North Point InsideOut “Abundantly More” EP Review

Prime Cuts:  Abundantly More,  Anchor of Peace, Safest Place

Overall Grade: 4/5

North Point Ministries with its seven campuses across the city of Atlanta, GA, has become a tour de force in terms of their teachings and influence.  Their worship collective North Point InsideOut, which originated from their high school ministries, is rapidly following suite.  Their 2017 single "Death was Arrested," has not only become a worship staples across churches, but it has been re-recorded by stalwart artists such as Aaron Shust and Laura Story.   And this newly released 5-song EP is bound to house a few more soon-to-be worship classics.  

After signing with Centricity Records (Lauren Daigle, Unspoken), North Point InsideOut has been releasing at bullet rate speed.  "Abundantly More" is the collective's 5th EP for the imprint in a span of less than 3 years.  Such fecundity is only a matter of raptors celebration for fans. "Abundantly More" is a consummate corporate worship record. There's a slice of everything we would expect from a big church recording.  

To start things off, we have the haunting title track "Abundantly More."  Seth Condrey starts this track off in his whispery raspy before pounding in at full force proclaiming: "More than I could ask or seek/More than I could fathom/God Your love for me/Is better than I imagined."  The song is a sublime celebration of how we have all we need for life and godliness in Christ.   After the bombastic opening, we get the obligatory piano ballad "Here I Am."  While worship leader Kaycee Hines tries her best to imbue passion into every note,  the song doesn't have  the ""oomph" or the memorable hook to pull us in.  

Much better is the Casting Crowns-esque hymn-like"Anchor of Peace." Kudos are in order to songwriters Seth Condrey, Heath Balltzglier and Brandon Coker for going deep into Scripture.  Rather, than just settling for some trite "trust in Jesus" pedantry,  the songwriting team have made Matthew 14:22-33 not only palatable but affecting.   No worship record can ever be without those loud "clappy" danceable romp.  In this case, "The Best is Yet to Come" fits the bill without sounding indispensable.   

The Emily Harrison-led "Safest Place" closes the set on a high note.  Without sounding that she's out to impressive, Harrison takes her time to nuance each phrase of this beautiful ballad with care and earnestness.  And when she sings about how God's presence is our safest place, we can't help but want to camp in our Lord's presence and not leave.  Such is the power of this superior composition.  

Though not all the songs here pass with flying colors, there's a bit of everything to make this a nice set of songs for us to worship along with.  Here you have the stadium rock numbers, the big worship ballads, and a Gen Z danceable caper and they are all recorded with a sheen of professionalism yet possessing enough accessibility for us to engage with our hearts and minds.

 

 

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