Ryan Tobin - Purgatory Road (2024)


Ryan Tobin's journey from darkness to redemption is a compelling tale of recovery, faith, and music. From Canyon Lake, Texas, on December 1st, 2024, Ryan Tobin reveals his formidable battle with addiction, trauma, and self-destruction. His music, steeped in faith, healing, and redemption, shines as a ray of hope for others embroiled in similar battles. In this new album Purgatory Road, Ryan conveys the profound moments of his recovery journey, weaving his personal narrative with potent melodies. 

Purgatory Road is comprised of 12 songs for almost 40 minutes of music. The album starts with the title track, with intense and emotional lyrics and a relaxed atmosphere. It's a great power ballad with a super catchy chorus. Similar atmospheres (and inspiration) for the following Never Be and Broken Spear, are two great ballads with great lyrics. If you are not new to these pages, you may have noticed we previously explored the track and single Voice 99 (click for the article), robust, Creed oriented, and with lots of different dynamics. 

Among other songs, With or Without is upbeat, straightforward, and with sharp guitars, Not Enough has fantastic guitars blending perfectly with the vocals, becoming very aggressive in the second part. This is probably my favourite song of the album if I have to choose one. I love the solo as well. Running Away and Faded Hallelujah are very 90s and in line with what we've heard so far, while the last part of the album leaves distorted guitars in favour of acoustic atmospheres like Wrong Side Down, which features a classy arrangement. The return features a great acoustic solo, and the last two tracks Sorted Out and Back to the Son have some Americana vibes.

Well, I'm a fan of power ballads so I loved Purgatory Road, an album focused on melodies and vocals but it's excellent even in all the other instruments and aspects, including a fantastic production. A quality album, very intense in terms of message and lyrics, and with every piece in the right place. Give it a go by clicking on the Spotify player below and remember to follow Ryan Tobin on social media.