Numerous critics have been praising Bob Dylan's 35th studio album Tempest as the finest record he has made in a long time. Lyrically, it is a Dylan chef-d'oeuvre. Lines breeze out of him as he maximizes wordplay, and growls through his ballads. It is the album of a man who has found his calling as a totemic elder statesman of American folk and blues, and is a stark reminder why this septuagenarian remains music's foremost storyteller.