Hillsong UNITED Announces New Album 'Empires' Coming May 26

By Emma Koonse, Christian Post Reporter Monday, March 16, 2015

A photo from a Hillsong concert. | (Photo: Courtesy Grace Hill Media)

Hillsong UNITED announced a brand new album, "EMPIRES," coming to stores this May.

The new album follows Hillsong UNITED's 2013 release "Zion," their fastest-selling album to date. Along with the album announcement, the band also unveiled the artwork for "EMPIRES," including the album cover, from the stratosphere. Clues about the title and artwork for the album were shared on social media over the course of the past week, but thousands of fans were abuzz over a short video released from outer space on Monday.

"We thought if there was ever a place to launch our new album, it should be somewhere we've never been before," lead singer Joel Houston explained. "In this world that desperately strives to reach new heights and searches for new highs, we thought to debut the 'EMPIRES' album cover as far and as high as we could naturally go. Knowing full well that where it will land and ultimately what this project and our lives are about, begins and ends where our knees hit the ground."

Coinciding with the announcement from space to Earth, Houston said that the powerful theme of "EMPIRES" explores two different worlds.

"We wanted to create songs that first seek to listen, then speak the good news of Jesus and His Grace into the dichotomy, tension and hopeful-collision of this broken and fragile world we see here and now, and the unshakeable and mysterious reality of the Kingdom we can't see," the singer continued. "Our desire has been to simply create the most honest project we could."

Hillsong UNITED is best known for their chart-topping songs that include "Hosanna," "Lead Me To the Cross," "The Stand," and "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)." The RIAA Platinum-selling group has also earned five GMA Dove Awards, including the coveted Artist of the Year and Song of the Year Award this year. Furthermore, the band will star in Relativity Films' "Hillsong – Let Hope Rise," expected in theaters everywhere on May 29.

Meanwhile, the band is comprised of 11 members who are each volunteers of employees of Hillsong Church. It is estimated that over 30 million churchgoers around the world sing Hillsong worship songs on any given Sunday.