Okay, forget about which bands these guys have been in previously, because it only distracts from the present. Because Wayward Sons is a fresh start for all of the members, and this album sounds… well, fresh!
This is simple, irresistible rock‘n’roll. There are nods to Thin Lizzy (Be Still), Bad Company (Give It Away) and Def Leppard (Killing Time), but it’s all done with such irrepressible momentum that what’s here transcends influences.
Toby Jepson is in fine voice, guitarist Sam Wood cracks out the vintage riffs, and the whole portrait is of a band making their own waves. The songs are well constructed, with the emphasis on giant choruses and propulsive rhythms, and in Small Talk and Something Wrong Wayward Sons have two of the best new songs you’ll hear in 2017.
There’s still room for manoeuvre and improvement, of course. Occasionally, as on Ghost, they stumble a little, but overall, Ghosts Of Yet To Come is an album with pedigree.
