The 2005
Newsboys compilation
He Reigns: The Worship Collection, is a short-term follow-up to
Shine… The Hits, in that it selects tracks from the band's last three albums,
Thrive (2002),
Adoration: The Worship Album (2003), and
Devotion (2004), released since
Shine… The Hits in 2000, plus one track, "Beautiful Sound," drawn from 1999's
Love Liberty Disco. This may be thought of as the height of the
Peter Furler period in the band's history, as
Furler became
Newsboys' equivalent of
Phil Collins, earning promotion from drummer to lead singer. But the music doesn't sound like
Genesis; it's much closer to
U2, and that similarity is abetted by
Furler's vocal resemblance to
Bono. The difference, of course, although
U2 does have some Christian elements, is that this is not a group that still hasn't found what it's looking for. It has found it, long since, in the Christian faith. The album is well titled in that the songs are full of worship, while the music is in
U2's anthemic rock style. ~ William Ruhlmann