Aerosmith spent much of the ’70s off their nuts, but still somehow made all-time classic ridiculous rock albums like ‘Rocks’. Plus, having bossed rap-rock with Run-DMC in the ’80s and dominated MTV in the ’90s, their legacy is assured. Those well-documented in-band rifts aside, this is the first proper noise they’ve made since 2001. Has it been worth the wait? Well, it sounds like Aerosmith, with plenty of hard-rocking blues swagger and lighters-aloft balladry, but most of the tunes are rubbish. The self-parodic ‘Legendary Child’ exemplifies a band that draws on great ideas, but none of them from this century.
Jeremy Allen