John Mayer's Battle Studies, an album just over three years in the making, is one of the most anticipated releases of the year. His previous album, Continuum (2006), solidified his place in a group of elite guitar greats like Eric Clapton. With his soft rock voice and skillful licks, he created an album filled with singles from "Waiting on the World to Change" to "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room." If Continuum was another step forward in Mayer's musical style, Battle Studies is a step to the side. In this album, he takes a different journey moving toward very personal, softer ballads away from singles. With songs titled "Heartbreak Warfare," "Perfectly Lonely" and "War of my Life," it is obvious this album was as much about making music as it was about self-therapy in an emotionally difficult time.

The first track, "Heartbreak Warfare," sets the mood for the rest of the album. A mellow John Mayer sings over an ambient guitar and basic drum beat stating, "Lightning strike inside my chest to keep me up at night / Dream of ways to make you understand my pain." Even the solo of the song feels very emotional, with the twang of the guitar embodying his pain. As the song progresses to the bridge the mood picks up, showing a sense of perseverance as Mayer proclaims, "I swear to God we are going to get this right if you lay your weapon down." Mayer is clearly putting down his shields and opening up, taking the listener through the emotional uphill battle he has gone through.

The rest of the album generally follows through with the idea of heartbreak, destruction and the pain of moving on. Whatever prompted Mayer to sing about this emotional pain clearly had a great influence on him for better or worse. The tone of over half the album is slower, more mellow and more reflective than anything Mayer has ever done. Though they constitute a majority, the album is not all ballads. In a testament to his growth as a musician, the middle few songs on the album are much stronger musically. In the middle of the album, Mayer goes back to the more laid-back and fun style that listeners are used to and focuses on moving on rather than dwelling upon being hurt. The songs that really stand out are "Perfectly Lonely," a bluesy tune showing Mayer's musical and lyrical growth; "Half of My Heart," which features Taylor Swift in a lackluster appearance not fully using her talent; and "Crossroads," a cover of the blues standard made famous by Eric Clapton's band Cream.

The biggest issue is that the tracks don't flow very well together, and Mayer seems unsure as to what kind of album he is trying to make. The music beings slowly with "Heartbreak Warfare," gets slower with the repetitive "All We Ever Do is Say Goodbye," and then begins to pick up the pace, going bluesy with the oddly placed middle track "Crossroads," that belongs more on a John Mayer Trio! album than this one. The album then falls right back into the same slow ballads that started off the disc with "Do You Know Me." It sounds as if Mayer originally wanted to create an album that followed along the path of his first three albums but was so heartbroken that he completely changed his pace to an emotional tell-all.

Where Mayer does shine is in his lyrics that remain as deep and powerful as they have always been even when describing heartbreak and sadness. On the first single of the album, "Who Says," Mayer begins with the line, "Who says I can't get stoned," a line that garnered a lot of controversy. Seemingly about getting high, the song is much deeper, talking about enjoying life and taking the metaphorical smoke away from our eyes. The first line of the verse, "Who says I can't be free / from all of the things that I used to be?" shows that Mayer has matured a lot since his first album. This is the same old John Mayer, just a little grown up and a lot more reflective.

Battle Studies' last track, "Friends, Lovers, or Nothing," showed that Mayer has found a way to balance his emotions with his musical potential. In a tune that starts off with a classic Beatles-esque riff and moves into a progression reminiscent of "Out of my Head" by Fastball layered with skillful guitar licks, the song leaves the listener with a good feeling and a smile.

All in all, Battle Studies is more of a healer for the heartbroken than casual chill music. Though different from (and arguably inferior to) most of Mayer's past work, there are still a couple of gems that will stay on my top-played list for quite a while.