Review Summary: Alter Bridge simply does what is needed to be done on the debut album. Move themselves away from Creed, and give listeners a reason to take them seriously too.
3 of 3 thought this review was well writtenThe story of Creed and Alter Bridge (AB) is one that has been told quite a bit since the demise of Creed and conception of Alter Bridge. It’s one that for this review I have decided to spare the reader of the gritty details. All one needs to know is AB was founded by former Creed members Mark Tremonti (Guitar), Brian Marshal (Bass) and Scott Phillips (Drums). They are tagged along by vocalist Myles Kennedy whom was added to the band in 2003. Alter Bridge would then go to release their debut album
One Day Remains in 2004.
One Day Remains is, as previously stated, the debut album of Alter Bridge. It would mark a historic release for the band, and here fans found out if they would continue the ways of Creed, or go in a new direction. Although like most questions in today’s society, the answer wasn’t as black and white as it was more of a grey. Yes this new album is mostly a departure from the days of Creed, but, this also has a few skeletons in the closet. This is mainly notable on both Brian and Scott’s playing. Although they can be brilliant at times, such as on title track One Day Remains and The End Is Here, they mostly weigh down the band as more of a liability than an asset especially on this first album. Scott manages to play the same drum beat through half the tracks and Brian might as well not even play the bass if he doesn’t have anything good to add.
Thankfully, those two are probably not the reason you’re listening to this album. They may drag down the experience but Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy save the performance. Mark is a down right prodigy of the guitar and manages to make everything he writes sound great. His solos, which are sprinkled throughout this album, are great inclusions to any song, and often save the song from mediocrity. Now when it comes to Myles his voice simply fits the music. Unfortunately, despite having great vocal range and over all great talent as a singer, the lyrics on this album are boring. They don’t inspire much due to the straight forward lyricism used throughout the album. Sure it gives the ability to be more mainstream, but they will never inspire much feeling through the lyrics.
Overall Alter Bridge brings a Hard Rock sound to the mix. They don’t sound much like Post-Grunge or Creed although on tracks such as, Open Your Eyes, they do have that vibe that you can’t really shake. Overall the track are heavy, they carry a lot of punch and have some killer riffs. The only sour spot is basically every slow ballad like song. I have come to learn that both Brian and Scott cannot play slow songs as they both seem to fall asleep, which more often than not ruins the song. The only stand out ballad is ‘In Loving Memory’ and yet that still can drag. This is unfortunate because those ballads could have easily been saved, if and only if, they had put more effort into them. As for the other side of the coin all of the fast songs never disappoint and really are highlights and will most likely be why you spin this in the future. This album is a great debut, looking at all the praise this has gotten thus far I can understand why, but the fact remains that
One Day Remains is just an above average album.
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