The Road Home “Rebel Hearts”

We’ve been long time advocates of The Road Home, having absolutely loved their previous EPs. We were therefore delighted to hear they were releasing their first full LP. The only question was if they could maintain their brilliant quality across a full album.

Opener, “Rebels” is certainly a clear indicator that they intend to do so. It’s a catchy punk song with a bit of a commercial rock feel about it. It’s all punchy guitars with a strong melody and catchy chorus. Given that description, it will come as no surprise that songs like “Black Denim” and “Starting Over” have a definite Gaslight Anthem feel about them.

This is not a case of some sort of ‘sound alike’ band though, The Road Home have something special about them. A song like “Summer Nights” is a great track with a real ‘pop’ heart but delivered with integrity. “Your Heart Won’t Break” and “NoThrills” verge on being arena rock and, in the right hands, could see them explode a la The Kings Of Leon. Then, “Save Me” delves deeper into the band’s roots, with a sound which is like a punked up Springsteen. It’s the sort of number that is destined to be a fan favourite, although the same could easily be said about the anthemic “We’re Never Coming Home”.

Like many bands of this ilk, the song lyrics take a story telling approach and love, or more often loss of love, features fairly heavily, as on “Janey”. There is no time for the band to get remorseful though as they’re soon ploughing on to the next rock n roll song, such as “Always On The Run”. Our initial concerns about the band running out of gas have been firmly put to bed by the time we get to “Sleeping Alone”, a song that Brian Fallon would be chuffed to have written (which is high praise in our books!).

We do feel a bit guilty about the constant Gaslight Anthem referencing, but the fact is they do have a very similar sound and approach. Given that the Gaslight Anthem are (were?) one of our favourite bands over the last ten years, it’s not exactly a bad comparison to have been made. This is punk rock music with a melodic underbelly, but also a sincerity which is missing in other comparable bands. If this release gets the success it deserves, we’re sure future bands will be described as being like The Road Home. For now, you need to buy this and support a great new young band.