God & Guns

With their classic early lineup, anchored by the swagger, grit, and heart of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, Lynyrd Skynyrd merged Allman Brothers guitars with barrelhouse piano,courtesy of keyboardist Billy Powell, a bigger part of Skynyrd's classic sound than most people realize, then tossed in a big dose of hard rock attitude and gave it all credence with a kind of blustering and cocky honky tonk sensibility.

So what to make of God & Guns, the group's new album from Roadrunner Records? It certainly sounds like Lynyrd Skynyrd, maybe with a little more contemporary Nashville on board, and there's plenty of that Southern redneck rocker attitude on display. The lead single, "Still Unbroken," is a fine song, "Southern Ways" has a certain charm (maybe because it's essentially a slowed-down rewrite of "Sweet Home Alabama" using the same riff as an anchor), and "Floyd"

has some ragged atmosphere going for it, but there's nothing as memorable as "Free Bird" here, but it's probably not fair to ask this version of the band to compete with its own past. This is
Skynyrd in the 21st century, nothing more, nothing less, and they still rock hard. That part of the legacy is still intact. [This limited Special Edition adds a second disc of bonus tracks,
including live versions of J.J. Cale's "They Call Me the Breeze" and "Sweet Home Alabama."] -Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Download sites: MP3 Fye.com : Amazon MP3 - Special Edition)