This isn’t just about choosing the best album of a given year. This is about choosing the album whose impact will be felt for many years to come; that will sound just as good, if not better in subsequent years than it does now, even to future generations who may not even born yet.
The single greatest band in country music at the moment has just released one of the single greatest records you will hear in country music in the last few years. And as much as you may assess this opinion as fandom overriding objectivity, or outright overwrought hyperbole…
The chemistry of this band is just so perfect, not just unto itself, but for this very time and place. They’re classic, but cool. That’s the reason they aren’t about to compromise anything they do just for a quick step up the ladder.