REVIEW of Planetshakers: Overflow

I have been a big fan of Planetshakers for many years and love leading their songs as a worship leader, so I was of course excited to check out their latest album, "Overflow", which released on Sept. 30, 2016! It contains 14 new songs, about half and half fast versus slow tempo, and almost all of them could easily be incorporated into most contemporary worship services! This album effectively covers the spectrum from the lively up-tempo songs to the simple and intimate moments of worship and prayer.

"Overflow" was recorded LIVE at their annual conference in Melbourne, Australia. It was released in CD/DVD formats by Integrity Music. The deluxe version of the digital album contains 7 music videos from the project.

This album kicks right off with possibly my favorite song of the whole project, "Come Right Now", which is a great song to open a worship service! It is an invitation for the Holy Spirit to "come right now" and fill the place like a rushing wind! The song is of course up-tempo, electronic-driven, and what you'd expect from Planetshakers. It also happens to be in a key that is very accessible.

Next up is "River", which is another great new up-tempo praise song. This is a song of faith, declaring all that God is as we trust Him in the midst of trials. This is more guitar-driven and doesn't have all of the electronic dance party elements. While that is still there, it's less prominent and the song could easily be done without it. Note, however, that this song is in the upper stratosphere vocal range that we've come to expect from most Planetshakers' songs.

The title track, "Overflow", pulls the tempo more to a moderate level and brings a theme along the lines of Planetshakers' "Even Greater" from a few years back. It is a song of invitation, surrender and expression of desire for God, His presence and to see your God-given dreams fulfilled! It's a great corporate worship song, very appropriate, and also in a more comfortable singing range.

Next, they slow things down with "I Know Who You Are", another great song of faith declaring that God is always there with us, faithful, greater than anything else and full of unending love for us! As many of the slower songs on the album, this one is female-lead and in a good alto range. "I Came For You" continues with a beautiful song of surrendering our lives to God and His will. The chorus brings the anthem of "Holy Spirit, You are welcome; come and move upon this place. We desire an encounter once again." This should be our prayer everytime we gather together to worship, and this song will help you to express just that! This one is back to the male lead, but actually is more of an alto vocal range. The build in the bridge leads into a key change, too, which is very nice.

The next track, "Sings My Soul", is a perfect song for Easter, but would be great in any worship service! It is a simple, hymn-style format, but with a bridge. This song could easily be incorporated in just about any church. While it is new, it has an older feel that some may appreciate. Personally, I love the bridge and could just ride on it for a while! The album continues with "Heart Song", which is an instrumental of the vamp from the previous track.

"I'm Free" picks up the pace again with a great testimony song, declaring our freedom that we have because Jesus died and rose for us! It's a song of breakthrough, joy, peace and overcoming... and I would dare you to stay still while you sing this one! It definitely has a theme that would be appropriate in the Easter season as well. "I Give You All" continues the up-tempo with another electronic-driven track that would be a great service opener, declaring that we've come to give our very best praise, our all, because He is worthy and deserving of all of it!

Now the album slides back into a more worshipful mode with "Precious To Me". This female-lead song welcomes the Holy Spirit and declares the holiness of the Lord and our desire for Him. The female lead continues with "Face To Face" and states that we just want the presence of the Lord. You get a nice guitar solo leading into the bridge, too, so that's a nice bonus!

"Join With The Angels" is a stripped-down song that starts with just piano and pads. More of the band kicks in later as the song builds, but returns to just keys at the end. It's a song of doing just as the title says and joining with the angels as they sing "holy is the Lord". This is male-lead, but it gets high enough that it's more of an alto range.

An appropriate song for an altar or prayer time with a salvation or repentance focus would be "My Father's Child". It's a simple, piano-lead song that is basically a prayer of coming back to the Lord. Again, a bit on the high side so most guys would need to drop the key a bit, although maybe just half a step.

The next track will make you take a second look to see if you're still listening to Planetshakers! "Gotta Give Him Glory" has a bit of an old-school gospel feel to it, but will get you dancing and praising for sure!

The album closes out with "Here Comes The Revival", which has a modern, dance/club type sound. This song is more of something that you'd hear on the radio and not a likely pick for a corporate worship service.

Concluding, this album does not disappoint! Today's worship leader has plenty of new material here to learn and incorporate into their worship services, from exciting new up-tempo praise songs to intimate songs of prayer, worship and surrender. I'm a biased Planetshakers fan, but I'd recommend that you pick this album up today! I can't help but to keep listening to it over and over and I imagine you'll do the same!