Alter Bridge albums ranked

A couple of years ago I reviewed every Alter Bridge album and I thought having gone in depth with them so much; now I thought I'd rank them from "worst" to best.

6. At 6 is "Walk the Sky".  You will notice I put "worst" in quotation marks.  This is because there isn't a bad Alter Bridge album.  They are all very good and worth a listen.  But some readers of my blog maybe surprised to see this at the bottom of the pile given that it was my album of the year in 2019.  I do tend to get really into albums when they come out and this was no exception. But when another band comes along with a new album I tend to move on.  Alter Bridge were very much in the right place at the right time when making my list for 2019 albums.  As I say this is a good album but the reason it's listed below the others is that I felt that it was the safe option in order to try and get more hit singles. Rather than some longer tracks they've mastered and crafted so well in the past.  It was nice to see Mark Tremonti back on lead vocals for one track "Forever Falling" and there are other tracks on here which are worth a listen, namely, "Indoctrination", "The Bitter End" and "Clear Horizon".  As I say still a decent album.

5.  At 5 is "The Last Hero" which is Alter Bridge's 5th record.  Some circles believe this is a much underrated Alter Bridge album.  And while again it is another cracking album, which pips "Walk the Sky" for me as the songs are slightly longer and the band showed a bit more ambition.  "Cradle to the Grave" was also my entry point into the band and really got me into them so that song will always mean a lot.  Other great singles off this include "Show me a leader", "My Champion" and "This side of Fate"

4. At 4 is "One Day remains".  This is Alter Bridge's debut album and often a favourite of fans who have been with them from the start.  Not as high a ranking from me as I felt some of the album tracks are not as good as some on other albums.  But the singles really do soar on this one.  Particularly "Metalingus" which makes its way in to their setlists to this day.   "Open your eyes" and "Burn it down" are other highlights.

3. At 3 is "Blackbird".  Now this maybe surprising not having this higher but I think this shows just how highly I rank the other two albums.  The reason why it is surprising having this at 3 is because this contains the track "Blackbird" itself which as I mentioned in my review, is one of my favourite tracks by any band of all time.  And I still stand by that. While "Rise Today", "Before Tomorrow Comes" and "Come to Life" are absolute monsters.  Like "One Day remains" it feels like there are some songs on here that don't pull their weight quite as much as the 2 albums which I have ranked higher.

2.  At 2 is "ABIII" which appropriately is Alter Bridge's 3rd album.  Alter Bridge have always had a habit of starting and finishing their albums well with a fitting introduction and exciting conclusion.  But this album did it brilliantly.  "Slip to the void" fits the bill perfectly for the opening track and often is the one the open their set with.  While "Words darker than their wings" finishes it off epically with Mark and Myles sharing vocals.  On this track Myles goes to places vocally which he can't do that often the notes get so high.  What makes this album great though is that it's an all-round solid album.  You've got all out belters such as "Isolation" while slowing things right down with "Wonderful Life" and "Life Must Go On".

1. At 1 and my favourite Alter Bridge album, goes to their 4th album "Fortress".  I do feel with this album they were more ambitious, and they absolutely pulled it out of the bag.  "Cry for Achilles" opens proceedings with a winding guitar intro.  "Bleed it dry" has one of Mark's best guitar solos.  "Lover" is one of the best ballads they have done.  "Waters Rising" sees Mark on lead vocals for the first time and it's awesome.  Then you have the last 2 tracks "All ends well" along with the longer "Fortress" finishes things off.  This album is truly awesome from start to finish and in my opinion a must listen.