Alter Bridge - One Day Remains
Scot Phillips – Drums
Brian Marshall – Drums
Mark Tremonti – Guitars/Vocals
Myles Kennedy – Vocals
To some of us, after the huge hit of "With Arms Wide Open" some years ago, Creed seemed unassailable, but to our dismay they announced their break-up and the song writing success story of Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti went their separate ways.
From the ashes Tremonti has assembled Alter Bridge, with three very familiar names in it, and one new one, Myles Kennedy (formerly of the band, “Mayfield Four”). A brief word of warning, don’t expect to hear Creed with a new singer. It is undeniable that there are times that Kennedy delivers vocals that could easily be mistaken for those of Scott Stapp, but there are moments where his style can be more closely likened to that of Chris Cornell, and that takes some doing!
There’s definitely an 80’s rock feel to some of their offerings, and with the quality of the musicians, I’m certainly not going to complain. As you listen to the album you are reminded of a number of other artists. Led Zeppelin, Creed, Bon Jovi, Queensryche, Metallica, it really is uncanny. That doesn’t mean you end up thinking that they are just ripping off other peoples sounds, far from it.
To go along with the mightily impressive vocals, is a re-invented Tremonti. With the Creed albums I had always felt that somehow the guitars needed unleashing a bit more, and finally it’s happened. Tremonti cites his new influences are the likes of Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, and John Petrucci, but oddly in some instances comes off sounding like Zakk Wylde, which again, I’m not going to complain about.
One of the more personal notes that can be found on the album is the track entitled “In Loving Memory”, a moving tribute to his late mother. It’s a fine balance between the celebration of her life and the mourning of her loss.
A fantastic album that is a pleasure to listen to again and again.
