The first thing one will notice after listening to this record is Janine Stange's powerful voice. Her emotive vocal style brings to mind Alanis Morissette (with a much, much better voice) mixed in with Laurel Snapper of Aleixa and Lisa Faxon of Ransom. The music is decidedly rock music, similar to that of Vixen, with elements of alterno-rock like Fluffy (the all-girl Fluffy off Virgin/EMI Music), and, to a lesser extent, Veruca Salt. The songs range from hard rock numbers like "Waiting" to soft, easy-listening tracks such as "I Want You To Know" to haunting ballads like "How Many Times." Some of these songs bring to mind vintage Heart.
While this album is not one of those "blatantly in-yer-face" CCM albums, it is clear by a perusal of the lyrics that the central theme is relationship with Christ. This is most evident in the lyrical content in songs such as "Waiting":
You need Him stop and catch your breath before you lose it
You need Him don't ya see that by yourself you can't do it
You need Him, maximize Him in your eyes
When you synchronize He'll take you high
The one element on this album which may be regarded as its general weakness is the fact that the music and instrumentation on One Way bears a huge similarity to 80's-style hard rock, with the screaming guitars and the arena-rock guitar solos. There is nothing innately wrong with this, although some listeners may pigeon-hole the music as "stuff from yesteryear." And while the lyrics are written with a Christian relational perspective in mind, they are by no means deep, intellectual musings. Janine's voice, however, is the definitive highlight on this record, and often shadows some of the album's weaknesses.
2.5 tocks
