CJ Wildheart – 'Devil' Album Review

4 minutes ago
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Tracklist:

Nein, Nein, Nein
The Art of Being Free
Diva
SOB
Sometime To Return
One Of The Boys
Rotten
No More
Twenty Two
Fade

If you’re aware of CJ Wildheart and his social platforms, then you are no doubt up to date on how things are for him in today’s current musical climate. For those that aren’t, I’ll sum it up… CJ is finding (much like a lot of artists these days) things to be really tough, especially without a label to back you. He’s very open and honest about this; without the slightest sense of moaning or woe is me. He’s pretty much a one-man operation when it comes to his music, which has to be respected. After so many years at the coal face of punk rock music and no longer playing as many gigs as he’d like, you’d be forgiven for wondering why he hasn’t just thrown the towel in? It would be really easy for him to do so, but he’s passionate about having an outlet, so once again has decided to stick two fingers up at the world just go for it.

Nein, Nein, Nein: comes blasting out of the gates with CJ’s infectious frantic paced brand of punk rock. You gotta hand it to ‘ol CJ, he’s quite clever with his wording here as you can almost read this song as 999 or no. no, no. Normally anything with a woah in a song makes me wanna run for cover (as it just makes me think of bland chart music) but CJ finds a way to make it work thanks to the ruptured pipes choir. Oh, and don’t forget the obvious nod to the Ramones with a punchy HEY HO thrown in for good measure. It’s a really strong opening statement.

The Art of Being Free: Throws a curveball with almost jazzy clean chord that will no doubt have some listeners going, “Did I just hear that?” Thankfully it’s not a jazz song, (wonderful) but a really upbeat positive ear worm of a song that is pretty autobiographic and almost a potential goodbye to everyone who has supported him on this journey (if it comes to an end). I don’t know how CJ manages to create such juxtapositions on this one. At times, this song will no doubt come across as a song to really sing along to, and at other times it will seem incredibly sad. Musically, it’s a solid mid paced rocker that perfectly suits the song with a nice extended guitar solo (something that doesn’t often happen on CJ’s albums).

Diva: Right enough of the soppy, emotional bollocks! CJ turns the dial up and comes out snarling with 'Diva'.It’s fast paced, frantic and a bit different for him as its all over the place with some frankly mental bass runs that make this stand out from his other songs. I’d love to see him do a few more songs like this in the future. There’s some nice guitar melodies here, CJ is seething with venom and he hasn’t sounded this pissed off since 'Shit Brick' (from his 'Siege' album).

SOB drops things down a bit with another solid outing, there’s some nice, tasty guitar licks going on throughout the song and some real old school guitar soloing. At this point we’re 4 songs in and each song has shown a slightly different side of CJ’s punk rock style.

Somewhere to Return (Soul Asylum Cover): The first song on the album where the vocals sound really clean, At times with CJ’s albums it’s easy to forget that he has a really good singing voice. What I’m already liking about this album is that the songs are varied in style, although always put through CJ’s punk filter. Not only do the songs sound different; production/recording wise, CJ and Dave Draper have created something that allows the songs to breath so as your ears don’t get fatigued. When CJ puts a cover on an album it’s a little insight into artists or songs that have inspired him – I didn’t realise this was a cover until CJ told me it was.

One of The Boys (is the perfect opener for side two if you are listening to the vinyl) will more than likely have you punching the air and singing along to the “ahoy” vocal hook (when one’s looking). CJ has stacked this song full of ear worms from the vocals to the guitar lines. It’s one of the album highlights for me, and I suspect for many of his fans.

Rotten Is one of those songs that will have you thinking to yourself, “I swear I’ve heard parts of this somewhere before” which is a good sign of the quality of the song writing. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but there appears to be way more guitar solo’s on this album than CJ has done on his previous solo albums. Here, there are touches of 50’s inspired blues licks and it’s making the album so much better for it.

NO MORE: Finally! As much as I am enjoying this album, I was beginning to feel there was a little something missing and here it is, No CJ album is complete without that off kilter song that stomps along all menacing like (CJ’s always been good at writing these tracks). 'No More' isn’t the heaviest track, but it’s dark and brooding compared to the rest of the album, which makes it stand out.

Twenty Two: For those people who came out to see the CJ/Scott Sorry/ GTA tour in ‘22, this song is all about that tour, the fun that was had and 2 special people very close to CJ. That tour was such a laugh and I was very lucky to have seen the love and laughs shared between all as would anyone who attended those gigs. This upbeat song is as the chorus says, the perfect celebration of both the song and Scott Sorry, who is sorely missed by all who knew him.

Devil is finally brought to a close with,

Fade: Wow this one cuts hard emotionally. CJ sings with so much passion and the music backs it perfectly. The chorus is rather beautiful and I’ll openly admit, it’s got me in tears writing this as I’m reminded of the subject matter. For those of you that don’t know, CJ lost both of his parents to dementia in a short space of time and it hit him hard. He’s been very open about this on his socials. 'Fade' is a beautifully written tribute and I like to think that somewhere out there, CJ’s parents are smiling down, thankful for the love shown towards them in this beautiful song. If CJ decides to call it a day then he’s gone out on a beautiful song and a really solid, varied album. However, I have a sneaky suspicion this isn’t the last we’ll see or hear of that cheeky chimp as he loves to refer to himself.