Agreed - this does sound good to my ears. Certainly not approaching classic Ryche, but it is a solo effort and shouldn't be compared to that style of material anyways.

Artist that typically do "solo" albums, do so after years and years of being in a band and writing/performing a certain style of material. More often than not, solo records sound a lot different.

As for fans bashing the lyrics, fair enough. But I rarely pay that much attention to lyrics to be put off by them...