I like how the album begins right out of the box with a bang in "Every Day (When Will You Be Mine)."  The instruments are blaring, like she has a full orchestra at her command, and then ads in her own powerful voice that pulls you into the music and say hey, this ain't bad.  It is not exactly pop, and not exactly rock, and kind of gives some hints of big band music interfused with rock n' roll.  The style of music is really hard to peg down, but it is one which is going to blazed by the young Hilary McRae in her debut album, Through These Walls.

The music, instruments, beat and especially voice all continue with that same powerful theme throughout the entire album.  If you are looking for a soft, mellow beat, this album is not the one to put into your CD player.  Even the slower songs, such as "Why Can't Now" and Like You Neve Loved Me" have powerful undertones to them. In fact, "Why Can't Now" would be a great song to listen to in a nightclub and could actually imagine a smoked filled room in the late 60s or early 70s with a young singer with such a powerful voice filling the room with her voice in the same way as the smoke fills the air.

Hilary McRae attended the Berklee School of Music on a songrwriting scholarship.  The talent shines through in each track.  Her skill is also tested to varying limits by her experiments with different sounds and melodies.  In "Hostage" she experiments with a more electronic 70's sound but it must be added that the same power in the music continues to show.

For me, my favorite song on the album is "Let's Stop." Its got that soulful blues sound.  Her voice amazingly compliments both the music and the lyrics.  Although this is the least pop sounding song on the record and probably will receive the least airplay (if any) is probably be best written and composed track on the CD.

Listening to this album was a refreshing break from the noise of a lot of new artists. There are many albums that I am asked to review, but most are not worthy of being written about.  This is an album that not only deserves a review, but a good on at that.

There are very few albums that I would consider "perfect." No, although very good, it would not get a 10 out of 10, probably closer to an 8.  Why?  As I said, I like the songwriting, production and her powerful voice, but the biggest issue I have with the album is that she does not show her range of vocals in most songs, with "Something's Come Over Me" coming the closest.  However, she seems to lose some of the power in her voice by doing so in that song (she only hints at it).  She needs to somehow blend the two, like an Aretha Franklin who can belt out the power, but also shows us the vocal range in hitting a wide range of notes.

Overall this is an excellent album for music lovers or just for sitting back and listening to some good music.