Though some may deem him a man that came along at the wrong time, there’s no doubt that rock singer Caleb Johnson has gifted pipes–they’re what won him the 13th season of American Idol.

Laced with catchy guitar riffs and tunes that move along like locomotives, his debut album, Testify, proves that an old school voice can still find a home in today’s musical world. Pushed along by an angry train-like track of power chords, ‘Sailing Away’ showcases Johnson’s vocal range as he belts, “I’m sailing, sailing away…never comin’ back/ threw my heart in the trash and that’s that.” Love woes are a prevalent theme in the Interscope Records/19 release puts Johnson’s notorious vocal runs and impeccable vocal range on full display in tracks “Save Me” and “Devil’s Daughter.”

A big question Testify answers is whether Johnson is versatile enough to be more than just a hard rock singer. Johnson slows things down significantly on “Fighting Gravity,” which he debuted on the American Idol tour, and even more so as he cries “I wish I could change” on the track “Change,” and his voice sounds just as at home on these tracks as it does covering Led Zeppelin classics. Where Testify suffers is in variation of song content. With the exception of the album’s title track, Testify’s songs don’t address issues besides love, which can be redundant at times. While it remains to be seen whether American Idol can be the manufacturer of pop icons it once was, and whether Johnson will rise to the same level of success as some of his Idol predecessors, one thing’s for sure: Johnson, at the very least, has the voice to be the front man for a classic rock group like fellow Idol contestants Bo Bice and Adam Lambert have done.

3.5/5 stars