Sublime With Rome - Yours Truly (ALBUM REVIEW)

Sublime With Rome have posted their new album for stream via their Facebook. Due to that fact I've been able to review the album. Click READ MORE to check out my review of Yours Truly.

(Note this was reviewed by listening to the advanced stream provided by Sublime With Rome via Facebook)

When it was announced that founding members of Sublime Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh would be reuniting and performing with a new singer under the name Sublime it caught quite a few by surprise including Bradley Nowell’s estate which quickly took action. So the two along with new singer Rome Ramirez reached an agreement with Nowell’s estate and dubbed the new group Sublime With Rome. From that moment on the trio have been playing sold out shows playing classic Sublime songs with a few new songs like “Panic” thrown into the mix.

The release of Yours Truly is an album I never thought I’d actually hear. Growing up I’ve always been a big fan of all of Sublime’s music. Their self-titled album is definitely on my favorite albums of all time list. Bradley Nowell’s passing prior to the release of that album pretty much ended Sublime. That was until Eric Wilson came across Rome Ramirez who was able to breathe life into the classics and not just perform the classics but write a new album with the original members.

What’s found on Yours Truly is everything you enjoyed from the original Sublime. The quick paced punk, the reggae, the horns, and the feel is all there but with a twist. This is a new band doing something similar but with a few new things thrown into the mix. Rome’s lyrics don’t really resemble the manic craziness often found on early Sublime albums and the new album’s production sounds slightly cleaner than you may be use to from a Sublime album. Really the lyrical approach may be one of the biggest differences. I tend to appreciate the fact Rome has taken on this band and has written his own songs and his own words.

Some fans will understand that the Sublime of old will never make another album and see that this new incarnation has created a fantastic album. Others won’t get it. That’s usually the case with a release like this. I have no problem saying this album turned out great and that I’m happy to have it. Many groups have tried to replicate the sound that made Sublime the massive band they were in the early-mid nineties and have really been unable to do so. Wilson and Gaugh prove they still have it with this album and with the addition of Rome they have created an album that I can safely say is the closest to the original Sublime there will probably ever be. Even Paul Leary who co-produced the self-titled album came on board to produce Yours Truly. From the start of the album to the finish the original rhythm section of Gaugh and Wilson sound as good as they ever have and Rome is a fine addition as vocalist and guitarist. Even Todd Forman, who played sax on Sublime’s self-titled album, plays saxophone on Yours Truly.

Like many bands who have acquired new singers after the death of a lead singer (a few include Queen with Paul Rodgers, Alice In Chains, AC/DC, etc…) the original singer can never be replaced, especially in Sublime where Bradley Nowell was really the voice and primary songwriter. Instead the trio doesn’t try to replace him at all but instead they’ve opted to write an album that is somewhat a hybrid of what fans would expect with some entirely new elements. I think the album is interesting, well done, and should be a must have for any Sublime fan. Yours Truly shows Sublime With Rome is more than happy to pay homage to the original sound without being a cheap knockoff. This is without a doubt one of my favorite albums I’ve heard this year.