Marching In Time

[ToNsOFuN88]

in one piece is sneaky good, i think i slept on it initially

In One Piece/Under the Sun are two awesome songs that seem to be slipping right past people.

Also, are lyrics up anywhere? I've had the physical CD since Monday, but I'm really lazy and don't wanna type them into Music Bee.

I slept in both of those at first. Now I think In One Piece is one of the best songs on the album.

[scarecrow]

in one piece is sneaky good, i think i slept on it initially

In One Piece/Under the Sun are two awesome songs that seem to be slipping right past people.

Also, are lyrics up anywhere? I've had the physical CD since Monday, but I'm really lazy and don't wanna type them into Music Bee.

I slept in both of those at first. Now I think In One Piece is one of the best songs on the album.

There really aren't any stinkers here. At all.

Which is quite a turnaround from the The Last Hero because for me, that record was an enormous disappointment and I wasn't sure if Mark was running out of gas or what was going on.

He's had a pretty good 5 years since. And he's still improving! It's inspiring.

[DCooper727]

The thing that sounds a bit weird to me and which happens a bunch of times on the album is the juxtaposition of some unbelievably fantastic heavy thundering thrash intro riffs that then morph into beautiful soaring almost arena rock quality choruses. Both by themselves are so good, but they sort of sound funny squished together in the same song. Now and Forever starts out like Slayer and then the verses and chorus are more Bon Joviesque - both parts are great but it's a weird mixture and it just sometimes sounds too forced. Let That Be Us starts out like classic Nevermore with machine gun drum riffs and a solo that just fucking slays, but which also has to one of the catchiest choruses in the history of sound. Contrast those songs to If Not For You (mainstream) or Thrown Together (hard rocking) or In One Piece (metal) or Under The Sun (ballady) which have a very consistent tone throughout and makes the song more whole and mature to me. Now this is just this particular d-bag's opinion, and it doesn't make the product any better or worse. But I'd love for a song like Let That Be Us to keep that opening tempo and grit from start to finish, just to have a place to sort of mentally fit it in one place.

I'll go ahead and say that it's legitimately a problem in some areas. I said more or less the same a few pages back about this, and the more I hear some songs, the more it actually irritates me.

Prime example: Now and Forever's bridge is just fucking nasty, and then immediately switches back into a super poppy chorus. There is zero transition, and it just does not work there, at least for me.

"makes the song more whole and mature to me"

Because it just is. You can be all over the place with crazy juxtapositions and have it work (we see it a lot in prog) but those transitions have to be done well; I'd argue here that they aren't. Another few good example of having some nasty metal writing with a still catchy (but still gritty) chorus are Arm Yourself and Throw Them to The Lions.

[anguyen92]

I can understand how this can be a concern given that Tremonti is supposed to be the faster, nastier, shreddy, metal side of him, but honestly, given my personal detachment with metal and its culture nowadays, it doesn't bother me much that he can bring the nasty riffs and pair it with the melodic singalongs all in a one song. At least, him being that at least makes sense in going into a tour with Daughtry.

[DCooper727]

I can understand how this is a concern given that Tremonti is supposed to be the faster, nastier, shreddy, metal of him, but honestly, given my personal detachment with metal and its culture nowadays, it doesn't bother me much that he can bring the nasty riffs and pair it with the melodic singalongs. At least, him being that at least makes sense in going into a tour with Daughtry.

Except that there are quite a few places where it feels puzzle pieced together and could be more fleshed out to get it to actually work.

I feel A World Away is a really good example where work was put into the transitions and having the verses/choruses work well together in a way where it doesn't feel jarring. The chorus is still super singable, too.

"At least, him being that at least makes sense in going into a tour with Daughtry."

I've waited to see Tremonti ever since the band first formed, and will still have to wait, unfortunately. Tremonti + Sevendust is a dream tour for me, but with Daughtry being the headline, that was an immediate no thanks for me.

[WaywardOne]

Here's a fun/embarrassing fact about me: Every time a new AB or Tremonti record comes out, I lock myself inside, alone, curtains closed, headphones on and just bury my face in my hands and completely focus on my first listen through. I WISH I would've live streamed myself this time because I absolutely LOST IT during Let That Be Us. Just completely flailing around like an idiot on my table and grooving to it. Gonna hold off on the rest of my impressions for now but that was without a doubt the highlight!

[billdrambis]

Hot Takes & First Reactions:

1. This album is taking longer for me to digest because the writing, riffs & parts, arrangements, instrumentals etc are more complex than previous albums, more creative, and more out of the box for Tremonti (this is a GREAT thing).

2. Mark is developing, growing musically and pushing the boundaries harder and faster than Alter Bridge by a lot.

3. I am a life long Mark fan but I am enjoying these solos much more than the ones on ADM. He's included more new techniques than I can keep track of and these solos seem to have a nice balance of melodic hooks and tasteful shredding.

4. I feel like the instrumentals here are much more progressive and creative than any previous album and really establish a moods and vibes more significantly and add so much to the song. Think ending of A World Away, Ending of Marching In Time, 2nd half of Would You Kill, double solo out of Last One Of Us, the bridge and outro etc.

5. His rhythm tone sounds slightly different and richer than ADM. MT100?

6. The tuning on Not Afraid To Lose. Incredible. Theres so much to explore there; reminded me of Time on Full Circle. Sounds like a major open tuning. Verse riff is classic Tremonti and hauntingly beautiful.

7. He's got the vocals dialed in my gosh. Loved reading he practiced by singing Frank Sinatra. There's simply another dynamic there now with his vocals that wasn't there on previous albums. On ADM, we got tastes of it and now its in full force.

8. Sounds like Erock used a slide on Thrown Further verses. Love the innovation and it works!

9. Now & Forever Intro and Bridge/Outro are incredibly gratifying to listen to LOUD

More to come later!

[gbruin]

I've been listening to the album for most of 3 days now and don't have a bunch to add after what's already been said...but I will add a bunch anyway.

This is a great Tremonti album, overall better and already more memorable for me than A Dying Machine
....
Fortunately, Mark is so good at both that it still works, even when it does sound a little schizophrenic.

mark has always been open about loving all kinds of music (i'm the same way - some of the artists i've obsessed over the past few years include tool, hall & oates, run the jewels, the strokes, and the weeknd) and that's maybe my favorite thing about him. increasingly defying genres and being able to seamlessly blend metal with his pop sensibilities. i understand it's not for everyone but it is SO for me.

Don't get me wrong, but I definitely do still love the songs, even when Mark seemingly combines genres within them.

Sorry to read about your father. I'm glad there is a special song to associate with him. Thoughts to you and your family, scarecrow.

[scarecrow]

I've been listening to the album for most of 3 days now and don't have a bunch to add after what's already been said...but I will add a bunch anyway.

This is a great Tremonti album, overall better and already more memorable for me than A Dying Machine
....
Fortunately, Mark is so good at both that it still works, even when it does sound a little schizophrenic.

mark has always been open about loving all kinds of music (i'm the same way - some of the artists i've obsessed over the past few years include tool, hall & oates, run the jewels, the strokes, and the weeknd) and that's maybe my favorite thing about him. increasingly defying genres and being able to seamlessly blend metal with his pop sensibilities. i understand it's not for everyone but it is SO for me.

Don't get me wrong, but I definitely do still love the songs, even when Mark seemingly combines genres within them.

Sorry to read about your father. I'm glad there is a special song to associate with him. Thoughts to you and your family, scarecrow.

thank you. we had a very difficult relationship but i loved him and still love him. oh how i needed that song at this exact point in my life. <3

[scarecrow]

Here's a fun/embarrassing fact about me: Every time a new AB or Tremonti record comes out, I lock myself inside, alone, curtains closed, headphones on and just bury my face in my hands and completely focus on my first listen through. I WISH I would've live streamed myself this time because I absolutely LOST IT during Let That Be Us. Just completely flailing around like an idiot on my table and grooving to it. Gonna hold off on the rest of my impressions for now but that was without a doubt the highlight!

hahaha YES, love this

[scarecrow]

Hot Takes & First Reactions:

1. This album is taking longer for me to digest because the writing, riffs & parts, arrangements, instrumentals etc are more complex than previous albums, more creative, and more out of the box for Tremonti (this is a GREAT thing).

2. Mark is developing, growing musically and pushing the boundaries harder and faster than Alter Bridge by a lot.

3. I am a life long Mark fan but I am enjoying these solos much more than the ones on ADM. He's included more new techniques than I can keep track of and these solos seem to have a nice balance of melodic hooks and tasteful shredding.

4. I feel like the instrumentals here are much more progressive and creative than any previous album and really establish a moods and vibes more significantly and add so much to the song. Think ending of A World Away, Ending of Marching In Time, 2nd half of Would You Kill, double solo out of Last One Of Us, the bridge and outro etc.

5. His rhythm tone sounds slightly different and richer than ADM. MT100?

6. The tuning on Not Afraid To Lose. Incredible. Theres so much to explore there; reminded me of Time on Full Circle. Sounds like a major open tuning. Verse riff is classic Tremonti and hauntingly beautiful.

7. He's got the vocals dialed in my gosh. Loved reading he practiced by singing Frank Sinatra. There's simply another dynamic there now with his vocals that wasn't there on previous albums. On ADM, we got tastes of it and now its in full force.

8. Sounds like Erock used a slide on Thrown Further verses. Love the innovation and it works!

9. Now & Forever Intro and Bridge/Outro are incredibly gratifying to listen to LOUD

More to come later!

[Andy92]

I need to hear Not Afraid to Lose at the RAH…

There’s some excellent stuff on this album. Finishing up my first listen and reading back through the last few pages of comments. I agree with some of the general comments that on one listen it’s a lot to parse through. Some of the songs switch from metal to arena rock at the flip of a hat lol, but man some of these riffs are killer.

Mark’s best vocal effort to date by far imo. His melodies are on fire on this album. The overall vibe is pretty moody. Someone made a Human Clay reference a few comments back and I had a similar thought at one point. If you combine the grooves of early Creed with the speed metal of Tremonti and the soaring melodies of AB you pretty much get this album.

Some songs stood out to me more than others, but there’s a lot to love here. Gonna need a few listens to decide what ones I really like the most.

I think he’s gotta be using his MT-100 prototype on a lot of this album. The tone sounds pretty close to his other more recent stuff, but it sounds fuller and less compressed than the MT-15. I’m a big fan of the overall guitar tone this time around.

[riemslag1]

Just found out that my Napalm-order will not be deliverdd today - hope tomorrow.
Tremonti-store-order international shipping always weeks later due to arrive.
And surprisingly Itunes still has not released the remaining 8 tracks to me.
Orders with other retailers alsp not expected to be delivered today.
So this is turning out to be quite a disappointing releasedate for me.
First time I just do not seem to receive anything on release-day.....................................................

[Dolo]

Do I hear Mark do some jazzy phrasing at the end of The Last One of Us? Finally something new.

[Box Of Frogz]

Massive smile on my face. What an album!

[chtimixeur]

The thing that sounds a bit weird to me and which happens a bunch of times on the album is the juxtaposition of some unbelievably fantastic heavy thundering thrash intro riffs that then morph into beautiful soaring almost arena rock quality choruses. Both by themselves are so good, but they sort of sound funny squished together in the same song.

It's been the issue with this project since day 1.
A bunch of juxtaposed great parts doesn't necessarily turn into a great song.

Prime example: Now and Forever's bridge is just fucking nasty, and then immediately switches back into a super poppy chorus. There is zero transition, and it just does not work there, at least for me.
...
You can be all over the place with crazy juxtapositions and have it work (we see it a lot in prog) but those transitions have to be done well; I'd argue here that they aren't.

Agreed.
I was listening to a few new songs yesterday, and some transitions shocked me.
Sometimes, there weren't any transitions at all, and at other times, it felt like I had already heard them in previous AB or Tremonti songs.

That's why, more than ever, Mark needs to work with a new producer who will call him out on that precise aspect of his songs and push him to write something more elaborate.

Also, I've noticed Mark was using a lot of "nooooo" to fill some gaps in the lyrics.
It's already been mentioned a few times here over the years, and it's starting to become his own Deny thing.

[Crumbso]

Yeh..... s'alright I guess. Not being fully blown away on first listen. The vibe is very much less metal than it used to be (though ADM started that). Ryan is very very talented but I miss Garret's more old school groove sensibilities. It's a great modern melodic hard rock/Metal album but not quite what I loved about earlier albums.

I'll need time to absorb it but that is my initial reaction. Congrats to Mark for all the buzz and I hope it does well.

EDIT: I will add though, great guitar tones on this album. The kick drum is still far too loud but the guitars sound great. The solo tones are not ever going to be as fantastic as they were on Blackbird (I think that was pinnacle iconic tone there) but the rhythm guitars are clear as day.

[Crumbso]

Do I hear Mark do some jazzy phrasing at the end of The Last One of Us? Finally something new.

This is true. That is an area he should explore more.

[Dolo]

The thing that sounds a bit weird to me and which happens a bunch of times on the album is the juxtaposition of some unbelievably fantastic heavy thundering thrash intro riffs that then morph into beautiful soaring almost arena rock quality choruses. Both by themselves are so good, but they sort of sound funny squished together in the same song.

It's been the issue with this project since day 1.
A bunch of juxtaposed great parts doesn't necessarily turn into a great song.

Prime example: Now and Forever's bridge is just fucking nasty, and then immediately switches back into a super poppy chorus. There is zero transition, and it just does not work there, at least for me.
...
You can be all over the place with crazy juxtapositions and have it work (we see it a lot in prog) but those transitions have to be done well; I'd argue here that they aren't.

Agreed.
I was listening to a few new songs yesterday, and some transitions shocked me.
Sometimes, there weren't any transitions at all, and at other times, it felt like I had already heard them in previous AB or Tremonti songs.

That's why, more than ever, Mark needs to work with a new producer who will call him out on that precise aspect of his songs and push him to write something more elaborate.

Totally, but I doubt Mark is capable of writing a chorus that isn't overblown, pompous and blatantly melodic. Having 4 chords that are being repeated is an easy way out. But yeah, if you tune starts out like Slayer and plows your ears through the verses and pre-chorus and then turns into pop rock in the chorus, it just doesn't make sense.

Also, a lot of main riffs and intros start to sound samey. When Would You Kill kicked off I thought Spotify switched into Radical Change and then the verse sounded almost exactly like A Lot Like Sin. But that's what happens if you keep on churning out speed metal riffs.

[CrowsOnAWire]

https://www.musicradar.com/news/mark-tr ... -interview

Interview: Mark Tremonti talks Marching In Time, a new top secret project and designing the perfect 100-watt amp
By Rob Laing about 5 hours ago

“You’ll be able to get everything out of this amp; the high-gain, the classy overdriven, the crystal clean stuff. That’s my goal"

As the driving force behind three successful bands over the last 25 years, it took an international lockdown to derail Mark Tremonti from his relentless and prolific recording and touring cycle. And for a while at least, he dealt with it in much the same way as many of us.

“Well, just like the rest of the world, I got in quite a deep, dark hole for about four or five months," he reflects. "I wasn’t too interested in playing a ton of guitar or writing music, so I just found other ways to consume my time. I moved back into my old house so I had pretty much go through my house and be a handyman. I painted my house, I fixed this, I fixed that. Then once I kind of snapped out of it it was great to get back to writing this record."

There was also the new addition of a daughter, Stella, to his family in that time, but Mark is now back out touring the US with his band Tremonti and a new album Marching In Time out today (24 September) to celebrate too.

While the impassioned title track is inspired by the arrival of his daughter, the record as a whole became a vital focus for a musician who is simply not used to pausing his musical career.

“I think writing this record was kind of therapy too. It was exciting to get back to creating again and from there I was just creating like crazy. So I recorded this record, and I’m recording another record that’s going to come out next year and I’m supposed to go into the studio next April with the Alter Bridge guys. So it’s time to get back at it.”

Another Tremonti record?

“The other one is a secret record. A top secret record that’s going to be announced in the Spring of next year and it’s going to be all for charity and I’m really excited about it.”

You're obviously playing guitar on that?

“I don’t know [laughs] I don’t know what I’m going to do - it’s top secret!”

Not flute?

“It’s not the flute.”

Back to this album then, you have a system of songwriting that obviously works judging by how prolific you’ve been over the years. Did being at home for so long this time change your creative process at all?

“I just have to work it out with the wife and kids and say, ‘Once this time hits it’s time for me to go to work.’ Because when I’m on the road I can take all day long and write but when I’m at home there’s soccer practice, there’s this and there’s that.

“I would maybe work from 8 o’clock at night to whenever felt it was time to go to bed - 2 o’clock in the morning sometimes. But then Eric Friedman flew into town and usually when I get together with Myles or Eric to get rough comps of songs for preproduction, that will only take a couple of weeks. But with this, we had three months too do that. There were no deadlines, it was just a good time to go through and leave no stone unturned. Look at every single option and rewrite songs and really polish them.

“Sometimes I think a record is great when you capture lightning in a bottle, sometimes they’re great when you can work the hell out of them to get them perfect. If you look at Alter Bridge, Blackbird was a very polished [process], we spent tons of time on that record, whereas another record like The Last Hero was done lighting in a bottle; quickly. You get a different energy out of both records, which is good. I think it’s good to mix that up. This record was definitely more well thought out, pre-planned, and when we went into the studio we were 100 per cent done with lyrics, songs, arrangements, everything.”

Charting your musical evolution through Tremonti, it seems like rhythmically you’ve become more ambitious and you really mix things up. A song like Thrown Further is a good example of that. It’s easy to get into comfort zones as a player so how do you go about challenging yourself?

“I think that’s another colour I love when it comes to songwriting – throwing different rhythm patterns in there. One thing, like on Marching In Time in particular, I wrote the verse of that song when I was doing a guitar clinic. I was telling people how I write songs and I stumbled upon that song. When the time comes for finishing a song, I will usually either tap tempo a metronome or Google a 120 BPM drum loop.

"This time I typed in a drum loop that was all over the place, which was more of a jazzy kind of thing that went in and out of time signatures. But it was at the same beats per minutes, so when I was recording it was a little distracting. I thought, I’ll just get the idea down.

“But the next day I listened to it and I thought, this could be great if I could take an idea like this and rewrite it to fit the song. That’s how the end of Marching In Time turned out to be in and out of feels. But I love that, it adds a dynamic to a song that makes it more interesting.”

On Walk The Sky you brought in synth loops to inspire your songwriting, are you always actively looking for new ways spark ideas?

“Absolutely. Everyday I try to write something, I try to find some other way of being inspired. I’ve sat down with a guitar so many hundreds or thousands of times and thrown my fingers at the guitar and strummed away, writing something. I still do that a lot - I still do that more than half the time, but if you just do that all time, you feel like you’ve do it all before.

"I just bought a programme called Omnisphere which is really great. You hit one note of there and it does a whole world of cinematic stuff. I go and spend 500 bucks on a programme and you get something that could be five songs out of it and it’s worth every penny.

“I’ll also go on YouTube and look up ‘freestyle rap loop’ or something. Out of the rock n’ roll field that will make me play differently. Anything that will inspire me to do something.

“The last song I wrote that I really dug, I was watching a Disney movie with my kids and this chord progression began and then I heard it going somewhere, and it didn’t go there. So I thought, alright I’m going to make it go there and rewrite the mood I saw coming that didn’t happen. You never know where something is going to come from. I’ll be sitting at a restaurant and a song will come on, this happens to me a lot, and I’ll try to anticipate where the song is going. Then the song will go in a completely different direction and I’ll go where I anticipated it would go.

“Maybe I’ll use two notes from that and create a song from it. You never know where it’s going to come from.”

It’s easy to overlook the power of major and minor moods too. Let That Be Us begins and suggests a darker, heavy song but the chorus is upbeat and uplifting.

“The chorus is kind of a release from the dark tension of the verses. I remember doing a project back in the day where my record label at the time asked me if I wanted to do a song for one of the American Idol people. I said, ‘Absolutely, what do you have in mind?’ They said that they wanted me to look at the hot bands at the time. They wanted to do an alternative rock thing like 30 Seconds To Mars and My Chemical Romance. They said, ‘We want a song like that.’

“So I said I’d look at these bands and I averaged out their tempos and their vibes and I realised both those bands like to do that thing where they have either a minor, melancholy-type verse and then an uplifting positive chorus or the opposite.

"You have these dynamics and I think they work well. Whenever you change moods and tempos or how hard or soft you’re playing, it’s good. Anytime you can prevent people daydreaming through your song; catch their attention and keep throwing those mood changes in there, it’s a good tool.”

How do you get over periods when you’re not feeling inspired to create?

“Right now I’m kind of going through that. I just completed this record and every time I complete a record I get the joy of being able to dive back into the guitar and not worry about writing another record, to just dive into learning all kinds of crazy new tricks on the guitar without having deadlines.

"With this [next] record I just got a call from my manager saying, ‘Alright we’ve got an April studio date’ so now I have to kind of dive back in, fast and furious to get that done by April. Sometimes when you have those looming deadlines, when you sit down to write and nothing comes out, it stresses you out. And it gets worse the next day and the next day. So I’m still chasing down that big day when it all starts pouring out.

“Sometimes it happens where I’ll go weeks or months without writing and then that one day will come along where it starts pouring out. I’m waiting for that day and it will come, I’ve been through it so many times and you just have to be patient.”

There’s a lot of facets to your playing where you’ve obviously worked hard to become accomplished. Are there any elements of technique that you feel you need to chase down?

“There’s tons. Ever since I was a kid I’ve loved slide guitar and even in college I took this course called the Florida State Guitar Ensemble and my final project for that course was a piece using a slide. But ever since then I haven’t played the slide. You know when you get it in your head, is it too late now to begin to get good enough at it to actually incorporate that into something meaningful?

So that’s one. The right hand to me is the big X factor. You can do so much with your right hand. For most of my life I used either the flat pick or my thumb and first finger to do some fingerstyle. Now I’m trying to dive more into neo soul style player stuff where, other than their pinkie, they’re using every finger on their right hand. I just love that sound, I love arpeggiating with the right hand and hitting big chord voicings plucked instead of strummed.

“I think a player like Mateus Asato is incredible at that kind of thing. I posted a video on Instagram of me playing one of his tunes and I told myself as at first as I was learning that song, ‘Alright you’ve got it’ but then I told myself, ‘You don’t have it.’ So I challenged myself to play it well enough to be able to play it well enough on Instagram and then move on. That was my little challenge to myself and it’s definitely a challenge because it’s so different for me.

“He also does a lot of what Jimi Hendrix did like pulling your thumb underneath the chords and it’s not really a technique I used very often. Yeah I think the final frontier for me is the right hand. There’s so much, not just without a pick, but with a pick. There’s so many guitar players who have said that’s what separates the best players from the intermediate ones. It’s the ones who tackle that right hand.”

You must also be conscious that you do have a recognisable right hand style that people like, the pedal tone fingerstyle approach especially. So is it a balance?

“I love that and I’ll always have that thing. It’s one of my go-to things when I’m writing, that pedal tone thing. But I can incorporate that into something maybe a little wider and add some flavours to it. It’s no fun when you keep doing the same thing. Like I said before, if I keep on doing the same thing, I’ve done it before. I always want to bring some new thing on each record that I haven’t done before.

“Thinking back to my history as a player, I remember when I stumbled upon being able to do legato decently well and then diving into that. I would do a solo and then the big climax would be a descending legato run and that was my trick. Then after a couple of records I had to find a new trick so I found a Brad Paisley lick that I loved and that went on the next record, and now I’m diving into odd note picking patterns. Playing patterns of fives – I love fives! So I did that on maybe four solos on this record and I love doing it. And it will definitely be on the next Alter Bridge record as well because I’m still at the baby stages of it.

"When I learn a technique I don’t want to be able to just do the one pattern, I want to be able to dive in and play it wherever I want. So I’m still at the baby stages of getting there. Sometimes it takes me nine months to get a difficult technique down, of just diving in hard every day spending a couple of hours on that technique before I feel like I’ve got it for life.”

Part 2 of the interview in the post below...