“So the album is called Zion. Zion is very precious to the heart of God, essentially what Jesus came to establish. This is a God who desperately wants to birth His kingdom through us.

The lyric being sung over and over: “Your Love is Relentless.” From the first track on the album – Relentless.

The Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his home. Psalm 132: 13. [para]

Hillsong Untied grew out of Hillsong Church’s Youth Ministry. In the summer of 1997 the team organised a camp which made a huge impact in the local area. They would play ‘Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble’ every night, along with original high-energy songs. On their return they decided they should hold a monthly event centred on worship which brought together all the groups, which they called “UNITED” Nights.

The resulting momentum spilled out in the main church, where the songs they wrote for the summer camp were influencing the church’s worship style (like Reuben Morgan’s ‘My Redeemer Lives’). Darlene Zschech recognized this natural movement and encouraged Reuben and the band to record an album in 1998, which became there first EP ‘One’, followed by ‘Everyday’ in 1999.

Both albums reached Gold status in Australia. They continued to release live albums every year, with Reuben Morgan and Marty Sampson leading the band. After 3 more albums (‘Best Friend in 2000, ‘King of Majesty’ in 2001 & ‘To the Ends of the Earth’ in 2002) Reuben stepped down to lead worship elsewhere. Joel Houston, eldest son of the church’s lead pastors, took his place and changed their name from ‘United Live’ to ‘Hillsong United’.

The instantly recognizable artwork on ‘More Than Life’ (2004), ‘Look to You’ (2005) and ‘United We Stand’ (2006) saw the band rise to global fame with tours dates booked all over the world. With fresh band members growing through the ranks of Hillsong Leadership College, the band found fresh inspiration and energy as every year past. In November 2006, Marty Sampson officially stepped down after the success of ‘United We Stand’.

Their collaboration with New Zealand worship leader, Brooke Fraser, mustered their sung worship song to date – ‘Hosanna’. Released on their first studio album, ‘All of the Above’ (2007), the song took off and hasn’t landed since. Although the album sales were good, a growing criticism of the bands similar, unoriginal sound was starting to lose the interest of some fans.

Receiving more and more criticism from fans that their style had become repetitive and stale, the band took a bold move. Through Joel Houston’s initiative, the band set off in 2006 for a two year tour around the globe collecting performances as they went. The resulting album, ‘The I Heart Revolution: With Hearts as One’ (2008) was a 30 track live album of world-wide worshippers. With their huge platform, the band brought to the rich world’s attention the imbalance of global live. Using artistic video-ography the told us they didn’t know how to help this imbalance, just releasing and record and going from one city to the next wasn’t good enough – in fact they were missing the point.

Their brutal honestly sparked a revolution of love. The slogan – ‘We’re All In This Together’ – encouraged young people to recognise they can make a difference. It also opened there eyes to the worlds need, their own greed and ways they could actively be a part of changing the imbalance.

In 2009 ‘Across the Earth: Tear Down the Walls’ continued this message and added to their growing cause. After a two year gap, the band took a bold move to re-enter the studio and record a second studio album. The process took 12 months to complete it, from concept to production. They throw off all expectations and limitations to redefine the sound of worship and the sound of Hillsong United.
Released in 2011, ‘Aftermath’ hit the stores and was received with mixed reviews. One thing was abundantly clear, they wanted to encourage everyone to live in the light of the Aftermath of Christ. Many still felt they were sitting in comfort of the norm, only slightly venturing out on the seas of creativity. They went on to record a live version, ‘Live In Miami’ (2012), but everyone was waiting to see what this ever-changing band would concoct next.

And know we know, ‘Zion’ (February 2013) sees them return to the studio and push the boundaries further away from the ‘safe zone’. Interestingly the electric guitars have been side-liner allowing sythns and keyboards to take the musical lead. The result is a dancy, Coldplay-esque sound that harks back to an 80’s pop vibe. We think this daring move has paid off, with the resulting album having moments of atmospheric calm and wild musical abandonment that never settles on one sound (plus it’s got some awesome drumming too).

After a two year wait, UNITED releases the highly anticipated Zion. While the band takes undeniable steps forward sonically, Zion still retains the hallmarks of the band that has brought the world some of the most sung worship songs to date.

Having caught a fresh vision for what it is that UNITED is called to do and what it means to be a part of the Church. Zion is ultimately about the realization that God is doing His thing, and He has already done it, He is establishing His Church, and it's through us. UNITED's Joel Houston shares about the genesis of the project, "The album was birthed out of our cry, God I want to be a part of what it is you're doing. If that means write a song, we'll write the best songs we can. If it means serving the poor and those who are hurting, then we're going to do it better than we've ever done it before."

Zion. It's an interesting word, with several meanings and connotations. We read about it, sing about it and even wonder where it is. In Biblical terms it is the hill on which the city of David was built and perhaps where the Ecclesiastical meaning of the highest place, or Heaven, comes from. Zion is precious to the heart of God and it's essentially what Jesus came to establish - Heaven on earth. God is birthing His kingdom in us and through us here on earth and that is exemplified through what Jesus is about: mercy, love, forgiveness, generosity, justice - all of those things - and that's how we are called to live our lives. We get the chance to be a part of building God's kingdom here on earth.

The whole point of this album is the realization that God is doing His thing, and He has already done it, He is establishing His Church, and it's through us.

Everything we do as UNITED, whether it be from recording or writing these songs, to playing them in front of people and all the production that goes with it or whatever part we play, it's all an expression of a really extraordinary God doing what only He can do through really ordinary people who love Him and want to serve Him. That's our desire, it's always been our desire and that hasn't changed; that's been the one constant. I hope these songs, in some way, are an encouragement for people everywhere.