ALTER BRIDGE: AB III (GRUNGE): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Between the participation of its musicians in the revival of the Creed epic and the competition of its singer in Slash's solo project, Alter Bridge has never been so much in the spotlight. A busy schedule, scattered members but also a change of label (now owned by the Roadrunner team), things have a somewhat different taste since for the same reasons, writing and recording took place in conditions of relative urgency. The Americans are therefore coming back with "AB III", a logical but inertial follow-up to their first two post-grunge records.

So to speak, purists may note as a notable change that the morale of the four Floridians has darkened, as have the lyrics of Myles Kennedy. The positive messages preached so far have given way to serious metaphysical questions, presented for the occasion in the form of a concept album. The music is slightly obscured in turn, sometimes more direct too. A guiding principle that, therefore, does not stand in stark contrast to the combo's previous misdeeds, but marks a transformation in the ideas conveyed.

The tracks, which stays in the same lineage, on their side, show an obvious talent for composition, an enviable ease of creating riffs, atmospheres already crossed between electric and authoritarian compositions ("Slip To The Void", "Still Remains"), emotionally inflated songs ("Wonderful Life") or more unifying ("Life Must Go On"). At the top, Mark Tremonti, always incisive, makes his strings glow as usual, handles the notes with the brilliance we know him and even tries to sing on a duet on the epilogue track ("Words Darker Than Their Wings") letting the very pleasant timbre of the man appreciate.

Without really changing direction, Alter Bridge arrives with a major album. The band unchecks what it knows how to do best, for the umpteenth time certainly, but without any false notes, quite the contrary. As its title implies, "AB III" was conceived as a continuity to the other two opuses, this is indeed the case, no more, no less. - Official website

ALTER BRIDGE

AB III

ROADRUNNER RECORDS

GRUNGE