WALTER TROUT – Sign of the Times

RELEASE YEAR: 2025
BAND URL: https://www.waltertrout.com/home

Legendary blues rocker Walter Trout is the ultimate survivor and a divinely gifted songwriter whose compositions overflow with raw nerve, fiery passion, words that speak to the soul, and gritty riffs with enough power to shake loose your fillings and prompt you to call that much-dreaded dentist of yours. There is poignant beauty to this upcoming album of his too, and Trout is nothing if not versatile and able to cover the whole emotional spectrum. Sign of the Times moves back and forth between melancholy and defiance, yearning and determination, love and loss – all of which sounds and feels seamless. Other than the slightly mundane and forgettable “I Remember,” there is not a single duff track on the disc, and there is nothing contrived about these ten living and breathing songs that speak of the human condition and the tumult and chaos that the world is knee-deep in. The lyrics mirror a lot of what is going on within and without, which only adds to the record’s remarkable depth, and they perfectly illustrate just how splendidly the many haunting qualities of Walter’s tunes merge and complement each; he makes every tone and word count and work in tandem.  

Sign of the Times is as inspired and spirited as they come, and it just so happens that the title track is Walter’s strongest composition to date and heavier than a freight train.