Hailed as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, folk-rock legend Bob Dylan is one of the most prolific and consistent musicians in a career that spans an amazing three generations. Dylan hasn’t stopped releasing music since he first broke onto the scene with his self-titled debut album in 1962. Fifty years later, Dylan is back yet again with his newest full-length album, Shadow Kingdom, featuring his signature breathy, conversational style and blues-drenched guitar riffs as he tells the stories of his life, laden with complex metaphors for his audience to decipher.

Lovers of Dylan’s classic, slow and steady approach will be pleased to find this new project chugs along like a train through the countryside in no hurry to get anywhere in particular. Rather than pushing stylistic boundaries or attempting to create something brand new, Shadow Kingdom is more about returning to an older, rootsier feeling that true Bob Dylan fans will be excited to find still exists in the oversaturation of the music industry today. Dylan is more concerned with telling his life story in the best way he knows how: through intricately symbolic lyricism spoken and sung over dusty, folky, bluesy instrumentation.

Throughout the project, he reminisces on a life well-lived but also reminds us that he has no intention of going anywhere anytime soon, singing on the opening track, “Train wheels runnin’ through the back of my memory/ When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of geese/ Someday everything going to be different/ When I paint my masterpiece.” After 40 studio albums and 60+ years, the track leaves us wondering whether Dylan will ever truly feel like he’s created his masterpiece, but fans are happy to still be along for the ride.