So Van Halen have finally come full circle and made the long awaited new record with original singer David Lee Roth. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since they originally parted ways after the ‘1984’ album. Van Halen enjoyed further success with Sammy Hagar producing glossy pop rock ballads like ‘Why can’t this be Love’ through the remainder of the 1980’s. David Lee Roth similarly had a successful solo career during those poodle rock 80’s. Oh yeah, and they very publicly hated each other.

After a few stumbled half re-unions, they’re back together and this looks like the full package. A new album certainly makes sure they mean business, but after a near 30-year break what will it sound like?

Well believe it or not, ‘A Different Kind of Truth’ sounds like Lee Roth has never been away. There is no evidence of any of the Hagar-years power ballad influence. There is no wild experimentation of the Cherone era. It’s straight forward Van Halen at their hard-rocking best.

The album kicks off with ‘Tattoo’ which by anyone’s judgement isn’t the best Van Halen song you’ll hear. It serves a purpose in that it’s catchy and an ideal song to get people hooked into Van Halen again. Once you have been hooked in, the album just gets better and better.

‘She’s the Woman’ and ‘China Town’ are the early tracks on the album to set the bar higher. Both feature some of that unmistakable Eddie Van Halen guitar work that sets him apart from anyone else who has ever owned an axe. Importantly though, they are good songs and show Van Halen have still got it! By the shed-load…

David Lee Roth introduces himself proper on the 5^th track. ‘Blood and Fire’ features one of those great storytelling vocal lines that only Diamond Dave can pull off without sounding too cheesy. He even fits in a cheeky “told ya I was comin back” lyric to reaffirm his position at the front of this timeless crew. Once you’ve heard ‘Blood and Fire’ you can stop worrying. Van Halen are back with an album that isn’t going to taint their legacy, it’s adding to it.

Stand out tracks from there on are plentiful. ‘Bullethead’ is one of the harder rocking tunes, ‘The Trouble with Never’ has a Van Halen riff to die for and ‘Outta Space’ is a foot-to-the-floor classic. There’s still plenty of the Lee Roth tongue-in-cheek humour though. ‘Stay Frosty’ is a country-tinged jam that takes a well-earned break from what is one of Van Halen’s tougher sounding records

‘A Different Kind of Truth’ sounds loose and has almost a live feeling to it. They’ve not tried too hard to make it sound modern and glossy; it sounds just like the rest of the David Lee Roth era albums; just like it should and just like you hoped it would. It was never broke so it certainly didn’t need fixing.

9/10