Idol Chatter & Voice Views

James Durbin promised a return to rock on his new album.

And the Season 10 standout from American Idol delivers on “Riot on Sunset,” released on Friday.

Fans might wonder when James opens the album with the acoustic title ballad.

But he doesn’t slow things down again until the final song on the 12-track album.

Highlights in between include “City of Nightmares,” “Beautiful,” “Nin9teen” and “Lost in the Shadows.”

Then there’s the kick-butt “Scratchers N Cheap Beer,” which features a guest vocal from fellow Idol contestant Casey Abrams.

The album is James third since finishing fourth on Season 10. He released an album called “Memories of a Beautiful Disaster” in late 2011 that landed at number eight on Billboard’s rock chart.

His followup was the much more pop oriented 2014 “Celebate.” In an interview with Unrated Magazine, James says his label was responsible for the direction of that second album and “the genius idea of forcing me to make a pop album. It was either that or be shelved.”

He wound up releasing the new record independently anyway following a successful Pledge Music campaign. And he told the magazine he’s especially pleased that he either wrote or co-wrote 10 of the songs on the album.

Those include “Keep Me Alive,” which he says was written over the course of five years, and the title track, which he wrote in his childhood bedroom, inspired by the curfew riots on the Sunset Strip in the 1960s. Though some had called it the best song he’s ever written, it was pulled from his first two albums, he said.

Fans clearly appreciate the return to rock. Among the feedback on his Facebook page:

* Holly Beasley: “Thank you so much!!! This album is absolutely amazing!”

Next for James? A tour to support the album, of course.

It kicks off tonight with a show in Portland, Oregon. That tour includes 15 dates so far, most in the west or midwest. For a complete list, visit James’ Facebook page.