Very occasionally a seasoned music critic like yours truly still stumbles on a small miracle and 'Over The Years', the album debut by Asante Amen is exactly that! 'Over The Years' is without any doubt one of the best albums yours truly had the pleasure listening to over the past year and nowhere gives the impression you're listening to the debut effort of an upcoming artist; on the contrary, Asante Amen sounds like a veteran who's already been at it for many years. On top of that, Amen successfully delivers both roots (the infectious 'Save Dem Jah', 'Keep Holding On' over the Raw Truth riddim or the Morgan Heritage inspired 'Not 4 Sale') and lovers rock ('I'm Sorry' over the I Hold The Handle riddim or 'My Empress' over The Creeper riddim) tunes. To put the icing on the cape Asante Amen offers 'Over The Years' as a free download, summarizing it all in 'Mek Me Rich': "Me no care if this no make me rich, righteousness I man deal with!"! Amen to that!