Wayward Sons debut album had another clever title but it’s the music that matters here, and Toby Jepson and co are certainly making some righteous noise on this second full-length release on Frontiers. If you loved that debut then I’d wager the second helping is even better – this is some real hard rock and roll that honours the Hard rocking sounds of the 70’s and 80’s.
Opening with the initially stripped back and raw ‘Any Other Way’, this is a record that keeps on giving; from rockers like ‘As Black As Sin’ (which I’m sure has a lyric that includes the line ‘a heart as black as stout’ – a nice one for all us beer drinkers out there!) to the Thin Lizzy-like ‘Joke’s on You’ (which features another great lyric ‘you’ll be tripping over your own clown shoe’) and the slower Beatlesque melodies of ‘Little White Lies’.
Elsewhere there’s even more – like the spiky riff and soaring melodies of ‘Feel Good Hit’ and the Queen-like gentle building ballad ‘Fade Away’ make no mistake it’s all good, and we’re only just half way in!
The second half probably even outdoes the first: ‘Have It Your Own Way’ feels like the sister song to ‘Feel Good Hit’ and balances those heavy riffs and melodies very nicely; ‘Long Line Of Pretenders‘ is more tasty melodic pop-rock and one of the best here; and ‘(If Only) God Was Real’ is another that for me catches that Queen-vibe.
The album closes out with the mid-paced hard rocking title track; the wonderful ‘summer nights with the top down’ glory of ‘Punchline’ and the final word comes in the form of the anthemic ‘arms in the air’ slower number ‘Us Against The World’. The last two certainly two of the very best here. There’s a great Queen vibe going on on this release that I really loved and I hope that some of you out there pick upon that too, it’s glorious.
We got a bonus hidden track with our review copy ‘Totally Screwed’ but I’ll leave that for you to investigate at your leisure…
In summary – it’s great album, maybe even better than the debut. Get out and see these guys live touring in support of ‘The Truth Ain’t What It Used To Be’ it’s bound to be a real great night out.
Tracklist:
- Any Other Way
- As Black As Sin
- Joke’s On You
- Little White Lies
- Feel Good Hit
- Fade Away
- Have It Your Own Way
- Long Line Of Pretenders
- (If Only) God Was Real
- The Truth Ain’t What It Used To Be
- Punchline
- Us Against The World
Line-up: Toby Jepson – Vocals/Guitar | Nic Wastell – Bass | Phil Martini – Drums | Sam Wood – Guitar | Dave Kemp – Keyboards
