It's brilliant. The first half especially is amazing. The opening track is absolutely superb. Sounds a lot like an Elbow song. Lovely bass line and raspy vocals. Stand out track is Blood on the first listen.
The whole country vibe of the first record is gone. It weakens in the second half. I say weakened but I more mean that it just sounds like Gary and not much input from elsewhere. The second half has an almost Snow Patrol b-side vibe to it.
The first half is awesome though. Many more listens to come.