Jamie T is finally back with a new album Carry on the Grudge and it’s been worth the long wait. If anything just to have him back on the road with his explosive live show. Tonight, said live show rolls into Newcastle. Bringing with him band of the moment Slaves, who are here to tear the roof of any and every venue they can.

Slaves take to the stage first in rather visceral style. Yet another powerful duo a cheap comparison could be Royal Blood, however, we’re quick to note that Slaves are a lot more than that, they posses something which Royal Blood lack. Slaves have Isaac who has buckets of style charisma and one hell of a voice, Slaves set is mind blowing.

This is our first time in the company of the band; their hardcore punk is a real breath of fresh air. If nothing else, it blows the cobwebs away with its ear-splitting volume and tonight the guys are i particularly high spirits. They have a brilliant knack for writing great songs too ‘Girl Fight’ being a particular favourite. Arguably though the stand out track of the night has to be ‘Where’s Your Car Debbie’ which is preceded by an awesome tale of how the song was conceived.

Moving from the completely sublime and brilliant Slaves to Jamie T could have gone either way, there’s a real air of anticipation chants of Jamie! Jamie! Increase as the crowd become ever restless. As the anticipation reaches its height, the lights go down and on to the stage emerge his band, before he bursts out of the blocks and into the firing line of this heaving crowd.

He seems fired up and ready for a rowdy Monday night, we’re a little hesitant however, as its been so long. Any pre-conceptions are quickly dispelled as ‘Limits Lie’ rings out, Jamie is in fine form bouncing all over the stage. With a plethora of tracks from his back catalogue on show this evening, a personal favourite, ‘Salvador’, sounds as fresh as ever.

He delivers it with such a snarl there’s a purposeful ferocity in his delivery, it’s the opener to a few of Jamie’s older tracks. All of which possess something slightly different to his current output, the fire in Panic Prevention is now being channelled in a slightly different way. ‘So Lonely was the Ballad’ - another of these tracks – harbours grit and a fire. Though that’s not to say the newer tracks don’t have this.

‘The Prophet’ is a guitar-laden ballad which retains Jamie’s inimitable style whilst putting a different spin on it. He’s a multi-talented genius; he throws himself around the stage as the crowd replicate this. Bodies pour over the barriers as the opening chords to ‘Sheila’ ring out, and just this morning we were reading a review stating that he wasn’t playing his biggest hit on tour.

However, this evening ‘Sheila’ is back in force, to say the crowd went wild would be a humongous understatement. We’re truly in awe of this man's brilliance, and the track still sounds as good as the first time we heard it some seven or eight years ago. Its safe to say that Jamie’s work has not aged at all.

He saves his latest catchy number until the very end, as current monster hit ‘Zombie’ rings out throughout the venue. It’s a typical Jamie T single there is a huge hook and a chorus that will not leave our heads for days on end. As we leave we cannot help but hum Zombie all the way home, still totally enthralled by what we’d experienced.

It's been five years since Jamie Alexander Treays, otherwise known as Jamie T, released his second album Kings and Queens and in that time, actually said very little, causing some to speculate that he may have hung up his microphone for good. Of course, an appearance on Tim Timbebomb's 'Wrongful Suspicion' in early 2013 set the rumour mill working in the opposite direction and news about a much anticipated third album began to surface.

Proving those rumours true, Jamie T released 'Don't You Find' in July of this year, breaking a five year almost-silence with a track that's darker and more refined than anything the singer has put out previously, and is a theme that carries on through the majority of Carry on the Grudge. This shouldn't come as surprise however as Treays was 23 when his last album dropped, and now at 28 and quickly approaching his 30s, the shedding of his cockney lad's lad persona was probably more a natural maturing than he'd lead you to you believe. Interestingly enough, 28 is also the same age as Arctic Monkey's Alex Turner, and it's easy to imagine Turner kicking himself should he hear Carry on the Grudge; its edgy darkness an aesthetic aimed for on his band's most recent record, but pulled off to a far greater degree here.

Of course, there's still plenty of Treays' idiosyncratic verbosity and vocal delivery, particularly as the album moves in to its second half. Tracks like 'Rabbit Hole' harnesses the same urgency that overflowed from 2007's Panic Prevention, only with their edges rounded and the production tightened. As if any more evidence of a maturity was needed, 'Love is Only A Heartbeat Away' is perhaps his most poignant track yet, and also his most traditional in terms of lyrics and structure, even his vocal delivery is softened and strangely in tune whilst following track 'Murder of Crows' utilises a singsong melody not dissimilar to that of Los Campesinos!' 'Baby, I Got the Death Rattle'.

Is it an album that's been worth waiting five years for though? The answer in short, is yes, absolutely. Though it might not have the same immediate pay off as his previous releases, Carry on the Grudge is an album which grows on you with each listen, and though tracks like the radio-friendly 'Zombie' are few and far between, there's enough commercial value here to keep fair weather fans happy, whilst those who have been rapturously awaiting Jamie's return have absolutely nothing to worry about, and though there's plenty of mellower moments that counteract the darker aspects of the album, the angry artist we grew to love, then proceeded to miss, is still very much alive underneath the glossy sentiment and swooning brass sections.

Pre-order the album here.