Review Summary: Do you like modern hard rock? No... Are you sure? Have you listened to this album with a fresh mind? It may surprise you, because it's awesome
Ok, let's begin writting the review for one of the best, if not the best modern (some people can call it melodic or commercial) hard rock of the past decade... If you like Audioslave, Black Stone Cherry, Creed (maybe I shouldn't mention this one, it's to obvious), Submersed or Slash new solo project, you will like Alter Bridge's Blackbird, it's a certain thing.
Blackbird it's way different from One Day Remains, his older brother, and is the template to AB III and the reason why Fortress is an evolution of their sound, it's in this album that Alter Bridge become heavy, not that they weren't already, but here they show it without prejudice, and they had a 2nd guitar (yeah, Myles only starts to play guitar on this album with them).
When you listen to hard rock, commercial or not, melodic or not, you expect certain things: guitar solos shredded or not (check), clean vocal delivery with passion and some anger or melancoly (check), distorted guitars (check), one or two ballads (check) and you should expect musicianship (check). Blackbird has all that and more, you can hear the bass (incredible licks btw just check rise Today), the drums are powerfull and make all sound tight, the prodution is amazing it's all clear and balanced and for me the winning aspect of the album it has is own epic (Blackbird).
So what makes Blackbird so special? It has all the aspects I listed and the songs... You have cool lyrics too (personal note I really dig Commin' Home lyrics) and the delivery of this lyrics it's almost personal, it's like Myles is telling a real story, Watch Over You and Buried Alive are good examples of this. On the other hand you have the guitar duties of Mr. Tremonti and Myles, with amazing riffs, very original in fact, for a genre that as been explored so much, they keep their licks fresh, good examples are the first two songs, Ties that Bing and Come To Life, and for lead playing, Blackbird (best solos of their lifes). We shouldn't take credit from the partners in crime Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips, they really groove in all the songs, making the walls to a well builded house.
You can find heavy tracks in the record if you like heavyness, Ties That Bind and White Knucles are the heaviest. Ballads are found to, Watch Over You it's the obvious choice with a passionate delivery from the band. And you can really find in all the album rock songs that will be stuck in your mind for days.
I really recomend you to listen to all of the songs, not in order if you don't want, but all the songs are very good... Don't just jugde Alter Bridge as the new Creed, or as another commercial hard rock band, because their music kicks serious butt, and their musicianship it's tight... "We can be mutch more than we are" Yes they can. I f you don't believe me or them, just listen to the album.
