Listening to Hinder’s 5th album When the Smoke Clears (2015) brought back so many memories from the high school days. A time where we felt so unstoppable in our dreams. And that’s what hard rock is all about.
The tracks that stand out (in order) are ”If Only For Tonight”, ”Letting Go” and ”Nothing Left To Lose”. The first afore-mentioned songs aren’t only superb rock-ballads, but incorporate the nostalgia of the adolescence years. When love was supposed to be unconditional. ”If Only For Tonight” is undoubtedly the best-written track off the album.
One problem with this record is that the rest of the songs are plain average. And catchy only for a few days. But the main issue is the departure of vocalist Austin Winkler. Without his originality and versatility, now the band sounds just like any other band.
The Rating: 2.5 out of 4.
