Reviewed by Peter Dilley

Quick recap: Jeff Deyo was lead singer with US worship team Sonicflood, then came a messy split. The band regrouped with a completely new line up, while Jeff successfully launched his solo career with the 'Saturate' album. With follow up 'Light', Jeff seems to feel the need to prove a couple of things: firstly, that he can preach as well as sing - two "Interludes", plus an opening Scripture and the emotionally charged "Prayer Dedication" at the close. Okay, so a balance of word and worship is what you rightly get in most churches, but I soon find myself reaching for the skip button when it's on CD. Then there's the big name guest appearances - Rita Springer, Natalie Grant and Mac Powell (Third Day) all add worthwhile contributions. Jeff doesn't make a bad showing of the remaining 10 tracks either, whether the wall-to-wall rock of "Ray Of Light" and "I Fear You", or the more subtle ballads "Take Me To You" and "Your Name Is Holy, Holy" with their orchestral string embellishments. Despite these highlights, I still feel slightly underwhelmed: by no means all the songs actually have the sense of excitement, or the memorable, singalong quality required for this to be a classic contemporary worship album.

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