Daughtry – Dearly Beloved (2021) Review

As the brooding synths of Desperation crash against a wall of drums and bass, one thing is immediately clear:

Seasoned post-grungers Daughtry have stopped second-guessing themselves.

After the pop-gloss detours of Baptized and Cage to Rattle, fifth album Dearly Beloved lands like a statement of intent — not a nostalgia retreat, but a proper reset for a band who had lost their way in recent years.

Their first release since their fiery split from RCA, you can hear the relief in the songwriting: less “format”, more conviction. And, perhaps more surprisingly, they’ve found a way to retain the modern textures that stood out on their lacklustre pop-focused efforts while redirecting their core sound back to the heavier, riff-driven crunch of their early work.

The Sound of Freedom

A lot of “return to rock” albums are mere marketing copy.

Dearly Beloved, on the other hand, feels like a band finally writing with the handbrake off.

Having exited longtime label RCA due to a power struggle that saw them pushed towards a pop pivot they had no interest in sustaining, former American Idol starlet Chris Daughtry is out to regain creative control of his music and prove he’s capable of delivering a great modern hard rock record without the backing of a major label.

This fascinating backstory provides Dearly Beloved with a ready-made emotional core, and it’s easy to root for the frontman as he sings about the struggle to reclaim his musical identity in the face of an ever-growing list of record company executives who insisted that his audience was no longer there.

And, perhaps even more importantly in terms of the band’s resurgence, the whole thing is set on top of a delightfully confident batch of guitar hooks that land emphatically because — for the first time in what feels like forever — they have been written that way, and not sanded into radio compliance.

"Gotta take our power back,
Before they take us all."
ASYLUM

The Hit-Rate

There are many highlights, but the theatrical Evil is the clearest mission statement.

Complete with an ominous synth shimmer, an instantly hummable chorus, and — refreshingly — a guitar solo, it’s an unforgettable slice of Daughtry at their best.

Elsewhere, the crunching combination of Changes Are Coming and Cry for Help provide a welcome return to the catchy pop-rock that many longtime fans have felt was missing on the band’s more recent output, and standout rocker The Victim finally pulls off the bouncy, funk-infused experiment they first attempted way back in 2018 — this time with proper bite.

And then comes the one-two punch of Lioness and Heavy Is the Crown. The former is a dramatically arranged ode to the frontman’s wife that features one of rock’s best bridge sections in recent memory, the latter a towering mid-tempo bruiser that unleashes its heaviest moments at exactly the right time — indeed, fans who have complained about the pop direction of their previous two efforts will be over the moon when they hear those guitars come crashing in after the first chorus.

"When the weight of the world's crashing,
Pushing you closer to the edge."
Heavy Is The Crown

Hybrid Sound

Although a musical reset of sorts, Daughtry are by no means reverting to factory settings.

Instead, they’ve found a way to revert back to the hard rock of their earlier records while retaining many of the atmospheric modern elements that proved to be a highlight of their lacklustre third and fourth records, to create an interesting new hybrid model:

• the post-grunge thickness of their classic debut
• the chorus-first polish of Break The Spell
• the synth lanscapes they flirted with on Cage To Rattle — now used for scale, rather than as a replacement for guitars

It’s impressive to hear each of these jigsaw pieces fit together to create a record so full of life, so brimming with renewed artistic confidence, and a sense of vibrancy that has been missing from their work for the best part of a decade.

Where It Dips

Dearly Beloved’s momentum grinds to a halt when Daughtry lose their sense of urgency.

Somebody is the main offender: a track that feels smoothed-out both lyrically and dynamically in a way the album otherwise avoids. It’s not a total disaster, but rather a rare moment where Daughtry sound like they’re reaching for “serviceable” rather than “essential”.

It’s quickly joined on the scrapheap by Call You Mine, a by-the-numbers acoustic track that pales in comparison to songs of a similar ilk from the band’s glittering back catalogue. This kind of material would’ve been an easy win for the band in years gone by, but this time it seems to clash with the record’s atmospheric production, creating a weightless sensation that eats itself.

Daughtry – Dearly Beloved

When we consider the musical misfires, extended hiatuses and identity crisis of the last ten years, Dearly Beloved really shouldn’t work as well as it does.

By learning how to blend their trademark crunch with the synth atmospherics of their experimental modern day work, Dearly Beloved delivers a genuinely stacked line-up of great rock songs, and — crucially — they once again sound like a band with something to say.

Against all expectations, Daughtry have reclaimed their place amongst rock’s elite with an instant classic.