Fully Loaded: God's Country
splits the difference between a compilation and a new EP, balancing seven relatively recent hits with five cuts making their debut here. The two bookend cuts -- "God's Country," which feels like it could've been written by
Aaron Lewis
, and the swaggering
Trace Adkins
duet "Hell Right" -- emphasize
Shelton
's burlier side, but he gets sweeter when he sings the power ballad "Nobody But You" with
Gwen Stefani
and lays back for the sunny "Jesus Got a Tight Grip," which never seems as religious as its chorus suggests. Save for "Tequila Sheila" -- a pointless replica of
Bobby Bare
's 1980 hit, right down to the fake crowd noises -- the new cuts are strong enough, and when they're paired with the hits 2016's
If I'm Honest
and 2017's
Texoma Shore
, it amounts to a pretty solid
Blake Shelton
album, albeit one that feels like the holding pattern it was intended to be. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine