The Truth Aint What It Used To Be
After the huge success they experienced with their debut album ‘Ghosts Of Yet To Come’, Wayward Sons really do have a tough act to follow with this, their follow up album. Front man Toby Jepson said in a recent interview that he feels this is ‘The best Material I’ve ever come up with’. Let me tell you, he, along with band mates Sam Wood on lead guitar, Nic Wastell on bass, Dave Kemp on keys and Phil Martini on drums have certainly raised the bar with this album. With ‘The Truth Aint What It Used To Be’, they have all well and truly delivered!
Opening with ‘Any Other way’, the track opens with a real chugging guitar riff and then Toby’s stand out vocals come in. This is a real taste of things to come. With the first verse just vocals and guitar, the rest of the band join in after the first verse and it’s a real explosion of sound. The track really grabs you and makes you stand up and pay attention.
‘As Black as Sin’ is up next and is another fast paced, almost punk like in attitude track and coming in at 2 minutes 43, it is also the shortest track on the album. A real punchy track beginning with a great lead guitar part, this is great. Toby’s vocals are perfect, this is real high energy punk rock.
Slowing things down slightly with track three, ‘The Jokes on You’, this track has been released as the first single from the album. It’s less manic than the first two tracks and is a nice change of pace. I love the keyboard fills, it gives the song bit of classic feel and the melody line is great too with a real catchy chorus as well. This leads into ‘Little White Lies’ which I think has a bit of an ELO sound about it, especially in the verses, and it even feature very ‘Jeff Lynne like harmonies’ too. I think this is one of the highlights of the album for me, a cracking track.
Speaking of songs inspired by the icons of the seventies, ‘Fade Away’ could stand next to any of the great Queen tracks. It really is up there, Sam’s guitar as well is very much Brian May inspired. I know Toby Jepson is a huge Queen fan and if I was only vaguely familiar with Queens back catalogue, I might even think ‘Fade Away’ is a rare Queen track that I hadn’t heard! I really hope Wayward Sons perform this song live, it’ll be a true lighters (Well, phones) in the air moment.
The album continues, ‘(If Only) God Was Real’ is a meaty, up to the minute, modern rock song. Crunchy guitars accompany Toby’s great soaring vocals. I really like the power in this track. It sounds great and then towards the end, Toby’s screaming of ‘If only God was real’ is incredible. The title track is up next, more chugging guitar and then a brilliant guitar solo that quite frankly will just melt your face. This song lyrically makes you sit up and think as well. Another great moment on the album.
The final track ‘Us Against the World’ feels a little grungy, especially with the chords used. It’s slower and allows the listener a minute to recover. To compose oneself and take stock. There is something a little more at the end of this track, but I’m not saying anything… You’ll have to buy the album and listen for yourself.
Toby Jepson told me the other month that this album was special. I have to agree with him. You can’t help but get swept along when Wayward Sons play live and this record possesses the same energy and attitude the band have when you see them at a live show. I love it. I can’t wait to see more of these songs included in the bands future live sets.
Released By Frontiers Music s.r.l.
Released On 11th October
