Album reviews of the latest music available for streaming!

Daughtry / Cage to Rattle

Mike Wood

Cage to Rattle, the fifth studio album from American rock band Daughtry, does exactly that: rattle the rafters with rock…or at least rock-adjacent recordings. It’s their first release in almost five years, and at just 10 songs, this is Daughtry’s shortest album to date. This doesn’t leave much room for saccharine ballads, though “Deep End” and “As You Are” sneak on there. But these entries are less sugary and sweet and more redemptive and assertive. This record is really about rock. Rattle packs punches right from the get-go with “Just Found Heaven,” an offering that starts soft but picks up its tempo as it progresses. This leads into its blues-infused follow-up “Backbone,” a solid rock anthem about honesty in relationships, and later “White Flag,” another rocker where the singer suggests that surrender is not an option when it comes to living life to its fullest.

Modern rock anthems are rare on the radio these days, but hearing the committed crew behind Cage to Rattle makes one almost believe a solid rock comeback is on the horizon and Daughtry is just the band to pull it off. Much of the credit for this must go to its eponymous lead singer, Chris Daughtry, who launched to infamy through American Idol more than a decade ago. That he’s one of the few AI contestants or winners with career longevity beyond the show is testament to both his talent and his powerful voice, and these talents warrant the band’s rare distinction of being a rock band that actually rocks.

For more information, visit daughtryofficial.com.

Three Days Grace / Outsider

Jennifer Russo

I have been meaning to review this album since its March release and have been hopelessly sidetracked. I’ve always liked Three Days Grace, and after three years with nothing new from the band, I was thrilled that they had something up for grabs.

Outsider falls in line with the band’s trademark style, even with new lead vocalist Matt Walst, who first joined for the 2015 album Human, and perhaps with a slightly more mellow take than early songs. Though the album has received some harsh criticism, it has a truly thoughtful approach to the lyrics. It permeates with the angst we’ve loved, and I like Walst’s voice – he has an impressive range and grit I appreciate in a clean vocal.

The album opens with “Right Left Wrong,” a solid introduction to what followed throughout. The second song, “The Mountain,” was a great earworm. It’s one of those songs you learn quickly and find yourself singing later. It’s a song about perseverance, which we all need a reminder of at times. The album’s title song, “I Am an Outsider,” as the title suggests, is about charting your own course instead of falling into the robotic thinking of the trendy mainstream.

My favorite track was “Nothing to Lose but You.” I love the simple guitar intro that is joined by a bass drum and rock-solid harmonies. It’s definitely a power ballad, and the vocals are spot on here. I really liked “Strange Days,” too, and found it to be the most interesting song on the album, a bit different from the rest. A military-like marching beat leads the song – the one on the album that most speaks to our current times.

The band has been out and touring for 15 years and has a pretty consistent sound, for better or worse. It is one that appeals to fans of all ages and many genres of rock and alternative. I would love to see them continue, but would also like to see them push out of the mold just a bit and surprise us with something unexpected.

For more information, visit threedaysgrace.com.

Primus / The Desaturating Seven

Jason Savio

Leave it to Les Claypool to create a soundtrack to a children’s book from the 1970s about goblins.

Published in 1978, The Rainbow Goblins, written by Ul De Rico, is a story about a group of seven goblins – each representing a different color of the rainbow – who feed on color and spread fear. How do they feed on color, exactly? They eat rainbows, sucking the color right out of them. And there’s one place, called the Valley of the Rainbow, that they have their sights set on. The album inspired by this story and performed by Primus is a whimsical and dark exploration of greed and mischief — the perfect concoction for a foreboding fairy tale.

There are plenty of slinking melodies punctuated by heavy, thunderous thuds on The Desaturating Seven to fit the tone of the story. “The Seven” supplies a healthy dose of Primus’s dark circus funk as Claypool calls out the colors of each of the goblins. With the goblins receiving their marching orders, it’s a no-holds-barred, frantic adventure from thereon out. “They’re going to prowl and prey/‘til the world is dark and gray,” Claypool sings with menacing glee.

Claypool’s lyrics are wholly original, and his unique voice fits the narrative perfectly. His storybook reading of some of the lyrics is spot on as he stretches and twists meaning out of every critical word.

For those looking for an old-school Primus album, this isn’t it. Actually, it’s better. There are those patented Primus licks and ticks, but with the backdrop of the goblins’ mission providing the context for each song, “The Desaturating Seven” is a much more focused and complete effort from beginning to end.

Will these troublemaking goblins get what they’re after? Snuggle up and let Uncle Les tell you a bedtime story.

For more information, visit primusville.com.