Blues rock mastermind Jamie Porter is back with what he is dubbing a mini album. A short collection of seven tracks to follow up his last years release (read our review of that here). It’s set for release tomorrow so join us in checking out what it’s like!
‘A Girl Like You’ opens on one of the most blusey riffs I’ve heard all year. The perfect blend of Black Stone Cherry, old Deep Purple and Electric Boys. The track strips back a little as Jamie Porter ‘s vocals come in, it all having a very chilled out vibe to it. The chorus is still relaxed but is bigger and pretty anthemic thanks to the second guitar and harmonised vocals. It’s catchy and made to be played in front of a huge crowd. And while the solo was a little basic, it fit well with the feel and groove of the track, which is much harder to get right! It’s a simple yet hugely effective track, a fun, good way to start the album!
‘I’m Not Running Away’ opens on a slower, quieter riff, almost a little Brit-pop influence in there. The steady, almost ballad-like pace of the track was awesome and a bold choice for the second song on the album. It was another very catchy track, too. There wasn’t a massive difference between the verse and chorus, sonically, but subtle changes of adding another vocal and slightly more instrumentation added an amazing couple of layers to it. The lyrics were fantastic too, meaningful and straight from the heart. They definitely worked for me! It all builds perfectly into the final chorus. Jamie has the innate ability to make ANYTHING into an epic anthem, and I both love it and am incredibly jealous. This easily makes the playlist, it was an awesome track!
The heaviness ramps back up with ‘Need a Little Love’, the main riff reminding me a lot of Velvet Revolver. It’s got that effortless swagger that’s so associated with Slash. The catchy as FUCK vocals are pretty Scott Weiland, too. The harmonised gang vocals when it drops back a little too are very GnR. Jamie is wearing his inspirations on his sleeve in the best way. There’s an extended instrumental in the middle that, while it was awesome, I do think it dragged the song out a little. As much as I love prog, seven-and-a-half minutes of a similar sound got to me just a little. Still though, it ends in spectacular fashion with another huge chorus.
‘You Are the One’ is another ballad. It starts slow with clean guitars and the multi-layered vocals and building slowly through the verse and chorus before the drums come in behind to add another great later. It never even hits the huge stadium-chorus height that I was expecting it to, it stayed stripped back and simple throughout. Honestly, I preferred it. It was beautiful and the message of the song came across perfectly this way. And heck, as I said before, when you can turn anything into a huge chorus, knowing when not to is also impressive.
Speaking of big anthemic choruses, ‘Remember Yesterday’ encapsulates everything I was praising the previous track for not being. It’s a mid-tempoed, ballad-like banger of a track. It gives off slight Bon Jovi vibes, but obviously with a British twang. It’s fucking awesome! This is everything that the band is about in terms of their sound, so if you’re going to check any out first, I’d recommend this one! It’s awesome, and easily makes the playlist!
The final two tracks are both excellent too. I enjoyed when the track dropped down in ‘Ready for Action’. It sounded very AC/DC and the build back up was perfect. Then the album ended with the surprisingly AOR ‘Hero’. It’s one of the rockier tracks on the album but still maintains Jamie Porter ‘s now signature tempo and style. Both are fantastic tracks and ‘Hero’ closes the album well.
Overall: This was great! I wouldn’t say it was quite as strong as the full album last year, but that’s simply because the other one was a tad heavier so it’s personal preference. However, there isn’t a bad track on this collection and a couple stand out amongst some of his best work. Both can have the same score, as this does feel like an extension of MMXXI…
The Score: 8/10