Meanwhile, while HALESTORM aren't known as a band that uses a lot of expletives, that's not the case on "Heavy MeNtal (F**k Yeah)" , which drops quite a few f-bombs. Back From The Dead is a killer blues-based hard rock opener that sets the tone for the entire album. Loaded with raw energy, captivating lyrics, and Lzzy Hale's signature powerhouse vocals, Back From The Dead stands as a fierce testament to the band's evolution and enduring spirit and is amongst the best albums released in 2022.

The set is available digitally, as well as on CD and cassette tape, making this the first time the album has been offered in these formats. Their response could have been a flailing mess, but it isn’t – it’s Halestorm in totality, an already great act building new rails to replace the ones we all ran off. While bands with strong vocalists sometimes sound as if they're competing against the guitars, in HALESTORM, the two are perfectly married, not clashing but instead working together, supporting one another.Remember lockdown, that shapeless mass of wasted life in which time seemed to distort and bands had to swap real for virtual?

Naturally, it isn’t only Hale’s prowess on the microphone that makes such an impact for the band is on fire throughout this hard rock masterpiece.Psycho Crazy" and "Raise Your Horns" are two more ragers, with fist-pumping choruses and an uber-heavy guitar attack.

One thought sustained us – the certainty that adversity breeds creativity, and that from this darkness would come some of the best rock music ever made. Give or take a Floor Jansen, Lzzy Hale owns the best voice in modern rock – but even she’s never sounded quite this enflamed.

Nevertheless, it’s wonderful to hear modern hard rock music recorded, mixed, and mastered so well, for it is the exception rather than the norm. The emotive, piano-led Raise Your Horns is a decent closer, but if your skin doesn’t prickle when Lzzy sings the opening lines of The Steeple – a song made for crowds, the stage, the very things we’ve missed – then you should probably check a few of your other vital signs. That's apparent on "Terrible Things", a haunting ballad with Lzzy begging, "And there's a hole in my life / There's a blackness inside that's eating me alive / Leaving me to decide / Do I live with this pain? She truly has never sounded better and if Raise Your Horns doesn’t leave you impressed, you’re listening wrong for Hale is one of the greatest vocalists the world has ever known and even after all these years, she’s just getting started.