Matt Maher verily burst onto the contemporary Christian music scene with this outstanding debut album. Mixing alternative rock styles and gentle ballads, The End and the Beginning is packed with slick, superbly recorded songs that promise to top the charts. Fortunately, this style doesn't come at the expense of sincerity and devotion.
"Love Has Come" opens the album with a big, energetic sound marked by driving drums, a steady groove and excellent guitar work. His spellbinding "Litany" was used in the Papal Evening Prayer at World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto, where Matt was a featured performer. "You Know Who I Am" was co-written by friend and mentor Tom Booth, who sings and plays bass and percussion on several songs. The title track, a fast-paced rock gem extolling the Eucharist as a glimpse of the "heavenly banquet," closes the album with a rush. The End and the Beginning is only the beginning for this gifted young songwriter and musician.
Songbook includes guitar accompaniment and vocals with all available harmony parts. Full keyboard parts are also available in manuscript editions.