ALTER BRIDGE: One Day Remains (GRUNGE): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

The release of "One Day Remains" almost coincides with the announcement of the separation between Scott Stapp and his classmates from Creed. Barely two months after the divorce was official, Tremonti, the bag full of new electric tracks written the year before, is impressed by the performances of a hairy man officiating at 'The Mayfield Four' who accept easily to enter the band.

Yet Stapp's stamp, deep and rocky, was clearly one of the hallmarks of the globally successful combo and replacing it was not a risk-free affair. But given the class and mastery developed by Myles Kennedy, fears will soar as fast as the sales of their first album (eight times less than Creed's last album before their spilt, however). Especially since musically speaking, Alter Bridge presents itself as an almost identical version of Creed. The Phoenix is thus reborn from its ashes, with its share of tracks with riffs as thick as a grizzly bear's skin and compositions of ever-more moving sensibilities.

Especially since "Find The Real" reassures on the potential of the Tremonti's band. With his 6-strings slung back, he asserts the first seconds of a heavy and grungy shot that places the scene in a dark landscape from the beginning, out of step with the more optimistic side of the lyrics. From one end of these fifty-five minutes to the other, the virtuoso guitarist will wear his leader's armour to throw blocks that he joins with the muscular help of Phillips behind the drums, and whose "Metalingus" will be the highlight of this imposing massive with its stirring shapes.

But the band has another asset, that of the vigorous ballads but which tighten the heart without however indulging in sentimentality ("Open Your Eyes", "Down To The Last" and "Shed My Skin"). "Broken Wings" better than any other dominates the category by the intensity of its chorus and the ostentatious emotional outbursts that give you goose bumps. More sober and balanced, "In Loving Memory", composed by Mark Tremonti following the death of his mother, is a beautiful and peaceful clearing in the middle of this tumult.

It is always impressive how some artists manage to sublimate themselves in the most painful or at least the most difficult moments to manage. Alter Bridge succeeded in its (small) conversion, especially since the transition was short and the mutation moderate.
- Official website

ALTER BRIDGE

ONE DAY REMAINS

WIND-UP RECORDS

GRUNGE