NAZARETH – Surviving The Law (2022)
Frontiers Music will release the new album from the legendary Scottish rock band NAZARETH, “Surviving The Law” next April 15. These long-running UK hard rockers will enter their 54th year of existence in 2022 and the new album sees the band – which maintain the line-up of Jimmy Murrison (longest serving guitarist in the band’s history), Lee Agnew (drummer since Darrel Sweet’s death in 1999), Pete Agnew (founding member, on bass) and vocalist powerhouse Carl Sentance – in full form.
One of the iconic factors that made Nazareth special was the raspy voice of frontman Dan McCafferty. His vocals have been a unique element when it comes to the sound of the British quartet. Unfortunately, and due to health issues, McCafferty had to leave the band in 2014 and the question if to continue with the band or not was quickly answered.
With the blessing of the former singer, Nazareth onboarded with Carl Sentance a very talented vocalist and the journey continues.
It was a smart move to hire a singer with a great voice that differs from McCafferty. Nazareth still sound like Nazareth and at the time got a new and fresh addition to their music. What started with previous LP ‘Tattooed on My Brain’ finds on ‘Surviving the Law’ a continuation.
The hard rock veterans know how to write a good song and the new album carries a lot of them. There is no real downer on Nazareth’s 25th studio album.
‘Strange Days’, a title that fits so well in these weird current times, is the opener and blooms right away. Nazareth can’t be tamed by age or fate; that is immediately apparent. The opener sounds dynamic and fresh, a great start into the album.
In case one thinks about the best songs have been placed on the top half of the track listing, one has to revise this thought. There are cool songs on the A-side, tracks like the powerful and hard-hitting ‘Runaway’. At the same time there are song like the moderately paced ‘Let the Whiskey Flow’, the uptempo smasher ‘Sinner’ and the dark ‘Psycho Skies’, showing the consistency of the album.
Not to forget in this context is the blues-driven closer ‘You Made Me’, a stellar ending of this longplayer.
Nazareth found back to their strength which means having a good sense for writing excellent and strong rock songs with edges. There is a lot of musical dynamite woven into each of the fourteen songs.
‘Surviving the Law’ is a solid, granite album, proving that rock’n’roll has nothing to do with age. Older but certainly not calmer; that’s the new Nazareth album.
Highly Recommended
01 – Strange Days
02 – You Gotta Pass It Around
03 – Runaway
04 – Better Leave It Out
05 – Mind Bomb
06 – Sweet Kiss
07 – Falling in Love
08 – Waiting for the World to End
09 – Let the Whiskey Flow
10 – Sinner
11 – Ciggies and Booze
12 – Psycho Skies
13 – Love Breaks
14 – You Made Me
Carl Sentance – Vocals
Jimmy Murrison – Guitar
Pete Agnew – Bass
Lee Agnew – Drums
Pre order:
www.amazon.com/Surviving-Law-Nazareth/dp/B09NRJZ8WW
