Healer

I have long loved Casting Crowns' music and this album was no exception. Their lyrics have a way of reaching into your heart and saying what you never quite knew how to say, or were game enough to. I love how raw they are, and how even in the darkness of life, they're constantly pointing people back to Jesus. The Scars in Heaven song is my favorite - such a beautiful reminder that Jesus is holding both those who've left us and those of us still left behind. Would be nice if there were more songs on the album though. It's pretty short. Still, those on it are beautiful.

It has taken nearly taken four years for Casting Crowns to follow up their highly successful Only Jesus with Healer. With only 7 tracks, the album feels like it's almost half done in terms of the quota of songs as well as the song choices. Though there are some stellar selections on this new record, there are also some fillers that ought to be placed on the cutting room floor or at least designated as bonus tracks or B-sides. Healer, written and recorded during the pandemic, as the title indicates deals with various aspects of healing from physical, to emotional to spiritual. \\n\\nSo, let's start with some of the album's better cuts first. """"Scars in Heaven,"""" a huge radio hit last year, is a powerful emotional ballad. Watching his parents dying one after another within a short span of time, Mark Hall teams up with Matthew West to write """"Scars,"""" a modern-day lament on how transient life is and how painful suffering is. Looking forward to a time when the only scars we see will be the scars on our Savior's hands, heaven has not been more beautifully depicted.