Zach Bryan, With Heaven on Top ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️❌
Zach Bryan is back with a new album, and boy howdy is it a behemoth. 25 songs clocking in at 1 hour and 18 minutes. That is a lot.
But surprisingly, for how long this album is, it moves at a clip. The track list flows very nicely, and it keeps you engaged. Could there have been some self editing? Yes. Are there songs that sound a bit like other songs? Yes. But for the most part he handled this unwieldy 25 song beast very well.
Now, the songs themselves are great. A lot of the down home, good ol’ Oklahoma boy trials and tribulations that we’ve become accustomed to from Bryan’s work, but lyrically he’s very impressive here. And musically really sharp as well.
He released two versions of this album: The full production version, and a stripped down solo acoustic version. He did this for fear of the album being labeled “overproduced,” but I think the production is great. I love when it indulges in different sounds, like the horns that are present in a number of songs.
Favorite song: “Bad News”
