Get happy Michael W Smith fans because here we are again with another brilliant album from one of the most talented CCM artists ever.

With 27 years in the music industry and a CD rack’s worth of great albums under his belt, he’s an artist who needs no introduction and I’m glad to say that with his 22nd album, Wonder, Smithie has not lost his gift for innovation and creativity.

Wonder incorporates synthesisers and electronic sounds that give his familiar rock style a completely new dynamic.

The album starts with “Save me from myself”, an explosive, crescendo of an opening track that you can only do justice to if you crank it up loud – preferably in an arena or other large space if you have one to hand.

The first single to be released off the album, it's songs like this that make you appreciate the journey Smithie’s been on musically these past decades and proves that after all these years, he remains a force to be reckoned with in Christian music, not only keeping up with musicians half his age, but really defining the game.

Yet this is an artist who also knows how to tone it down and there are several songs served up in his trademark rock-pop, easy on the ear style, such as “One More Time”.

Other low key tracks give listeners that all important space to think about where they are in their faith. “Run to you” is just one such moment. It’s a song about brokenness and that realisation we all have that the only answer to everything we are facing lies in God. Its honesty has echoes of Leeland, not surprising given his close links to the band through his daughter’s marriage to Jack Mooring.

There are also some genuinely moving songs, including two love songs to his wife, Debbie, “You belong to me” and “Forever yours”; and the tear-jerking “Welcome home”, about the eternal joy of the next life, a song he penned after the death of Debbie’s grandmother.

Michael W Smith’s Wonder is stirring, familiar and comfortable in all the right ways. Just perfect if you are looking to renew that sense of wonder for God in your own life.

4 out of 5