Daughtry - Leave This Town

Oozing sex appeal, and oodles of talent, Chris Daughtry can wear his rock star badge with honour. Being the fourth-placed finalist of the fifth season of American Idol hasn’t tarnished this sex symbol hailing from North California at all. He is the third most successful American idol behind respective winners Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

Unlike his self-titled debut which focused on him, Leave This Town focuses on what his band can do together. Don’t expect a country-sound from a married guy with a rocker look. This is Chris Daughtry we’re talking about; only he can ensure that we get an album filled with multi-dimensional chart toppers.

A Linkin Park feel encapsulates the opening track “You don’t belong”. “No Surprise” is an emotional rocker. But then that’s not surprising as it was co-written by Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger. The lyrics are  deep in a Kroeger kind of way: “I’ve practiced this for hours, gone round and round/and now I think I’ve got it all down/and I say it louder I love how it sounds”.

Turns out that the theme throughout this album is about love: love lost, experiencing love, dreaming of love and having the opportunity to find love. It’s not puppy love. It’s real and sincere. It’s straight-forward. His music speaks from the heart, its simplicity and uncomplicated sound is accessible to all. “Tennessee Line” sees Chris rocking it out with country music multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter extraordinaire Vince Gil. The song pulls all the right heart-strings with its message about saying goodbye.

Elsewhere “Supernatural” and “September” boasts some impressive guitar solos that showcases how good lyrics and having a rock essence can work individually but also beautifully harmoniously together. “Call your name” is a soft, sweet and a great fairy tale conclusion.

He is being compared to Bon Jovi by many for his good music but Chris also has the soul of a romantic and unlike many rockers who faded away with one hit wonders, Chris is going to be around for a long time and that by any standards is bliss.