Sometime after wrapped up their 2022 tour -- the second they completed since the 2021 death of their drummer -- decided the band had spent enough time working on their first record of original material since 2005's . gave , the only other surviving founding member of left in the band, a deadline of Valentine's Day 2023 for wrapping up the sessions that had been dragging on for years. The ultimatum worked: by October of that year, released , their first collection of new songs in 18 years. The album doesn't entirely consist of material cut early in 2023 -- two tracks feature , including "Live by the Sword," which has original bassist guesting on a record for the first time in 30 years -- yet it bears the unmistakable imprint of a record delivered on a deadline. There's little hesitation, no thoughtful pondering here: just barrels ahead with a clean efficiency. Although they're largely working with a new producer -- , who came recommended by don't attempt new tricks anywhere on , save maybe "Whole Wide World," whose bizarre neo-new wave vibe gets odder thanks to singing in an exaggerated cockney accent. Even that is a slight nod to the band's mall-rat rock of the early '80s, one of many different guises adopt over the course of . While a good portion of the record is devoted to straight-ahead rock & roll, they also find space for ragged country ("Dreamy Skies") and acoustic blues ("Rolling Stone Blues"), not to mention "Sweet Sounds of Heaven," a showstopping ballad featuring . That track is a good indication of how plays. At first, it seems like a solid evocation of "Beast of Burden," but it's a slow burn, a song that sounds stronger with each repeated listen. So is of the rest of . Because it has no grand conceptual hook and because so thoroughly integrate their superstar guests -- not only are and here but so are , , and -- it doesn't overwhelm upon an initial listen the way the lengthy or do; that small scale is its strength. At its heart, it's nothing more than knocking out some good songs, which seems like a minor miracle after such a long wait. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine