RYAN Adams, the heartbreak king, has returned with his highly anticipated new album Prisoner.

A cry in the night, turning of his skin at the anguish of his divorce to actress Mandy Moore last year; it’s an emotionally burned, soft country rock record that contains more of that quintessential Adams feel to it.

When the sneak preview of opening track ‘Do You Still Love Me?’ first came around, some expected a complete curve-ball record from the alt-country legend. But not long after, the release of ‘To Be Without You’ suggested a likely return to what he does best; a heart-rending love record for the broken-hearted and romantics of the world.

That’s what we get on Prisoner as Ryan Adams lets the floodgates open; allowing his heart to pour out all of his deepest emotions. The theme of discontentment running through the record is never summed up more clearly than when he sings “I don’t want to live in this haunted house anymore” on the appropriately named ‘Haunted House’; a teary eyed, heart-break provoking, stadium anthem for the ages.

Although the album mostly hangs around familiar waters, there are many highlights that make it a fresh fix for devoted fans and new listeners alike to get a feel for what the American singer-songwriter is all about. There’s also a return to that familiar Whiskeytown sound that long term fans will appreciate on ‘Outbound Train’.

It’s inevitable though that, given its subject matter, Prisoner will draw more comparisons with his first solo effort Heartbreaker than any of the albums that have come in-between. Both are break-up records and evoke a similar sense of pain and anguish; yet nearly twenty years on, he doesn’t quite capture the magic of the 15-song masterpiece that came out in 2000. Released at the tender age of 25, Heartbreaker pulls the punches and the heartstrings in ways that Prisoner cannot.

This new release finds him further down the tracks but he takes a more widescreen approach this time around; it boasts a clean and direct sound, that said – it is a record that doesn’t really break any new ground.

What is evident though is that he works best when focusing the beam upon himself; the artist is able to pull some of his finest lyrics when in a place of deep personal loss.  There’s no doubt that Ryan Adams is one of the greatest songwriters of our time and sits alongside the likes of Bob Dylan, Father John Misty, Bruce Springsteen, and U2 in producing some of rock’s greatest ever songs. Anybody who can make us all Taylor Swift fans by proxy can do no wrong after all.

Overall, Prisoner is another cracking record from the understated living legend that is Ryan Adams.