Alter Bridge - Fortress

 "Fortress" is the 4th album by American hard rockers Alter Bridge.  It was released in 2013 which although was only a 3 year gap between ABIII and this release.  The band were busy touring not only ABIII but Myles was also touring with Slash while Tremonti released his first album "All I was".  This was really the start of band members working relentlessly on not only Alter Bridge but their other projects too.

When I first listened to "Fortress" it does have the feeling of an album that is slightly more adventurous and ambitious than their other albums.  It was my surprise when looking at the track list that 6 tracks out of 12 come in at between 4 and 5 minutes.  While the other half of the album comes in between 5 and 8 minutes.  Most notably the album is bookended with arguably the 2 most ambitious tracks in "Fortress" the title track closing the album while "Cry of Achilles" opens the album.  I love the opening notes to "Cry of Achilles" with its winding, fast paced accoustic guitar, before building into an epic rock track full of soaring choruses and epic guitar solos.  I wouldn't say this is a good a opener as "Slip to the void" on ABIII as I think "Slip" could only be an opener to an album where as "Cry" could fit anywhere in the album.  But listening to them on their own merit I think "Cry" is better than "Slip".

In terms of the closer "Fortress" there is a similar debate to that with ABIII as to whether the second last track should have been the closer rather than "Fortress".  "Fortress" is a great track and at 7 minutes 36 seconds is the longest track on the album.  But second last track "All ends well" almost spells out that it should be the closer.  Its almost begging in fact to be the closer.  I love some of the lyrics to this song, "If you believe in nothing else, just keep believing in yourself".  Its such a song of hope and looking forward which is really my argument that it should of been the last track.

Looking at this album though it is littered with great tracks, the ones mentioned are good.  But take a look at a track like "Bleed it dry".  More of an album track and doesn't seem to get much of an airing live these days. But what a track".  Such intensity and drive for the first half of the song, then the pace totally slows down to build into this amazing guitar solo which is so pure and crisp and slowly builds up again before the intensity kicks in again to see the song out.   My other favourite tracks on this album do still receive plenty of live airings in "Water Rising" and "Lover".  "Water Rising" is the first Alter Bridge track Mark has lead vocals on and it really is an amazing song. Myles still contributes to the vocals during the chorus but its mainly Mark.  Mark doing this really does add a new dimension not just to this album but also to their live shows.

Overall this is a great album.  I think what is evident here is that they are good at writing songs of all lengths.  I do think they were more ambitious with writing longer songs and they have pulled it off.  Yes I know they wrote "Blackbird" before this and nothing on here tops that song. But what song by anyone does :-P

Alter Bridge - ABIII

 

"ABIII" is the appropriately titled 3rd album by American hard rockers Alter Bridge.  The album was released in 2010 following their highly successful debut album "One Day remains" which was followed by "Blackbird".  The latter features one of my favourite songs of all time which was called "Blackbird" too.  But how would "ABIII" stack up against its predecessors which they set the bar so high on.  Would they try and create something as epic as "Blackbird"?

Well they gave it a damn good shot that is for certain.  In terms of song distribution in this album I like to see it as a club sandwich. Where you have got bread on top being the first 4 songs.  Then you have the next 2 songs after which are some filling. Then another song which is another piece of bread. Then you have another 5 songs which comprises of some more filling.  Then the last 2 songs are another piece of bread.  All combine to give you 14 tracks or as I like to view it a club sandwich.  But why have I used this analogy........   Well the bread is absolutely awesome.  Just think of the best bread you have ever tasted then listen to these tracks and you can see where I'm coming from.  Then you have the filling.  These tracks aren't quite so good. But still fit well on the album and lets face it you still need filling regardless how good the bread is and I think that the same could be said for this album. Its all the pieces combined which make this special.

So lets look into the first 4 songs on the album. They open up with "Slip to the void".  In my opinion the best track one on any Alter Bridge album to date.  Myles haunting vocals creep in followed by thundering guitars.  This song would only fit in on the track one slot in an album. They would need to change the song entirely for it to fit anywhere else.  Then you follow that with "Isolation" which was the first single they took from that album at the time.  A real rocker and in covid times now a more relatable song than ever given all the lockdowns all over the world.  Then you have "Ghost of days gone by" and "All hope is gone" sitting at tracks 3 and 4. Such strong songs that they still get airings on their tours.

This is followed by the bit of filling in "Still Remains" and "Make it right".  Then you have probably the best power ballad they have done in "Wonderful Life".  I still think of this as a cover even though its an Alter Bridge song.  It's not their typical song but its so powerful and I wonder why more bands don't cover it as its that good.  Again this song still gets its place onto set lists often done by Myles acoustically. 

Bit of a bigger filling after "Wonderful Life" with 5 tracks which are still pretty good and hold the album together well but not quite as big as the tracks stated before.  But what about the ending to the album?  Well I do wonder if there was arguments or should I say disagreements on what song to end the album on. Because tracks 13 and 14 feel like they are in competition with each other on which is the better closer.  In the end they have gone for "Words Darker than their wings" over "Life must go on".  I think on any other Alter Bridge album "Life must go on" would be the closer without question, maybe with the exception of "The end is here" on "One day remains".  The lyrics and the pace of the song are such a poignant way to end an album.  But then they go and pull "Words darker than their wings" out of the bag and really they have made one of my top 5 Alter Bridge songs ever.  This is the first time Myles and Mark share vocals on a track.  Myles has a moment where he hits a high note in the climax to song, and the album.  In the Royal Albert Hall DVD he admitted not to playing this song live because of that high note. But anyone who has watched that DVD will know he absolutely nailed it.

Overall "ABIII" is a wonderful album with such a great structure. Full of full on rock, some powerful ballads and a fitting end.  I think this album really cemented their status as rock greats and showed they were here to stay.  At this point in their career they already had enough for a greatest hits album and not many bands can truly say that after 3 albums.

Amy MacDonald - The Human Demands

 

In 2007 Amy MacDonald burst onto the scene with her debut album "This is the Life".  This was one of the first albums I ever reviewed.    Back then I used to always tip up and coming bands and artists for success.  But often I predicted wrong with bands either splitting up or just disappearing from the limelight.  Amy though is one of the exceptions to that.  In my "This is the life" Review it headlined "This will certainly be the life for Amy...........after releasing this cracker!".  So for a change I actually got it right as 13 years later she is still going strong with her just releasing her 5th album "The Human Demands". From my own perspective I thought her first two albums were exceptional, while albums 3 and 4 were still good but didn't quite have the anthems that her first 2 albums had.

So how does her 5th album "The Human Demands" shape up?  Well when first single "The Hudson" came out prior to the release of the album I had mixed feelings about the track.  If you take the track with out the lyrics I thought it was excellent.  But looking at the lyrics it did get the feeling that Amy has used some of these before.  Now it may not seem like a big deal to have reused certain words.  But I feel they are so prominent in her early songs that it makes it feel less imaginative putting them in this album.  I'm talking about words like "Shining bright" which appeared on an old song of hers "Don't tell me that its over" and also appears in the opening line of "Wish for something more".  Also in this album she uses the word "spark" quite a few times which of course appeared on an earlier album.  May not seem like a big deal but it did annoy me slightly when listening some of the tracks as there are plenty of words out there to use. :-)

Because of this and the second track which was released as a single "Crazy Shade of Blue" was quite a slow track and I wasn't really feeling it.  Therefore I did have low expectations for the album.  However I was pleasantly surprised by the album.  There is some great song writing on here and some really upbeat songs which see Amy produce the kind of music we know she is capable of making and really what has been lacking in the last few albums she has made up for here.  Examples include "The Human Demands" title track, "Bridges" and "We could be so much more"

Although "Crazy Shade of Blue" was slightly disappointing I think more because I think she is at her best with the up tempo tracks.  There is a track on here which is an exception to that and that is "Young Fire, old flame" which is a slower acoustic track which Amy has absolutely nailed and really works well.  I feel another track in particular though stands out as something which sounds a bit different for Amy and that is "Strong again"  as I think its a glockenspiel or something like that which makes an appearance throughout this track.  Its another chirpy number and probably my favourite currently on the album.

Overall I think this is a great album.  Although I had my slight annoyances with the lyrics you cannot fault the actual tunes and in general the lyrics on the whole are very good.  And lets face it when you've got someone with a unique a voice as Amy's who is as good at this at delivering the lyrics vocally;  it just shows right there why she has been successful as she has and will continue as long as she wants. 

Bring me the Horizon - POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR

 

"POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR" is a 9 track EP by Sheffield bred UK metalers Bring me the Horizon.  According to Wikipedia this is the first of 4 EPs which will be released over the next year which once all done will combine to make an album.  It does bring the question straight away - why didn't they just add an extra track on here to make it 10 tracks and become a proper an album in itself?  Already it's sitting at 32 minutes which bands often release as full length albums.   It is a strange route to go down as often this tactic is used by bands in their infancy before building up to their debut album trying to gain momentum.  Where as BMTH already have that momentum and already very well established.  Maybe they just have so much material they want the world to hear.

I cant say I'm too familiar with their whole back catalogue but I did really enjoy "amo" which they released early last year and did make it in to my top 10 albums of last year.  That album saw them branching out and trying new things from their well documented metal routes.  Then after that they released an EP "Music to listen to~dance~to.....". I would say the whole title but its incredibly long.  A bit like the EP which although is just 8 tracks, sits at 1 hour 15 minutes.  That saw them become even more experimental but to be honest I wasn't that impressed with it.

So what what direction did they go in this EP.  Well they have continued to push boundaries but at the same time have returned to their heavier routes.  This is because out of the 9 tracks on the EP, 5 of the tracks are collaborations with other artists.  I do like the approach taken to all the collaborations regardless of whether I like the songs or not.  What I mean by this is that there is a balance between Oli Sykes vocals and the guest vocals.  Meaning it still as the BMTH vibe throughout the album with the other vocals coming in to give the songs a new dimension and to give a variation in their sound.

I would say my favourite collaboration on the album is with BABYMETAL in the song "Kingslayer".  BABYMETAL are such a fun and unique band and the bands compliment each other so well in this song.  The next track after that "1x1" features the Nova Twins which means some more female vocals. To be honest I have never heard of the Nova Twins before hearing this but this makes me want me to investigate them more.  Which is the beauty of collaborations. It allows fans of bands to discover other bands that maybe they wouldn't have found otherwise.  There is one collab which I didn't think worked quite as well and that is with Amy Lee of Evanesance on the last track "One day the only butterflies left will be in you".   This on paper is probably the biggest collaboration on the album as Amy Lee and Evanesance are massive in their own right.  It's not that it's a really bad song. It's ok. It just doesn't really fit on the album. And I don't think the two vocal styles compliment each other as well as some of the other collaborations on the album.

The other 4 tracks on the album are full on Bring me the Horizon tracks who are well and truly back to their heavy roots.  The singles "Parasite Eve" and "Ludens" in particular really do pack a punch and maybe fans who were disappointed with the direction the band went with "amo" will be pleased that BMTH are returning to playing the sort of music that got them into them in the first place.

Overall this is a good EP.  I think this is a band who are taking advantage of the current music landscape and releasing more music as its just so accessible with streaming services.  And also with the current pandemic unfortunately making music is all they can do right now.  I think this EP will be a stepping stone for the band as they continue their rise and global success.  Bringing in various artists has on the whole expanded their sound for the better and I think will bring them new fans as well as give their fans so new music by other bands to listen to that they might not have been aware of.  But even out with the collaborations they show that they can deliver the goods on their own too.

Black Stone Cherry - The Human Condition

 "The Human Condition" is the 8th album by American hard rock band Black Stone Cherry. Surprisingly although they have been around since 2001, they have only just come on to my radar in the last month.  I haven't had the chance to really delve into their back catalogue but I have heard the majority of their hits over the course of their career and based on first impressions they seem to have quite a lot.  Most notably songs like "Blind Man", "Me and Mary Jane", "Blame it on the boom boom" and "White trash millionaire" to name a few.

But it was listening to the new singles from this album that were released in the run up to the album coming out which drew me in.  These are "Ringin' in my head" and "Again" which fittingly are tracks 1 and 2 on the album respectively.  "Ringin' in my head" is quite possibly the most polite start to an album I've heard as Chris Robertson the lead singer sings "People, people your attention please" as the opening line.  What a nice introduction to the band and the album to draw the listener in.  I'm not really sure if this song is written about covid or not as he goes on to sing "I gotta tell you all about a new disease, its snuck right up from beneath our nose....". So maybe is.

I would say generally this is a pretty heavy album and the songs are pretty, straight and to the point.  There are some songs  which have small silences before they start, almost acting like mini breaks in the album but usually they are just about 10 seconds.  I would probably say my favourite songs are the power ballads of the album.  I say this because they do feel still quite heavy and certainly not stripped down songs but I reckon you could still get the lighters out at gigs.  They are "When angels learn to fly" and "If my heart had wings".  Funny how they are both about flying.

Another potential covid track is "Live this way" with Robertson wailing in the chorus "Life is way too short, to live this way".  Whether it was written pre covid or or about covid. It's pretty appropriate timing regardless.   Maybe because of this I am drawn to this and could quite easily become an anthem if they were to release it as a single.  But for their third single after releasing "Ringin' in my head" and "Again"; they released "In Love the pain".  This song has such a good riff and another great chorus.  It does feel many of the heavier songs do have a certain general formula but each song still has some sort of uniqueness. But it works which makes it all worthwhile.

Interestingly even though it is a 13 track album they felt the need to put a cover in there too.  Track 10 on the album "Don't bring me down" is a cover of the Electric light Orchestra song which was originally released in 1979 on their "Discovery" album.  It certainly doesn't feel out of place on "The Human Condition".  In fact it fits in quite nicely.  I don't think they have surpassed the original but they certainly haven't murdered it either.

Overall I am glad to have found Black Stone Cherry.  I may have been very late to the party with BCS but I'm here now and this album in my opinion is a triumph.  I feel I have only scratched the surface talking about a few tracks on the album.    But it is very good all the way through.