As the follow-up to Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats self-titled 2015 breakthrough, Tearing at the Seams has a lot to live up to. With that initial release, Rateliff and company were enthusiastically embraced as an heir apparent to the vintage Stax sound, the one which spawned such iconic R&B sensations as Booker T & the MG’s, Otis Redding, Johnnie Taylor, Rufus Thomas and all the other artists that would eventually allow the label to rival Motown in terms of sheer talent and tenacity. Whether Rateliff and company were ever intrigued or intimidated by those comparisons becomes moot at this point; their sophomore set finds them as fired up as ever. Not surprisingly, Rateliff’s authoritative vocals are a major factor in the sonic equation, but the combination of an insistent horn section, sturdy keyboards and their rock steady rhythms are also major reasons Stax chose to invest in this band—The Night Sweats are clearly the modern-day embodiment of the storied label’s heritage and history. Whether it’s searing ballads like “Hey Mama” and “Babe I Know,” the decisive delivery of “Shoe Boot” and “Still Out There Running,” or the easy shuffle of the various songs that lie stylistically in between, Rateliff & The Night Sweats consistently prove that they’re well up to the task before them, that is, to preserve the classic-soul style that their storied label has always embodied. It’s little wonder then that Tearing at the Seams is so potent and profound.