Willie Nile is a thoroughly relentless rocker, one who keeps a close personal tie to New York City and, in turn, the role the city’s played in moulding music’s modern trajectory. Like Springsteen and Pete Townsend, both of whom he’s forged ties with over the years, he excels at anthemic outcries that rally the masses with full fist-pumping frenzy. So it was only natural that in the midst of the pandemic, when the city he loves and has heralded for the past four decades should suffer its worth catastrophe since 9/11, he would share songs that affirm its resilience. 

Rather than succumb to that pressure and pain, Nile’s emerged with another masterwork, one that fully vets his unrelenting attitude, stark drive, and sheer abject enthusiasm. “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “Sanctuary,” “Blood OnYour Hands” (a driving duet with his New York neighbour Steve Earle), and the somewhat…