Almost out of nowhere, brother-sister duo
Anointed
returned to the gospel and CCM scenes with
Now Is the Time
, their sixth album and first for
Columbia Records
. Nobody was expecting a comeback, especially after four years of inactivity following their departure from longtime label
Word Records
, personnel changes, and a shifting artistic identity that constantly saw them teetering between soaring adult contemporary and urbanized contemporary gospel.
is no different in this regard, picking up right where 2001's ultra-modern
If We Pray
left off, but adding a more genuinely gospel element than they attained during their
Word
years. One need not look further than the rousing
"Gonna Lift Your Name"
and the cover of
Andrae Crouch
's
"Jesus Is Lord"
(featuring
Crouch
himself) to notice that
can have church when it wants to, which hasn't been the case for a great part of their career. Elsewhere, the tandem is back to seesawing indistinctly between pop and contemporary R&B, showing more predilection for the former, as the bulk of
's second half is decidedly ballad-heavy -- you'd think you're listening to
Avalon
for all you know. In light of the sass and spunk the siblings are capable of (
"Gotta Move,"
"Mighty Long Way"
), this proclivity toward generic, predictable balladry renders
a bit of a letdown -- likable, yes, but too inconsistent for its own good. ~ Andree Farias