Tremonti - All I was

 

"All I was" is the debut album by Tremonti which was released back in 2012.  On the surface it looks like a solo project as the band name comes from Mark Tremonti's surname. And he is very much the driving force behind the band.  But it is very much a band rather than a solo project with Eric Friedman on guitar and bass on the album and Garret Whitlock on drums.  I only got into Tremonti a couple of years ago when a mate asked me if I wanted to go and see them live.  I had never heard of them before that so started watching some You Tube videos.  I learned a valuable lesson that day.  The first few videos I watched were of live festival performances and it sounded awful.  After watching a few I was about to give up when I think it was "Proof" where it was an official lyric video came on.  The song actually appears on this album.  And it pulled me in and I started to listen more to them.  I must add here that I have now seen Tremonti live twice now and they are amazing. And I wont be judging bands on mobile phone footage again!

Mark himself does lead vocals and guitar on this album and is more well known for his work in Creed and Alter Bridge. But this band still has quite a following but at the same time they have not had the same kind of success as those other bands.  The feel and tone of the music on "All I was" is different from Creed and Alter Bridge too.  It is heavier and the tone of Mark's voice has got a more aggressive feel to it. This makes it not have the same mainstream appeal as the likes of Creed.  Although Mark's voice is more aggressive I must note here, at no point does he scream or have that growling sound.  He is actually singing.  It's just the tone of his voice does give off that dark and aggressive vibe.

But is "All I was" actually any good?  Well yes this really is a fantastic album from such a versatile songwriter.  From what I have read, one of the reasons Mark formed this band was because he had songs that just didn't really fit on Alter Bridge or Creed albums but were still good enough to see the light of day. And thank goodness he did.  The thing about "All I was" is that I wouldn't say there are any songs on here which stand head and shoulders above the rest. And at the same time there is not really a weak link either.  It's a collection of songs which work well together and are of high quality without their being an absolute monster hit.  In the time of writing this Tremonti has 4 albums out and in his live set he still plays many songs from this album.  Which personally I think is the testament to how good an album is. That if after 4 albums you are still playing songs from your first album and at the same time you have quality output from your other three albums. You must have been doing something right in the first place.

As I said the album doesn't have a weak track on it but at the same time doesn't have any monster hits. But I do have my favourites, namely "Things I've seen", "Proof" and "New Way Out".  These songs have really good melodies and perhaps the more lighter moments on the album.  I also love "So you're afraid", particularly the bridge of this song.  It has these great drum fills followed by what sounds like a really technically hard guitar solo.  That song and "You waste your time" were the main singles to come from this album. But listening to this album as a whole they blend in rather than stand out.  Another song which is still good enough for the live set is "Wish you well" which is often played at the end of the show as Mark introduces the song.  "This is our last song, and until next time, I.........wish......you.......well" before diving into the song which is another great tune and I love it when he does that.

Overall "All I was" is a great album.  I think now I have heard all 4 of his albums I don't think its quite as good as "Dust" or "Dying Machine" but there are certainly no duds on this album and as I say it is the album that got me into Tremonti and does show what we knew already. Just how talented Mark is. But in addition to this it also shows he is a good recruiter in Eric and Garret and they certainly play their part in making this a great album too.