Review

Don’t feel bad if you don’t recognize the name off the bat. Even though it’s very likely you’ve listened to his voice numerous times before, worshipped to songs he helped to write and even recommended his previous songs to your friends. See, Jeff Deyo was the former lead vocalist and co-founder of one of Alternative Worship’s ground-breaking bands. He and his former band-mates released a CD so full of high energy, full-blast rock and roll worship that the doors holding back many young songwriters and worship leaders up to that point were blown totally off the hinges and down the block. Maybe this will help, “Sonic Flood.”

However, now that the current line-up for the band has undergone drastic changes, Jeff Deyo finds himself going solo. But even though the names may have changed, one thing certainly has not. Jeff Deyo loves to worship to the strain of loud guitars, pounding drums and rolling bass. Deyo has also peppered this solo disc with numerous songs of quiet reflection. Much like on the original “Sonic Flood” recording, he’s even inserted short words of encouragement and meditation between many of the songs that convey a lot of his own conviction when it comes to worship.

One of the major differences on this disc is that Deyo wrote nearly every single song himself. Whereas previous “Sonic Flood” releases (both with and without Deyo) have been loaded with rousing re-workings of classic worship songs, “Saturate” is limited to just two cover songs, with the other eleven tracks (!) and one instrumental, being original songs of worship written by Deyo himself. On every song, Deyo’s zeal is made plain. His songs raise a bold banner of “Jesus Is Lord” under which he invites us to join with him in a worship that goes beyond the “feel-good” variety. He dares to reach for something that is raw, vulnerable, and wide open, causing the listener to examine his or her own life between the songs.

Nowhere is Deyo’s passion for Christ and contrite spirit more evident than when he sings, “My heart has grown so cold/ I’ve let the darkness in/ I’ve said you were everything/ But still you weren’t enough/ I’ve not been true to you/ My life has hurt you, Lord/ But I’m running back into/ The safety of your hand/ I wanna be free, Jesus/ I wanna be satisfied/ In you and you alone…”

Fans of the original “Sonic Flood” CD owe it to themselves to see where founding member Jeff Deyo has traveled since exiting the band. Although musically they’ll find themselves on familiar ground, after a few songs they’ll discover a man who has grown unsatisfied with the status quo, and who isn’t afraid to say so.

Review by Keith Giles