I recently had the pleasure of reviewing Al Casso’s new album “Celestial Rise”. This project is a straight-forward, gospel-grounded CHH project that wears its convictions on its sleeve. The album moves with altar-call urgency—short hooks, clear scripture-soaked statements, and beats designed to make the message stick. Celestial Rise is purpose-built for believers who want worship in a CHH frame: compact songs, devotional lyrics, soulful delivery, and beats that keep the focus vertical. If you want a clear call to repentance, faith, and worship, this album does exactly that.
Early on, the “Interlude (Jesus Is Risen)” frames the album’s intent like a mission statement. From there, worship-driven cuts such as “We Worship You Lord” (one of my favorites) and “Wipe Me Clean O Lord” anchor the album with plainspoken pleas for mercy and renewal. Both the interlude and these core tracks function as spiritual touchpoints that the rest of the album circles back to, keeping the focus squarely on repentance, praise, and dependence on God.
Beyond those, titles like “All I Need Is God” and “Your Grace Is More Than I Deserve” make the throughline unmistakable: grace over grind, testimony over trend. The sequencing stays lean—minimal filler, ideas presented, then exited before they overstay.
Al Casso writes for clarity, his words turn you to the main principles of the gospel—repentance, gratitude, surrender—so much so that just listening to each song as single fully communicates the point of the album’s direction. As a reviewer and someone who’s sat and talked with Al Casso for an Independent Artist Spotlight, what I admire about him most is how his pen serves as his pulpit. His writing certainly will point people to Jesus, period! That conviction comes through everywhere, especially in the way choruses repeat like prayers rather than punchlines.
The production favors head-nodding drums, sturdy bass beds, and warm keys/pads that leave plenty of space for the vocal to preach. Nothing fights the message; the beats are the compliment to the track, but they do not overshadow the message.
Casso’s delivery blends emcee cadence with church-trained phrasing—part rapper, part worship leader. He leans into elongated vowels and call-and-response phrasing that feels Sunday-morning familiar, which gives the hooks a congregational lift—easy to sing, hard to forget.
In our Spotlight conversation, his strong love for the gospel and desire to do the Father’s will were the non-negotiables. Celestial Rise sounds like that interview: obedient, unashamed, and built for testimony more than trendiness. The single “Wipe Me Clean O Lord” was my favorite songs because it captures that posture completely: confession that resolves into worship.
You can stream Al Casso’s “Celestial Rise” on his artist Spotify page linked below.
