Everlast is a 57 year old rapper & singer/songwriter from Los Angeles, California by way of Long Island, New York who originally came up in the early 90s as the frontman of House of Pain & a founding member of La Coka Nostra. He would eventually go on to drop 8 solo efforts, with the Tommy Boy Records-backed sophomore effort Whitey Ford Sings the Blues being my personal favorite of the bunch. I was however excited to learn the Martyr Inc. Records founder 9th solo LP & first in a decade would be fully produced by Yelawolf.

“Losing Man’s Game” kicks things off with an Americana intro asking himself why he can’t walk away from this game he keeps playing where he never wins whereas “Never Coming Home” sings about being on the run over a country rock beat. “Mistaken Identity” takes a more somber approach instrumentally finding himself all alone in the streets of Los Angeles just before “My Hollywood” sings about being fed up with the small town life over some acoustics.

Meanwhile on “Broken Heart for Hire”, we have Whitey Ford detailing a kind of love that doesn’t work like it used to leading into “Stones” singing about the self-awareness of being fed up with & acknowledging it by claiming he’s sick of himself also. “Out of Your Way” kinda has this singer/songwriter flare to it putting us inside the shoes of a single, simple, lonely man who maintains a heart of gold & a broken soul while “Lies” sings about tightly holding his lover until the break of dawn.

“Rubber Bullets” gets the 2nd half of Embers to Ashes going making a country-flavored comparison between kinetic impact projectiles & real ammunition while the country rock-tinged “Every Dog Has It’s Day” sings about riding off in the sun because he was born to lose. “Ain’t Coming Home Tonight” finds himself callin’ a woman he argued with at 4 in the morning only for her to send him to voicemail while “Love Don’t Heal” sings about his heart being unfixable & trying to do so would be a waste of time.

The title track recalls going from champagne & crystal glasses to drinking cheap whiskey out of plastic while “1987” looks back at the times when nothing else mattered nearly 4 decades earlier going to house parties broke as fuck. “Happy it’s Can Cry” sings about every dark night meeting its dawn & after protecting his “Peace of Mind” instead of buying some time selling his soul, the outro “Young Man” ends Embers to Ashes singing of living this fast life getting old.

A large portion of Everlast’s material since the turn of the millennium already has either been average at best or underwhelming at worst, so Embers to Ashes seemed like it had all the right reasons of becoming his finest late-career statement & it’s certainly a comeback that makes the absolute most sense. Yelawolf’s production bases itself around Americana & bluesy roots-rock for passionate tales of glory grasped & lost, the sudden swerves that change a life’s trajectory & hard-earned wisdom & warnings. 

Score: 4/5

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