really very empty and in need of love. The references to drinking holy wine in this song may have also bothered some people – those people need to relax and stop being so legalistic. Apparently the song went over quite well in the UK, even earning the band some mainstream success, Midway through the song, the sound becomes much more filled out, with a crescendoing drum and guitar fill, much like “The Mezzanine Floor”, but prettier and backed by a brass band (they’re not obvious, but you can still hear them), and finally dying back down to Martin’s closing line: “Will you come to me like a summer’s day/I will sing again.” A sad song, but it leaves the listener with hope. I just wish that hope was a little more concrete than “It’s OK, you know I’ll live to fight another day.”

Love Falls Down
I believe it’s time to change, yes I need Your love to break these chains…
Well, many rock albums have their filler tracks, and I hate to admit it, but this is probably an example of one. It’s not a bad song – it opens with the calling of seagulls or some kind of birds, and then a midtempo drum and bass pattern begins, as if the band detected a rhythm in the bird calls and decided to create a drum beat around it. I like the whole idea of love raining down from Heaven and affecting radical change on the Earth. But the song just doesn’t fit the mood, the tune is very repetitive, and the lyrics border on trite. Of course, some genius at the record label had to go and release this as a single to American Christian radio, where it got a decent amount of airplay, but nothing spectacular. Meanwhile, tracks like “Heaven”, “Follow”, “Beautiful Sun”, and the nearly guaranteed smash hit “Bliss” went to waste because the band put out another album just over a year after this one. I guess I shouldn’t have such high expectations of Christian radio.

Blindfold
Words just feel anesthetized, but hope is found within the lies…
Dedicated to a girl named Sarah, this is another mid-tempo tune, built around a hazy drum pattern and a creepy minor key chord progression. There might be a slightly jazzy feel to it, but only in the rhythm section. Rather than dominating the song, the guitars strike a chord here and there to add tension, somewhat like pulling on a spring and then letting it go with a “boing!” The lyrics depict a spiritual struggle, once again using the analogy of blindness (I don’t think I realized what a theme that was on the album until I started writing this review). Martin seems to play the part of a weary, down-and-out Christian who is struggling to keep believing, and he sees a friend who is in a similar state of downtroddenness. All he can do is promise that friend that he will help carry her through it. This tune is a bit longer, like a warped reflection of the old Delirious?, though it does build into something more hopeful towards the end, where the guitars begin to soar and Martin begins to sing “Glory, hallelujah”, even thought there is no direct evidence of change other than his resolve to “keep walking down that road”. It’s almost like this track sums up some of the ideas presented in numerous other songs on the album, as if to say that Delirious? is still devoted to God even when they can’t see where they’re being led and things look rather scary.

Kiss Your Feet
Take this life, take it all, I’m breathing the dirt, but I have clean hands…
This is a worship song, albeit a very slow and moody one. It’s one of the most reverent lyrics that Martin and company have ever recorded. It starts off with just Martin singing very quietly: “All I have in this world is more than a king could ever wish for”, with only a little bit of ambiance from the band to back him up until the second verse. The lyrics to the verses are very interesting, leading to a simple chorus: “Isn’t He beautiful”, which later becomes, “Yes, You are beautiful” as Martin begins to speak directly to Jesus, who is never directly named in this song, but is obviously the intended audience. It’s a very intimate and poetic expression of worship, marred only by one line that I just don’t understand: “So I’ll run with my boots on, for I was born to give You fame.” The ending of the song is the best part, once again employing that technique of everything else dropping out, leaving only Martin’s voice to sing one final, drawn out “Isn’t He beautiful”. This being the last track on the UK release, I’m sure it made for a fitting end. However, the American fans got two more songs…

Jesus’ Blood
And this secret it will run to the corners of the Earth…
This is another slow song (there seem to be an abundance of them) that retains a worship focus. It has a little more programming and weird noises to drive it along, plus a few string embellishments here and there. It’s basically a testimony of salvation set to music, with the simple chorus “Jesus’ blood never fails me”. Overall, the percussion gets a bit tinny, and the digitized chorus that breaks in during the bridge is more like something I’d expect from Marilyn Manson than Delirious? (the lyrics and melody are still very pretty, it’s just an odd effect), but the song still does a good job of wrapping up the album. It seems better placed here than in its later appearance on the Glo album (even though that version had a fuller sound and faded out into a lovely impromptu string performance), due to a few lines that hearken back to previous tracks: “Heaven is my home” (from “Heaven”) and “Take me to the place where eagles fly” (from “Bliss”).

Deeper '99
It’s time to walk the path where many seem to fall…
Well, remixing your most popular song is nothing new. Delirious? seems to like tacking an updated version of an older song onto each new album that comes out, and while this is a fun remix of their smash hit from King of Fools, it really doesn’t sound that different. It made sense to put it after the rest of Mezzamorphis, so as not to interrupt the flow or the concept of the album, but it’s also a bit weird to have one of the most upbeat tracks here, especially with its abrupt ending. Still, it gives newer fans a chance to “catch up”, and it might even be a nice break for those who are into this sound but not into most of King of Fools (I personally listen this album far more frequently). And hey, that opening bass line and bouncy beat are irresistible in just about any format.

So why did I give this album five stars if I can see so many of its shortcomings? Mainly because it works quite well together as a whole. Delirious? had hit a great balance between writing songs that stand up on their own and songs that contribute to a greater concept. It’s satisfying to hear some of the recurring themes that run through this album, and the experimentation with their typical sound assures the listener that they’re not running out of ideas, even if not all of their ideas are 100% successful. I also have memories deeply tied to this album – memories of walking on the beach, both on Catalina and later that summer in Michigan, taking in the songs as I took in the scenery. Mezzamorphis may not be for everyone, but for this reviewer, it’s been a bit of a spiritual experience. Music may not get me any closer to Heaven, but music like the stuff Delirious? puts out sure helps me to keep in touch with my desire to do so.

TRACK REVIEW SUMMARY
Excellent: Bliss, Beautiful Sun, The Mezzanine Floor, Heaven, Follow
Good: Metamorphis, Gravity, It's OK, Kiss Your Feet, Deeper '99
Decent: Blindfold, Jesus' Blood
Weak: See the Star, Love Falls Down
Skippable: NONE

Band Members:
Martin Smith: Vocals, guitars
Stuart Garrard: Guitars, backing vocals
Tim Jupp: Keyboards, programming
Stewart Smith: Drums, percussion, backing vocals
Jon Thatcher: Bass

Website: http://www.delirious.net

Great Music to Play While: Walking on the beach on a summer day, taking in the beautiful sun.



Recommended: Yes