Freedom

Arriving 11 years after 2011's Eclipse, Freedom is Journey's 15th studio effort and their third outing with vocalist Arnel Pineda. It also marks the return of Raised on Radio bassist Randy Jackson, who stepped in after the band's abrupt split with founding member Ross Valory in 2020. Journey's post-Steve Perry releases have been reliable yet unremarkable, with showrunners Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain attempting to wring out every last bit of headband sweat from the group's chart-topping heydays. That trend continues on Freedom, a relentlessly anthemic and underwhelming set filled with over-the-counter power ballads and bloated AOR rockers that do very little to earn a 70-minute runtime.