Review

There is an unmistakable revolution going on right now in Christian Music circles. Record labels are practically falling all over themselves to sign the next Delirious or Sonic Flood due to the incredible success in the marketplace over bands like these and the grass-roots surge of worship gatherings like One Day, Worship Together, Passion Ministries, The Ooze and numerous others.

While it’s extremely exciting to witness the deluge of new worship aimed at the younger demographic, the end result has been a mixed bag of pseudo-worship recordings by some who are genuinely dedicated to the practice of worship, and some who are simply attempting to cash in on the phenomenon for as long as it lasts.

Riding the crest of this next wave comes Tree63 who hit the ground running with a sleek and nimble recording of dead-on rock songs of worship and praise.

Fans of Sonic Flood and Delirious will cheer when they crank up the volume on the very first track, “Treasure” where the band swaggers with confident, breathless delight and sings, “My heart is where my treasure lies/ My great reward is in Your eyes/ My every breath belongs to you/ You are my treasure”.

Tree63 hits the bulls-eye on every crack of the snare and strum of the riff as they deftly straddle the fence between cutting-edge rock and roll and the new sound of alternative worship. They churn out song after song of radio-ready worship that effortlessly places them alongside bands like the Newsboys and DCTalk, yet with lyrics that are always God-centered. There’s no doubt that their music will certainly get the young people tapping feet and playing air-guitar to their solos, but perhaps in the process, they’ll also get them to sing along about the love of Christ.

This is not necessarily a recording where your mind will automatically drift into worship, but it is a recording that has the potential to be the stepping stone of many young people from “plain old rock and roll” into the arena of worship that isn’t dull or irrelevant to their daily lives. Tree63 does a great job of delivering a worship recording that could easily reach across the airwaves and win the hearts of most of the fans of this current wave of new youth worship.

Review by Keith Giles