Pre-Release Review of Heath McNease’s “Weight of Glory”

Heath McNease is releasing an aggressively creative album tomorrow, and I’m not sure if I can recommend it enough!  Heath is an incredible musician, who is most often known for his freestyle rhymes and for goofy songs like “Nerd Out” and “Nintendo Thumb”.  But, if you’ve been to a show, or listened in on his most recent releases, you know he has broadened his flow to more melodic sounds, acoustic riffs, and even playing a beat box uke.  So, when he announced his next album was going to be based on the works of C.S. Lewis, I was pretty excited.  I would usually assume a musician would simply be trying to leverage the popularity of Lewis’ work for their own gain.  With Heath, you have an artist who I’m sure has lost some sleep from being worried about the lyrical strength and purity of the reflection of Lewis he’s offering.

In a nutshell, Heath nailed it.  I knew he would do well, but the album is a shocker.  He simultaneously grabs the essence of Lewis’ books with his lyrics, and finds a way to put the spirit and feel of each book into musical textures.  I’m really amazed at the diversity and depth Heath offers.

If you’ve never read Clive Staples Lewis’ writings, you’ll still love the album.  But, if you’ve read any of them, you’ll be amazed at this album.  Heath takes on the writings found in

• Chronicles of Narnia
• The Four Loves
• The Great Divorce (my personal favorite book and song)
• A Grief Observed
• Mere Christianity
• Perelandra (part of Lewis’ space trilogy)
• The Problem of Pain
• The Screwtape Letters (every Christian should read this one)
• Surprised by Joy
• Till We Have Faces
• Weight of Glory
• The World’s Last Night

So, here are my encouragements for you:

1. Tomorrow, download the album, and pay for it.  Heath is legit, and the money is well earned.
2. Spread the word.  Tell everyone about this album, and encourage them to download it.
3. Read the books.  Heath pulls off an amazing task of capturing the feeling of an entire book in each song.  You need to read the books.
4. Pray for Heath.  He is the real deal, a follower of Jesus who happens to be an amazing musician.  God is using him.

I’d love to hear your thoughts after you’ve downloaded the album.  You won’t be disappointed.