Search - Jeff Deyo :: Surrender

He's back, and at his best

A. Thede | Athens, OH United States | 08/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"By track 8, I knew this was Jeff Deyo's best album yet.



Yes, it's a live album. Yes, there's better mixing quality in his studio albums. Yes, six of the ten songs on this album are Deyo songs we've already heard.



But trust me: you've never heard them like this. The intro leads into the adrenaline rush of "Lose Myself," a great rock/worship track that will take about 3 seconds for one to start dancing to. The cover of "We Are Hungry," a song we sing a lot at my college's Campus Crusade meetings, takes a good meditative worship song and rocks the socks off it. From there, the album takes off, adding new material to "More Love, More Power," giving us two new tracks written by Deyo and his protegé, Jonathan Lee (both very satisfying songs), and providing a better version of "Keep My Heart" than originally appeared on the "Light" album.



Comparisons to "SONICPRAISe," Deyo's Grammy-nominated live album as lead singer of SONICFLOOd, are inevitable, so here's your comparison. "Surrender" is like "SONICPRAISe" in a lot of important ways, but the music is just as good, if not better, on "Surrender." Deyo's band is excellent, doing exactly what SONICFLOOd used to do as a trademark: make great praise songs into rock n' roll worship.



This album rates up there with the "Passion" live worship albums and David Crowder's "Lime" CD. No Jeff Deyo, SONICFLOOd, worship music or Christian music fan's collection is complete without this album."

Call It "Sonicpraise Part Two".

Louie Bourland | Garden Grove CA | 08/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Worship leader Jeff Deyo has had quite an extraordinary solo career since his departure from Sonicflood in 2000. With his latest disc, "Surrender", we get to hear Deyo and his band deliver a stirring heartfelt demonstration of on-fire praise music captured live at New Zealand's Parachute Festival.

Jeff offers some steallar renditions of his best post-Sonicflood work on this disc as well as a dynamic take on the worship classic "We are Hungry". He also introduces two new original songs "Jesus, I Surrender" and "Nothing Less Than All Of Me" which are full of passionate lyrics and Deyo's emotional vocals.

In addition to the worshipful lyrics that are at the core of all Deyo's work, musically "Surrender" rocks hard and there is plenty of room for great musicianship especially on the opening track "Lose Myself" and the extended workouts of "More Love More Power" and "Bless The Lord", the latter which ends in an acapella singalong from the audience.

While this album is slightly rough around the edges, "Surrender" is still a great live album from Jeff Deyo and is by all means, a solid follow-up to "Sonicpraise" (Deyo's live album with Sonicflood before departing the band). The music is great, the lyrics are great and the live concert is definitely on-fire.

Another Winner from Jeff Deyo!!"

Deyo is an excellent worship leader!

rnorton828 | Riverbend, IL | 11/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since the breakup of the original Sonicflood, Jeff Deyo has certainly come into his own as a worship leader. And his new live album, Surrender, shows us exactly how far he has come over the last six years. It was during his time with Sonicflood that Deyo found his calling as a worship leader, and the Lord has guided him and helped him grow in that capacity. Surrender is a chronicle of that growth.



This album was recorded in 2005 at the Parachute Festival in New Zealand. Deyo and his backup band rock out the early part of the album, opening their set with "Lose Myself" from Saturate, followed by "We Are Hungry" and "Let It Flow." Jeff and his band do a excellent job of marrying stellar musicianship with passionate lyrics. Deyo also does a great job of getting the audience into the show and encouraging them to participate. After "Let It Flow," Deyo and comnpany slow things down a bit as the concert becomes more of a setting for worship. Jeff introduces a couple of new original songs: "Jesus, I Surrender" and "Nothing Less than All of Me." Some other highlights include "Be Lifted Up," "You Are Good," "Keep My Heart" and an extended version of "More Love, More Power," coupled with "I Can't Get Enough." Although this is largely a worship-oriented set, Deyo realizes there are both unsaved and saved people in the audience. He takes a moment to speak to those who don't know Christ, extending the invitation for them to accept Jesus as their savior. The best song is saved for last as the set closes with "Bless the Lord." Like "More Love...," this song gets an extended workout, and closes with an acapella rendition of the chorus from the audience.



I've heard a lot of great live worship albums over the last several years, but I don't believe I've heard any of them capture the passion and spontaneity of live worship the way this albums does. Jeff Deyo has stepped up and become one of the most respected worship leaders in Christendom today. From his days with Sonicflood to today, he has truly grown as a leader of worship, and I look forward to seeing where God leads him from here."