Album Review Wayward Sons - The Truth Ain't What It Used To Be

Why is it so hard for pure rock and roll bands to write catchy, melodic songs? I've been thinking about this lately, as a few albums have come down the pike that have all the elements of being great, other than the songs. You know, the important bits. There's something about rock (this extends to metal as well, but we're not dealing with that today) that either gives musicians license to not write appealing songs, or attracts songwriters who aren't good at writing songs. I'm not sure if it's just the hope that cranked amps will deafen the audience to the point where anything sounds good, or if they expect their fans to be half-buzzed every time they listen. Whatever the case, rock and roll needs new bands to come up who can give us great songs, and Wayward Sons showed some promise their first time out.

Early on this second album, we can hear a band trying their best to do just that. "Any Other Way" and "As Black As Sin" are making a conscious effort to give us well-rounded songs with more melody than vocal power, using the power of early rock simplicity to their advantage. It's a solid recipe, and the band is doing it well enough to make a strong case for themselves. If we look back just a little bit, it's the same approach The New Roses used on their album, but this is executed with a bit more rock and roll honesty.

"Joke's On You" raises things up another level, with the introduction of a piano to carry the main theme, it takes us back to the old days when rock was still a mash-up of a little bit of everything. It's close to being that great song we need to hear. It gets followed by "Little White Lies", which has a nice almost Beatles-esque guitar intro, but the song itself is the least hooky on the album up to that point. I was secretly hoping it would be a cover of the Fastball song of the same name, which would be fantastic in a raw, more rocking version. But that's not what this is.

It's comical that they then move into "Feel Good Hit", where the hook is Toby repeatedly singing "this is the feel good hit of the summer." No, it isn't. It's a good song, but we all know it's never going to be a hit, and it's being released IN AUTUMN. I know I'm nit-picking, but if you're going to release a song with that kind of lyric, you have to do it at the right time. Otherwise, you look like an idiot. Well, you already do for singing about how awesome your own song is, but still...

I'm being a bit hard on the band, because they should be better than this. The majority of this album is actually very good. They've got plenty of songs with strong hook, enough diversity, and plenty of appeal. If they keep from shooting themselves in the foot, they have a chance to do some good things. Half of this record is well worth listening to. The problem is there's half the album that doesn't measure up, either with the hooks or the lyrics.

So that leaves us in the same place with Wayward Sons as when we began. They are a band with a lot of potential, but who have a tendency to embrace some of the cringe-inducing parts of rock history, and that holds them back. This record is solid, but far from great. And coming out at a time flush with big releases, it's not going to stand out from that crowd.