I’ll be honest; I was conflicted about going to the listening for Dead by Sunrise: Out of Ashes – I went tormented, fearing I’d come out unenthused, disappointed or indifferent. From the handful of songs I’d heard live on numerous occasions since 2006, I was for the lack of a better word bored. Despite my over-thinking I wanted to be proven wrong, like many others I had high hopes and anticipated the release of Chester Bennington’s solo endeavours, but I was afraid with my own personal development and musical evolvement that maybe I’d lost my buzz, my excitement and my passion for it.

The saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ comes to mind from hearing the songs performed live in comparison to the produced final product.  On hearing the album in full I was not prepared for my reaction.

‘Out of Ashes’ is a collection of passion fuelled, industrial sounding songs with a wide range of emotion.  You feel it from the start with the song ‘Fire’, which has been suggested as the second single. Instantly recognisable vocals from Chester Bennington and powerful instrumental blending perfectly together, it eases you into the album and gets you ready for the bands first single ‘Crawl Back in’.

As we continue to listen we get to a song that I have heard many times live, a song I was reluctant to listen to again ‘Let Down’, only now it sounds finished, and is more powerful and beautifully delivered.

Once you get to the faster paced ‘My Suffering’ I can’t quite stop the subconscious need to tap my foot and bounce around. This is the most Linkin Parkesque sounding track on the album, with the echoey scream undertone throughout the song and ending with a climactic scream – I already find this one of my favourites.

The album ends in a mellow song described by Chester Bennington as “a song about making love” and starts with an acoustic guitar and pounding beat, faint moans in an echoey intro loosely reminiscent of Linkin Park’s “The Little Things Give You Away” but stronger.  Again finally hearing the finished studio version I got to appreciate this song, moving and emotional, a ballad with a sensual twist.

If you think ‘Out of Ashes’ is going to be a Linkin Park album without the rapping and more guitars, then you’re in for a surprise, although these are subtle . If you think it’ll be a mellow, classic rock album, again you’ll be mistaken.  ‘Out of Ashes’ is an expressive, explosive blend of aggressive rock, electronic music and powerful lyrics. This twelve track album brings together the strength of Chester Bennington’s vocals and powerful guitar delivery from Ryan Shuck.  The combination of fast paced rock songs with beautifully delivered ballads (every rock album needs a ballad or two) makes the album well worth waiting over 3 years for and I can’t wait to own a copy.

Highlights to look out for:

• –My Suffering – recently been made available to download by Chester Bennington on his Twitter account.
• –The Line “Treat me like an animal – I like it” – Condemned. The song has some great one liners that make it memorable and stick in your brain
• –Watch out for the line “What the hell is wrong with me?” in Inside of Me and try not to think of Linkin Park’s ‘Given Up’