Daughtry – Dearly Beloved
6/10
This is as far as I go when it comes to “popular music” as such as you would put this in the mainstream gum chewing kind of music. It is a nice place to go to though. Daughtry is an artist that I have liked since the self-titled debut in 2006. I have to say that there were more sticking hits with a more rock like tune back in the days. Every release gets a bit more mixed candy bag of try to put in what everyone likes.
There aren´t the timeless classics anymore. I can not see more than maybe the title track on this album still sticking around for any length of time, for me that is.
The tempo is often quite low, going almost full power ballad mode. Personally, I like the mix between the more crowd pleasing, audience friendly rock songs (although light) and slower painful songs. Because the vocals are there to deal with both and the level of anguish in the delivery is usually top notch as it is here as well, I am a bit disappointed that we don´t get a few more rocky songs.
Going through a few songs, we have “Evil” that even has a little “Black Box” sample in it. I am sure that the little scream we hear is from “Ride on Time” from days gone past. Great running man song for that matter. “Lioness” gets under your skin like it should. Great range of vocals during the song and some nice shifts in melody is positive. “Heavy is the Crown” can probably claim a bit towards being the hardest song on the album. Still it is designed like a hit-song with the aim to be a hit-song. The problem on this album is that there are to many songs that stop at aspiring. Just when it feels like the song is going to lift that extra inch, it doesn´t.
That is what I take with me from this album. Decent release, but as of right now, I don´t think that this album will stand out the same way as some of the previous releases from this artist. Even as a stand-alone album not judging compared to previous releases.
Artist: Daughtry
Title: Dearly Beloved
Label: Dogtree Records
Date of release: 2021-09-17
Rating: 6/10
Stand out track: Dearly Beloved
Country of origin: USA
Playing time: 49:44
