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I thought Shea should know. We know that when he isn't at work he only wears AB and Tremonti gear

Fish Tacos wrote:I thought Shea should know. We know that when he isn't at work he only wears AB and Tremonti gear

I wear it to work as well.

In other news, Rising Storm has grown on me a lot since I first heard it.

I’ve held off from giving my thoughts until now as I want to give a fair opinion on the album, not just a knee-jerk reaction. I’ve probably listened to the album between 10-15 times now.

My Last Mistake – I really like this song and its aggression. The melodic chorus detracts from the overall heaviness of the song, but overall it’s a good song and is one of my favourites. 9/10

The Cage – When I listen to a new album I want to be surprised, this song surprises me. It’s been described as One Day Remains (one of my favourite AB songs) on steroids, and I agree. It’s a new sound from Tremonti and contributes something new to the catalogue. 9/10

Once Dead – The mix of the drums gets on my nerves with both Cauterize and Dust. Due to the volume and clicky sound of bass drum the guitar riffs lose their punch and just contribute to a wall of noise. If you listen to some thrash like Testament or Megadeth’s Rust in Peace I think you’ll know what I mean. There’s nothing in this song that grabs me, the verses, the chorus and the solo, it’s all alright but I don’t feel the song adds anything new to Tremonti’s catalogue. 6/10

Dust – Due to being released first, I’ve listened to this song a lot more. I’m a big fan of heavier music although this song is really good. I’m glad the song comes in early on the album as it avoids the album becoming monotonous, Cauterize, in comparison was definitely monotonous. The chorus and Mark’s singing is something we haven’t heard before with Tremonti, again it’s something new, although I hope he’ll be able to do it live. 8/10

Betray Me – I know a lot of people like this song, but I just don’t like it. Again, the sound of the drums detract from the riffs. The verses are alright, I do like the pre-chorus instrumentation, but the chorus is just your run of the mill Tremonti melodic catchy chorus. Similar to my criticisms of Once Dead, this song doesn’t contribute anything to Tremonti’s catalogue. I wouldn’t be disappointed if I never heard this song again. It’s certainly not bad, but I can’t find anything I like about it or anything that makes me want to listen to this song in particular. I’m bored of the riff by the time the outro comes along. 5/10

Tore My Heart Out – Like Dust, this is a refreshing song, it’s good to hear on the album. The verses are really good. The chorus isn’t bad, but it’s a bit dull, especially too dull to be repeated a third time. I also think the outro is a bit necessary and necessary, it’s almost as if Mark was listening back to it thinking ‘This is getting boring, quick Garrett, we need some double time here’. 7/10

Catching Fire – This song really helps the album pick up again. The intro is something different for Tremonti, I’m glad he hasn’t launched into some heavy riff. The chorus is another melodic chorus, although it’s aggressively melodic. The change in instrumentation for the first half of the second verse (similar to World on Fire) keeps you on your toes. In terms of dynamics, the song keeps on growing in heaviness and it’s a really good song for Tremonti. I am slightly put off by the bass drum sound in the instrumental section, although given the quality of the song, I can forgive it. 9/10

Never Wrong – Similar to Betray Me, there’s nothing about this song that I particularly like. It doesn’t contribute anything new or interesting to the Tremonti catalogue. Again, I don’t need to hear this song again. 4/10.

Rising Storm – Again, I just don’t like this song. It doesn’t contribute anything new, and I feel like I’ve heard it all before. Never Wrong and Rising Storm are the definition of B-sides. At least they don’t have drawn out instrumental sections and are over pretty much as soon as they begin. 4/10

Unable to See – Thank god for this song. I really like it, it’s refreshing to hear, it’s not a sound that Tremonti has explored with this band, although it brings back memories of old school Creed. It’s got a great catchy, heart-felt, almost sing-a-long chorus too. I hope it’s played live. 8/10

I know I’ve been fairly critical of some songs on this album, but I hope you guys can see that I’ve given a balanced review before somebody posts ‘Omg how can you not like Betray Me?!?’ (that’s if anyone actually reads or cares about this post). This album has much higher peaks than Cauterize, although has a lot more low points. If we’re going on averages, this album gets 6.9. I’m really not interested in creating or listening to a 20 song Dusterize or whatever. I think if you got rid of Another Heart, Fall Again, Tie the Noose, Once Dead, Betray Me, Never Wrong and Rising Storm you’d have a really great 13 song album.

I don’t think Tremonti does metal very well on the whole. If I wanted to listen to metal, I’d just listen to Megadeth, Lamb of God, Sylosis, Testament, Gojira to name a few. If I wanted to listen to something melodic but heavy I’d listen to Alter Bridge, Tremonti’s middle of road approach doesn’t appeal to me. Saying that I think his music does appeal to Alter Bridge fans who don’t want to listen to thrash metal, or metal with more growly vocals.

Apologies for the length of the review, I wrote it as I listened to the album and it ended up being much longer than anticipated. I ought to go do something now…

P.S - I know I've moaned about Elvis far too much, I know how much the guys like him, but I'd love to hear an album without him. I'm bored of his sound.

I agree with that review a lot. Betray Me, Never Wrong, and Rising Storm just aren't that great in comparison to the other songs. You also gave 9's to my favorite tracks on the album. I think you summed the record up pretty well.

Really getting into once dead lately. Love the chorus riff and the outro solo.

One Drew Remains wrote: once dead

I was once dead uh.....once.

I mean, I was dead once.



Okay, okay, so I wasn't really.

So after a number of listens to the album I found that even though I love the track, Tore My Heart Out does drag on. That last chorus is totally unnecessary.

So I did my own edit to see what it would sound like. Straight from the ending of the bridge into the outro. Holy hell. The track sounds amazing this way. Damn you, Elvis.

Also did an edit to Catching Fire. Took the heavy, heavy thrash breakdown riff and put a second one 4 seconds into the fade out of the outro. Damn. This thing sounds like a nuke going off now. It's awesome.

Why didn't Elvis think of this kind of stuff? Isn't it his job? I mean... we don't NEED 3 choruses if it's going to weaken the song. Oh well.

Take The Sun wrote:Why didn't Elvis think of this kind of stuff? Isn't it his job? I mean... we don't NEED 3 choruses if it's going to weaken the song. Oh well.

Because everybody knows you can't have a metal song without having at least three choruses. Anything less is just laughable and clearly not worth of being called a song. We don't need hipster shit like that.

Joking aside, it kinda baffles me. There are so many popular song structures they can choose from that have proven to be successful, but they keep picking the same one over and over again.

Take The Sun wrote:So after a number of listens to the album I found that even though I love the track, Tore My Heart Out does drag on. That last chorus is totally unnecessary.

So I did my own edit to see what it would sound like. Straight from the ending of the bridge into the outro. Holy hell. The track sounds amazing this way. Damn you, Elvis.

Also did an edit to Catching Fire. Took the heavy, heavy thrash breakdown riff and put a second one 4 seconds into the fade out of the outro. Damn. This thing sounds like a nuke going off now. It's awesome.

Why didn't Elvis think of this kind of stuff? Isn't it his job? I mean... we don't NEED 3 choruses if it's going to weaken the song. Oh well.

I kind of want to try this now. But not sure what you meant exactly by the catching fire one.

Take The Sun wrote:So after a number of listens to the album I found that even though I love the track, Tore My Heart Out does drag on. That last chorus is totally unnecessary.

So I did my own edit to see what it would sound like. Straight from the ending of the bridge into the outro. Holy hell. The track sounds amazing this way. Damn you, Elvis.

Also did an edit to Catching Fire. Took the heavy, heavy thrash breakdown riff and put a second one 4 seconds into the fade out of the outro. Damn. This thing sounds like a nuke going off now. It's awesome.

Why didn't Elvis think of this kind of stuff? Isn't it his job? I mean... we don't NEED 3 choruses if it's going to weaken the song. Oh well.

Wow I bet they sounded amazing.. I do think those 2 do drag a little. But I think at the end of the day its Tremonti's decision. He prefers longer songs. Probably Mark's call.

I'd like to hear these alternate versions to see if they are indeed better before we discuss why Elvis "ruined it".

Don't understand all this critics towards Elvis at all. Enjoying all AB/Slash/Tremonti albums he's been working at. These albums made and kept me fan of this music. Don't think any of those nagging about his work over here would be able to top it. But to each his/her own I suppose. Just thought it became time to offer a different opinion opposite to these critics. Am I the only one over here enjoying the products from these musicians with Elvis ?

Anyone over here visiting the gig in Heerlen on june 16th ? I will drive over the 200 kms with my youngest daughter of 11 years. A present from daddy beceause she qualified for her brown (!) belt karate two weeks agoo. Hotel afterwards, nice father/daughter trip ! Hope they will do meet & greet again, so I can get all 4 signatures on Dust. Would love to meet Tim & MTM too and perhaps get a signed new EP from them.

riemslag1 wrote:Don't understand all this critics towards Elvis at all. Enjoying all AB/Slash/Tremonti albums he's been working at. These albums made and kept me fan of this music. Don't think any of those nagging about his work over here would be able to top it. But to each his/her own I suppose. Just thought it became time to offer a different opinion opposite to these critics. Am I the only one over here enjoying the products from these musicians with Elvis ?

I can see the criticisms like not being able to hear any bass in some songs. I enjoy the work. Could it be better? Sure. I'm enjoying it. It tickles my ears when I'm driving or running.

riemslag1 wrote:Am I the only one over here enjoying the products from these musicians with Elvis ?

The reason we spend time on this board is because we love the music. It's an Alter Bridge forum, so people might be a bit more tough on Tremonti, but in general it's all love. There are hundreds of people on Facebook who think Alter Bridge/Tremonti/Slash are musical gods and who go out of their way to tell them so. I personally think discussing the stuff that could be better is a lot more interesting.

riemslag1 wrote:Anyone over here visiting the gig in Heerlen on june 16th ? I will drive over the 200 kms with my youngest daughter of 11 years. A present from daddy beceause she qualified for her brown (!) belt karate two weeks agoo. Hotel afterwards, nice father/daughter trip ! Hope they will do meet & greet again, so I can get all 4 signatures on Dust. Would love to meet Tim & MTM too and perhaps get a signed new EP from them.

I have sent you a PM. It got stuck in my outbox.. Don't know why.
If you're able to send me one so I can reply.. That would be kind!

Got it. Thanks. Will reply this evening.

My only real issue with Elvis is bass. And he's even improved on that over the last few years.

\m/Tremonster\m/ wrote:My only real issue with Elvis is bass. And he's even improved on that over the last few years.

Pretty much this. If he got the Bass right in the mix then he'd be great.