16 Years

I remember the day I first heard them.  It was 1997 and I had just run out of bowling around noon on a Saturday.  I quickly flipped the radio station in my moms car over to Q101 and began enjoying some good alternative music when I heard the announcement of a brand new song from a band unknown at the time.

The song in question?  My Own Prison.  The Band?  If I really needed to answer that it was Creed.  I was hooked, instantly.  It was as if someone had opened a store in my brain that sold nothing but good feelings. The haunting echoes of Scott Stapps voice on that song coupled with Mark Tremonti in the background (as well as his great guitar work) had me as an instant fan.

Fast forward to the formation of Alter Bridge in 2004 and, at the time, I was less than thrilled.  I, at the time, had been a huge fan of Creed and was deeply disappointed at the fact Myles Kennedy was not Scott Stapp.  What an idiot I was, so young and nostalgic.

In the meantime, as all of this was developing, I was becoming a huge fan of black metal and death metal, still am.  But I need a break every so often, and so you enter in the second Alter Bridge release.  I decided to give them another go based on rave reviews from some friends and their father.  Boy was I wrong.

I picked up Blackbird on a win sometime in 2007 or 2008, I can't remember when, and I was hooked.  Myles vocals were phenomenal and this was not the band I once knew.  While One Day Remains still is pretty much Creed IV to me...Blackbird represented something entirely different and new.  It was as if the band was finally progressing and becoming a band of their own.  Nothing was more evident of this than the title track.  A sweeping melodic ballad that slowly builds into this fantastic catharsis as Mark Tremonti just tears into the solo after Myles.

I was extremely excited for AB III but that one, honestly, ended up being a bit of a clunker for me.  It felt to me like it was the missing link between One Day Remains and Blackbird.  It is not a bad album by any means, it just isn't memorable.  The only songs that really stick out to me are: Slip to the Void, Isolation, I know it Hurts, and Fallout.  Otherwise...stale, sort of lifeless, and not what I was expecting as a follow up to Blackbird.

Enter Fortress, the bands fourth album.

One phrase can sum up this album:  God Damn!

It's going on almost two months and I am still listening to this album day in and day out.  The first track, Cry of Achilles is a stud of a track.  Just a bit over six and a half minutes in length and a song filled with emotion.  The acoustic intro with a very middle eastern feel slowly builds up as the song arcs into a drum roll with a nice piece of heavy guitar work.  Between Myles vocals simply destroying everything and being some of his best I've ever heard and the two solos this track is a gem.  (If you haven't checked out his stuff in the Mayfield Four please do, you won't be disappointed.)

Everyone knows Addicted to Pain but it is essentially their fastest track on the album.  A good mix of groove/thrash with a nice speedy solo.  Again, another fine effort by Myles on vocals (the whole album really).  This song was the first single and has just a great feel to it that is sure to energize the crowd at a show.

Bleed it Dry, Lover, and The Uninvited are all very good songs as well.  Heavy, hard hitting, and to the point.  Lover throws in a bit of variety but with a bit more of the emotional side thrown in. For the purpose of this review, however, I'm sticking to my favorite tracks.

Peace is broken is another track akin to Addicted to Pain.  A good groovy piece started up with some great symbol work by the man Scott Phillips.  I love the vocal filter thrown in on the verse part of the song, it kind of has that echo-y radio feel to it.

A late comer for me was Calm the Fire.  My girlfriend fell for this track while in Texas and I have to say it is amazing.  The slow intro, the powerful lead in vocals, the sweeping guitar, it reminded me a lot of the title track to Blackbird.  The verse has a feel like Dream Theater (to me) in terms of it sounding just like progressive metal, much of this carried by Myles vocals.  The song as a whole is just simply amazing.

Following up is my next and probably second favorite track on the album, Farther Than the Sun.  This is one of the heaviest songs on the album while being one of the catchiest at the same time.  The best part of this song, trust me the solo is great, would be the chorus.  It just has a great catch to it that it was hard not to fall in love with.  Not to mention the lyrics just resonate, and its hard not to have a feeling for them.  From the chorus: I have to find a place where I belong, I do not like what I have become, No more compromise I will be gone, Free to fly farther than the sun, farther than the sun.  Not to mention that lead licks performed by Tremonti from the mid point of the track are simply amazing.

Lastly, but not least, the title track Fortress.  While it doesn't follow the historical premise of Blackbird, the track still begins a bit slow but has a more consistent pace to it.  The timing of the verse and chorus are pretty similar, though with the chorus heavier and more emotional vocals.  As they break into the bridge the song slows down into a fade out and then picks up to a heavier, thrashy, riff that leads into a pair of solo trade offs by Mark and Myles, before fading and going back to the chorus and and then slamming the door shut on another album.

Bravo, Alter Bridge.  From the band that started as Creed I would have never expected an album like this.  However, you have surprised me, and as a fan of music I am eternally grateful.  I truly appreciate albums that are, from start to finish, amazing, and I thank you for giving us this amazing album.  If there was never another Creed album I wouldn't care.  I still haven't made it through Full Circle no matter how hard I try.  Scott Stapp is just not Myles, and he never will be.

Please keep up the amazing work.  I'm eagerly awaiting AB V.