Reviewed by Steven Bridge

Blasting out of the speakers comes this electric, energetic happening recorded live at a Planetshakers conference in Melbourne at the start of 2005. Shaking Australians off their feet, Planetshakers are set to rock the planet with their high intensity, full-on worship. Nominated for a Dove Award in 2005, Planetshakers' "what you hear is what your get" style is not to everyone's taste. But Planetshakers' founder and director Russell Evans makes no bones about his objective: "There's something powerful that happens when you mesh a spoken word message with the energy and explosion of live music. This generation is looking for energetic, raw passion and they're attracted to anything they can perceive as real." Of course, you can't check that out listening to the CD. The bonus DVD that comes with the package has examples of the dynamic preaching but just three cuts from the worship, which though they give an insight into the event that Planetshakers obviously is, I guess you have to be there to check the reality. When listening to the CD, the tracks that stand out are "I'm Yours", "Holy Spirit", "Angels Cry Holy", "You Alone", "You're All I Need", "Don't Pass Me By", and the anthemic title track. These are the slow tracks! Generally, Planetshakers is like Hillsongs, but with an "in your face", perhaps more aptly "in your ears" approach, grabbing hold of the youth generation. But it's not all pace and power on 'Evermore'. Passion with purpose would encapsulate the Planetshakers' ministry.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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