“Let’s Go” makes it clear that as Jared James Nichols puts it, he has been “counting the days [to the release] like a personal holiday,” and that is exactly the energy here. This is bursting to get out. It sounds like a man kicking at the walls because the walls have had it coming.
“I’ve got nothing to lose,” he sings, and maybe he hasn’t anymore.
He can play like a god, but we’ve always known that. He looks like a star, but he always has. This time, though, he sounds like he is going for broke.
Produced by Jay Ruston — and frankly, the list of names he has worked with would fill the rest of this review — Louder Than Fate has all the hallmarks of the old Nichols, who was never less than brilliant, but there is a modern sheen to “Ghost” and the like that gives this an extra punch.
Then there is “Way Back,” a hymn to a simpler time which, if Black Stone Cherry did it, would fill arenas and go platinum. Another way of saying that is it sounds almost exactly like one of theirs, and that is meant as praise.
“Bending Or Breaking” is more mid-paced, but it is completely elevated by Nichols’ solo, while “Killing Time” is a proper string-laden ballad and might even be a companion piece to “Bending Or Breaking,” given that it too seems to circle the wreckage of a break-up.
You can imagine “Dust N Bones” being played live. It feels made for it. The damn thing swaggers, and so does the record. They all go, actually. There is a confidence about these songs, a sense that Nichols knows exactly what he is doing and has no intention of apologising for any of it. Modern country bands would kill for “Show Me.”
And if we have already said how good he is, then it is worth stressing that this is not just about solos. The riffs are bang on point too, not least on “Looks Like That Felt Good,” one of three here with Roger Alan Nichols.
“Runnin’ Hot” is as lust-filled as it is simple, while “Pretend” is a full-throttle race to the finish. At least on the surface. Dig a little deeper and it is another relationship ending, which becomes something of a recurring theme here.
Never mind “Pretend,” though. The whole record oozes authenticity. Jared James Nichols has always been about the music, and all his records have been magnificent. Louder Than Fate, in that respect, is another in a long line. More than that, I’d wager the artist himself would tell you this is the one he is proudest of.
When he went into the studio, surely it was to create exactly this.
Rating: 9/10
