Following his recent tour of the same name, Bryan Adams is back with his sixteenth studio album – Roll With The Punches. The follow up to 2022’s excellent So Happy It Hurts (recently documented on his second Royal Albert Hall box set), Roll With The Punches is also notable for being the first album of new material to be released on Bryan’s own BAD imprint, and it’s a sprightly piece of work. Offering ten tracks over the course of just thirty-seven minutes, it finds Bryan on fine form, leaping into the fray with the hard rocking title track to deliver a solid album that will have fans in raptures.
From the moment kicks off, it’s clear that Bryan wasn’t kidding with the title. The opening riff to Roll With The Punches is not merely blistering but it is also rendered with a crystalline production that makes it jab with dizzying speed. With throbbing bass and a typically addictive chorus, this is Bryan doing what he does best, and it sounds bloody epic. Keeping things brisk, Make Up Your Mind has a taut beat, a gritty riff, and a melancholy undercurrent that deftly mixes elements of Soul Asylum and the Beatles into a beguiling little rocker that is easily the equal of the blazing title track in terms of quality.
Slowing the pace, but only a touch, Never Ever Let You Go is a nostalgic little pop rocker with a monstrous chorus destined to be sung at deafening volumes whenever Bryan adds it to the setlist. Yet, look beyond the chorus, and you find the lyrics to be more than a little bittersweet, a reminder that Bryan remains one of the most down-to-earth artists of his stature and all the more relatable as a result. He follows it up with a surprising blues rocker, A Little More Understanding, which nods to the increasing polarised nature of society over a gritty backdrop that paves the way for some sparkling lead work. Like the tracks that precede it, it’s built around a rock solid rhythm, and it’s clinically impossible to keep your feet still while it’s playing. It’s moments like this where Bryan really shines – and it’s great to hear him having so much obvious fun in the studio.
The first half of the album wraps up with the slower, somewhat dreamy Life Is Beautiful – a keyboard washed track with a guitar line drawn straight from The Cure. A heartfelt piece, it does its best to remind the listener that it’s never too late to make some sort of positive move and, while it’s arguably a touch cliched, it’s delivered with the disarming honesty of a singer truly invested in trying to make the best he can of a difficult world and, somehow, Bryan manages to pull it off without sounding too trite.
Opening the second half of the album, a blast of harmonica paves the way for the acoustic Love Is Stronger Than Hate – another track that seeks to find hope in an increasingly dark world. Honestly, it’s a solid song with a valid point to make, but its placement next to Life Is Beautiful is unfortunate, causing the album to falter a touch, especially after so strong an opening.
Things get firmly back on track with the crunchy blues of How’s That Working For Ya, a cracking rocker so in the zone it could easily sit on Reckless – yeah, that good. Then, we’re off into ballad territory for Two Arms To Hold You, which has a Van Morrison swing to it. It’s a solid enough song, but it’s soon eclipsed by the driving rock of Be The Reason, which pulses with energy.
The album wraps up on a more contemplative note, with Bryan wondering Will We Ever Be Friends Again. A soft rocker with heartbreak at its core, it brings the album to a gentle close, with hazy synths and soaring lead providing an emotional crescendo.
A solid entry into Bryan’s immensely successful cannon, Roll With The Punches doesn’t quite reach the heights implied by its opening number, largely because the second half dips a little too often into AOR territory, resulting in a slightly unbalanced feel. However, sequencing qualms aside, when Roll With The Punches is good, it is very good indeed – most notably on the title track, How’s That Working For Ya, and Make Up Your Mind. With strong production and great performances, it’s simply a great rock album from an artist who has carved out a comfortable career by being nothing other than himself. As with the Royal Albert Hall box set, what elevates Bryan’s work is his obvious enthusiasm for the form – this is a man who loves his work, and it shows. For that alone, especially in an increasingly soulless and digital world, Bryan Adams deserves every ounce of fame. 8/10
Bryan Adams’ 16th studio album is his first full length record of brand new material to be released via his own independent label Bad Records. Roll With The Punches will be available on vinyl, CD, 2XCD (including acoustic bonus disc), Deluxe Boxset and digitally on August 29th 2025 and is available to order now here.
