Glory Defined: The Best of Building 429

Sounds like … familiar AC pop/rock resembling Geoff Moore, Third Day, and Rush of Fools, with just enough heavy guitars to earn comparisons to Jeremy Camp, Three Doors Down, and Todd AgnewAt a glance … this premature collection chronicles Building 429's short four-year career with Word Records, and yet still manages to leave off one of Building 429's radio singles while offering nothing worthwhile for the dedicated fan baseTrack Listing Glory Defined Show Me Love Above It All No One Else Knows (radio mix) The Space in Between Us Shadow of Angels Fearless I Belong to You I Believe You Carried Me (radio mix) Singing Over Me Majesty Power of Your Name Grace That Is Greater Glory Defined (alternate version)

Seriously, Glory Defined: The Best of Building 429? Hate to point it out, but it's been barely four years since Building 429 made its national debut with their Glory Defined EP. Three albums later, and we're already seeing a best-of collection from the 2005 Dove winner for New Artist of the Year? Before you start speculating, frontman Jason Roy and his ever-changing band lineup are not calling it quits—they're busy working on their next album for a late 2008 release. But word is that Building 429 is no longer with Word, which apparently explains why the record label is now offering this product.

Well, say what you will about the band's generic, slightly post-grunge approach to Christian rock and AC pop—very much like Jeremy Camp and Three Doors Down—but you can't complain a whole lot about this collection's completeness. It's ironic that other Christian artists with more history and material are commemorated with skimpier best-of albums, while a band like Building 429 has just three major releases to their credit and gets a 15-track anthology. This isn't a best-of; it's nearly half their total output! And yet it still manages to leave off the band's rocking radio single "Searching for a Savior" while including two versions (very similar) of the band's signature hit, "Glory Defined." Go figure.

At least most of the key songs are included here, including "Fearless," "The Space in Between Us," "I Belong to You," and "No One Else Knows." But how hard is that considering the small scope of this disc? This is a strangely lopsided best-of collection with just three songs representing Building 429's harder rocking sophomore release, Rise—including their tepid cover of the Blessid Union of Souls hit "I Believe." That leaves seven tracks from the band's national debut and EP, with five more from their best album, 2007's Iris to Iris. Which means there are no incentives for fans to bother with this disc—even a rarity like "Come Close" from The Message: Psalms would have made a worthwhile inclusion.

It'll be interesting to see what becomes of Building 429 with their next release—they've since signed with INO Records for their next album. Will they spark new energy and popularity by breaking out in a fresh direction with their sound and songwriting? Or will they fade into obscurity by continuing to offer more of the same. Time will tell, but as comprehensive as this best-of may be in documenting the rise of Building 429, it simultaneously seems to suggest their fall.