By Jim Rowland
Veteran blues-rock icon Walter Trout delighted long-time fans, and gained a fair few new ones, with his excellent 2022 album ‘Ride’. Less than two years later he’s back with brand new album ‘Broken’ and, with a little help from some friends, may well have just made an even better one.
‘Broken’ is a pretty diverse album with numerous different flavours all routed, of course, in the blues. The album kicks off with the title track ‘Broken’, a soulful and powerful collaboration with Trout’s friend Beth Hart, who puts in a fine performance.
Another guest appearance comes from British harmonica virtuoso Will Wilde who adds some quality harp to the album’s first single ‘Bleed’ – a rip-roaring slice of big, bold boogie blues. The final guest on the album is perhaps the most surprising one in that it comes in the shape of Twisted Sister frontman, and Trout admirer, Dee Snider, who works well with Trout on the album’s hardest rocking number ‘I’ve Had Enough’: not the TS track of the same name, but a track Walter Trout wrote specifically for this collaboration.
Elsewhere, ‘Talkin’ To Myself’ and ‘Heaven Or Hell’ both add to the album’s rock quota, with the former having a softer approach and the latter hitting harder with its apocalyptic lyrical theme. ‘Courage In The Dark’ is a great slice of laid back blues rock, slightly reminiscent of ZZ Top’s earlier stuff, ‘Turn And Walk Away’ has a folky Americana favour to it and ‘Breathe’ has a distinct country twang. The laid back dreamy rock of ‘I Wanna Stay’ is the closest the album comes to a pure ballad, with the Gary Moore-esque slick blues instrumental ‘Love Of My Life’ and the wonderful, soaring epic-sounding album closer ‘Falls Apart’ both highlighting Walter Trout’s considerable guitar skills.
Now firmly into his sixth decade of making music, Walter Trout shows no signs of letting up, and indeed ‘Broken’ shows the man is in a rich vein of form right now.
- ‘Broken‘ is released on Friday (1 March).
- Walter Trout tours in October:
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