DAUGHTRY / BREAK THE SPELL (2011)

This is the third release by the 'modern' rockers Daughtry. "Break The Spell" is the follow-up effort to the successful and platinum selling "Leave This Town" in 2009. The quintet fronted by the American 'Idol' Chris Daughtry and made a huge impact to the rock scene with their debut album back in 2006.

According to Chris, the album is "more upbeat and positive lyrically" and also stated that the album sounds "nothing like the previous two". Chris wrote all the songs with band guitarists Josh Steely and Brian Craddock, bassist Josh Paul, and collaborated with Marti Frederiksen, Busbee and Brett James.  The Bon Jovi-esque rockers along with some more 'modern' mid-tempos and a few superb ballads are in perfect balance in this release and, in my opinion, all the above mentioned things make this album their best to date. The 'Renegade' which opens the album is a punch in your face with its attitude and the hard hittin' guitars. An excellent rocker! "Louder Than Ever" is anthemic with a feel-good vibe in it while 'Crawling Back To You", the album's first single, is another one anthemic pop-rock monster which is written by the mighty Marti Frederiksen.

All in all, this is another high-quality rock release by these guys! The songwrittting is tighter than ever and the songs are all very good to excellent without any filler in sight. Chris Daughtry's vocal performances are strong and in-your-face and the guitar sound is big and 'fat'. The production rocks and the rhythm section is solid! What else do you want to tell you to convince you that this is a big must have album?

HeavyParadise's Rating : 9/10

Track List :

1. Renegade
2. Crawling Back To You
3. Outta My Head
4. Start Of Something Good
5. Crazy
6. Break The Spell
7. We're Not Gonna Fall
8. Gone Too Soon
9. Losing My Mind
10. Rescue Me
11. Louder Than Ever
12. Spaceship

Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks :

1. Who's They
2. Maybe We're Alreday Gone
3. Everything But Me
4. Lullaby