After debuting seven albums, out of their nine albums, at No. 1 on the Country Billboards in the past decade, Rascal Flatts released their new album “Rewind” just as their lead title track (also called “Rewind”) approached the top of the country radio charts (though it is now currently sitting at No. 5). Rascal Flatts released the album on May 13.

Though their new album is called “Rewind”, Rascal Flatts takes a step into the modern country music scene with this album. Rascal Flatts produced the album with Howard Benson and Dann Huff, who both helped modernize Rascal Flatts’ sound. Though Rascal Flatts takes a step in a new direction with “Rewind”, they still keep their old sound. This change built on their sound, as a band, rather than taking away from it.

“Rewind” leads off with “Payback” which brings a great opening to the album. It brings an upbeat tone to the album and introduces their new sound to the listener. Rascal Flatts successfully grabbed my attention with this opening song. It definitely gave a good introduction to the new album.

As the album goes on, there are many high points, such as “DJ Tonight”, but there was also a slight low point to album. The song “I Have Never Been To Memphis” is the third song in the album, and in my opinion I think they should have moved it more towards the middle of the album rather than the beginning. Since the song is a slow, quiet song, I believe it takes away from the original introduction to  the album (as the tracks “Payback” and “Rewind” are both upbeat). The song being placed here slowed down the album for me and took away from the opening.

Overall, I would give “Rewind” 3.5 North Stars because though Rascal Flatts took a step in the modern direction, they still kept their original sound as well. Although there are songs that have slight synth in them and are more modernized than their old sound, old Rascal Flatts fans will still love this album.

“Rewind”‘s track list is as follows:

1. Payback (Aaron Eshuis, Neil Mason, Ryan Hurd)
2. Rewind (Chris DeStefano, Ashley Gorley, Eric Paslay)
3. I Have Never Been To Memphis (Eric Holljies, Ian Holljies, Marcus Hummon)
4. DJ Tonight (Meghan Trainor, Jesse Frasure, Shay Mooney)
5. Powerful Stuff (Gregg Wattenberg, Derek A. E. Fuhrmann, Brett James)
6. Riot (Jaron Boyer, Sara Haze)
7. Night Of Our Lives (Ben Hayslip, Jimmy Yeary)
8. I Like The Sound Of That (Meghan Trainor, Jesse Frasure, Shay Mooney)
9. Aftermath (Ben Caver, Megan Conner, Brian White)
10. I’m On Fire (Sean McConnell, Tobias Lundgren, Johan Fransson, Tim Larsson)
11. Life’s A Song (Jeffrey Steele, Brandon Hood, James Slater)
12. Honeysuckle Lazy (Neil Thrasher, Michael Dulaney, Shane Minor)
13. The Mechanic (Jaren Johnston, Tony Lane)

The extended version of the album includes the songs “Compass”, “Wildfire”, “She Must Like Broken Hearts” and “Bring in The Family”.