Has Brantley Gilbert gone soft on “Fire and Brimstone,” his album released in October?
Has the man who helped popularize the bro country movement left behind the rough, rowdy and rocking sound that has been his signature?
On “Fire and Brimstone,” is Gilbert showing an emotional, sensitive – and dare we say – vulnerable dimension in his songwriting?
To a point, Gilbert would answer yes to those questions. While it has a few tunes that kick up the dust, the album leans a bit more toward slower tempo material (“What Happens in a Small Town,” “Man That Hung The Moon” and the title track). It is a personal and emotional album that brings Gilbert’s formerly tumultuous life up to date.
“This one’s got that energy,” he said of the album’s music. “It may be not as prevalent as it was on previous albums, which wasn’t necessarily intentional. I feel like this chapter of my life, and the story I was trying to tell, is about a little bit of the chaos and the mayhem leveling out some.”