The amazing rising country star Chase Matthew is returning on Friday with his third studio album. I have to say that I certainly like some of his music, so when we got this sent over I knew I had to check it out in full and let y’all know what I thought. I’m yet to hear one of his albums in full, so here’s hoping I like what I hear here!
The album starts off strong with ‘Drives my Truck’. A fun riff leads through a simple verse, all building towards the catchy, arena-filling chorus. It’s simple, even vaguely predictable, but a lot of fun to listen to! It’s just distorted enough to have a country/southern rock feel to it, yet still is written for radio in all the best ways. Heck, we even get a great little guitar solo in the middle, fitting the track perfectly. And Chase’s vocals already are awesome! It’s an awesome track and one that easily makes our playlist. What a way to start!
The pace slows up a bit got ‘Missing Me Missing You’, the electric drums and samples definitely dragging the song in a more modern, pop direction. It reminds me a bit more of a Morgan Wallen sound. Having said that, it still explodes into a huge, stadium-rock country, and the melody is straight up 2000s country in the best way! It’s another fun track, despite the break-up nature of the lyrics and the slightly slower pace. It’s another simple track, yet it’s so good!
The pace slows down even more into the beautiful acoustic ballad, ‘Heart Half Empty’. Chase’s powerful low voice sounds so good over the top of the simple acoustic chords. Plus, we also get Lauren Alaina’s incredible vocals in the choruses and the second verse. Their voices sound so phenomenal together, and hers is amazing on her own, too. It’s an absolutely amazing ballad that is surely going to be massive if it starts to get radio play. It’s also another huge highlight of the album!
Tracks like ‘No Name Roads’, ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’ and ‘Fire in Her Eyes’ are all pretty standard radio-country bangers. There’s nothing wrong with them, they’re all good songs, but are all kinda similar and fit in with the climate of the genre currently. They’re definitely worth a listen, but are nothing new or interesting.
‘Driving Through my Hometown’ is another great ballad, a simple yet incredibly effective nostalgia song. Sure, again it’s pretty cliche and Jason Aldeen-esque, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good song! The lyrics get pretty emotional and deep throughout, honestly giving me goosebumps at times. It’s simple yet so very effective, and yet another huge highlight of the album!
‘If I Had Wings’ almost pairs up with the previous track, adding a piano to the mix and, in turn, adding even more emotion in. The lyrics are of course incredible, and Chase’s delivery of them is so very powerful. It works perfectly following ‘Driving Through…’ too, both songs complimenting and adding to each other so well. It’s still very country, but is more of a pop ballad, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. Even though I’m not overly religious, this worked really well for me. Another truly great song!
‘You Turn’ takes us back to the standard radio-country. Somewhat sadly, that is where this album stays for the rest of its run. Don’t get me wrong, some are slower than others, but all have a pretty similar vibe and feel, and they all vaguely resemble that ‘No Name Roads’ style. They’re all good tracks, but I do kinda wish we had another upbeat song in here to break up the slower songs and charge the energy a little again. Still, ‘No Way Around It’ is a fantastic way to close out the album, while ‘Waiting on You To Call’ is maybe my favourite of this collection.
Overall: I really enjoyed this! For inoffensive, (I don’t want to sound mean but) generic radio-country, it was a damn good listen from front to back, and had some real flashes of brilliance throughout. Chase has really come into his own on his third album and proves why he is one of the fastest growing, and brightest lights, I’m the genre today. It’s not completely my sort of thing, but I certainly get the appeal and recommend anyone who’s a fan of country music to check this out immediately!
The Score: 8/10