Review NAZARETH ‘Surviving the Law’

British hard rock pioneers Nazareth do have a long track record and influence(d) a lot of bands along the way. The band from Scotland was founded in 1968 and the first album, the self-titled debut, enriched the rock scene in 1971.

One of the iconic factors that made Nazareth special was the raspy voice of frontman Dan McCafferty. His vocals have been a unique element when it comes to the sound of the British quartet. Unfortunately, and due to health issues, McCafferty had to leave the band in 2014 and the question if to continue with the band or not was quickly answered. With the blessing of the former singer, Nazareth onboarded with Carl Sentence a very talented new vocalist and the journey continues.

It was a smart move to hire a singer with a great voice that differs from McCafferty. Nazareth still sound like Nazareth and at the time got a new and fresh addition to their music. What started with ‘Tattooed on My Brain’ album finds on ‘Surviving the Law’ a continuation. The rock veterans know how to write a good song and the new album carries a lot of them. There is no real downer on Nazareth’s 25^th studio album. ‘Strange Days’, a title that fits so well in these weird current times, is the opener and blooms right away. Nazareth can’t be tamed by age or fate; that is immediately apparent. The opener sounds dynamic and fresh, a great start into the album.

In case one thinks about the best songs have been placed on the top half of the track listing, one has to revise this thought. There are cool songs on the A-side, tracks like the powerful and hard-hitting ‘Runaway’. At the same time there are song like the moderately paced ‘Let the Whiskey Flow’, the uptempo smasher ‘Sinner’ and the dark ‘Psycho Skies’, showing the consistency of the album. Not to forget in this context is the blues-driven closer ‘You Made Me’, a stellar ending of this longplayer.

Nazareth found back to their strength which means having a good sense for writing excellent and strong rock songs with edges. There is a lot of musical dynamite woven into each of the fourteen songs. ‘Surviving the Law’ is a cool album, proving that rock’n’roll has nothing to do with age. Older but certainly not calmer; that’s the new Nazareth album.