The "AB III" Appreciation Thread

[Arctic]

Should have called the album 'Fallout.' not their most amazing song, but it fits. Plus it has the best bridge riff ever and a pretty nice solo.

[Dan Dando]

Should have called the album 'Fallout.' not their most amazing song, but it fits. Plus it has the best bridge riff ever and a pretty nice solo.

I remember when it came out I really thought... 'The Void'... would have been a cool album title - although it's probably very rare for an abbreviation of a song title to be the title for the whole record. But, yeah, maybe it sounds a bit naff... but I loved it at the time

Fallout's not a bad shout though. Fallout leading to Fortress - I like it

[Decay]

For such a great album, IMO, Anyone else disappointed that its title is so simple? Obviously bands can have self-titled albums and even the same concept like Led Zeppelin II,III,IV etc. but It's always bugged me it doesn't have a proper album title. That being said, I can't really see a title track on the record either so it probably would have a different title than any of the 17 songs.

They were too lazy to come up with a real album title and they'd admitted it.

[Decay]

Btw, I've always wanted AB III to be called...

'Chapter III: Words Darker Than Their Wings'

Or just Words Darker Than Their Wings or Chapter III - woulda been much cooler than AB III. But that ship has sailed. I love the album nonetheless.

[DivCruz]

Btw, I've always wanted AB III to be called...

'Chapter III: Words Darker Than Their Wings'

Or just Words Darker Than Their Wings or Chapter III - woulda been much cooler than AB III. But that ship has sailed. I love the album nonetheless.

I love how that Chapter III sounds. Also, with that kind of title, I think it sounds darker. Coeur D'alene is actually one of my favorites of all time since it was the first song that I learned with the solo. haha.

[tRuth Alone]

AB3 was the first AB album I heard and it's still my favourite.... although Fortress is a close second. I agree with the previous comments - the way Myles & Mark play together on these two albums is beyond brilliant. The themes and the lyrics have meant a lot to me too.

WDTTW is my favourite all time AB track at the moment (although that might change......)

I love ODR & BB too of course but AB3 still has the edge for me.

[One Drew Remains]

Too bad Mark never learned that solo for the live shows.

[ALTERSTEVE]

For such a great album, IMO, Anyone else disappointed that its title is so simple? Obviously bands can have self-titled albums and even the same concept like Led Zeppelin II,III,IV etc. but It's always bugged me it doesn't have a proper album title. That being said, I can't really see a title track on the record either so it probably would have a different title than any of the 17 songs.

They were too lazy to come up with a real album title and they'd admitted it.

Didn't Myles say he doesn't like the title?

[Inconquerable]

Yeah he said it was a lazy title for an album. I think he was asked if this album would be called AB IV and he was dead against it. =P

[JSlade]

I know most of the users on here think ABIII is the worst (for lack of a better word, and I really hate the phrase least best) album the guys have made, so I decided to make this thread for the people that really love ABIII. I do think that ABIII is the most consistent album the guys have written, both tonally and lyrically speaking. I know that quite a few people on here dislike heavy AB, but there are others that really love the prog heavy moments that AB throws out (myself included), so ABIII is the album that delivers that on almost every song, which is why I enjoy it the most out of all their records. That is not to say that AB didn't experiment on Fortress, but there were some songs on Fortress that just held it back a little bit from being better than ABIII, IMO. Anyway, just say some things about ABIII that you appreciate.

The reason I favor ABIII over any of their other albums is that it's their least accessible (pretentious sounding, I know) record so far. All of the songs are incredibly dark and moody, and I think it helped separate AB from a lot of hard rock bands that try not to venture too far from the beaten path. There weren't very many songs on ABIII with big anthemic choruses and such, so I really enjoyed that. It seemed like the guys experimented a whole lot with this album, and I really wish they'd make another album in that vein in the future.


Shout outs to moments on the album

- My favorite thing about ABIII is all the layered guitar textures. They help to create this swirling atmosphere that spans the album, which really makes it sound unique.

- Myles has an incredible high note at the end of Never Born to Follow that's just amazing.

- The breakdown in Fallout is really badass.

[Timotheus]

There weren't very many songs on ABIII with big anthemic choruses and such

Anyway, some of my favourite moments on this album:

-Slip To The Void intro!
-Pirate song!

[JSlade]

There weren't very many songs on ABIII with big anthemic choruses and such

Anyway, some of my favourite moments on this album:

-Slip To The Void intro!
-Pirate song!

When I say anthemic, I think of it as something that can be played on the radio easily. There were like 3 songs with big choruses in the traditional sense, I guess.

Also, what is the pirate song?

[AB23]

All hope is gone

[JSlade]

I'm assuming it's because that song is in 3/4, or waltz tempo. Guess it gives it the pirate vibe.

[AB23]

Its the guitar in the verse along with the harmonizing of myles vocals with it. Gives it a medieval/pirate vibe. Especially the "through veins til the river runs dry"

[Ubik]

I love ABIII! Was my favourite Alter Bridge album till Fortress got released, which smashed everything before it, but it's got a ton of good stuff still. Disagree that it's their most consistent, Make It Right and Breathe Again are way below the quality of everything else on there to my ears, but the high points like Slip, Isolation, All Hope is Gone, Show Me A Sign and Coeur d'Alene more than make up for it. I also think it was a necessary step on the way to Fortress, with the darker themes and more in the way of experimentation than they'd done previously.

[Lotha]

Didn't we have this one already?
All Hope Is Gone never really struck me as piratey, though it has a medieval-like vibe, but that too not quite. It's just an amazing piece of music.

[Ubik]

We got told it sounded piratey before we heard it so there was a lot of confirmation bias involved, but it can't fail to sound like a shipwrecked pirate's lament to me now.

[Decay]

I thought we already had this thread, all these similar threads we've already had keep piling up... But what the hell...

Yes, in my opinion, AB III is AB's least best album, but that doesn't mean it's not a badass album, 'cause it totally is!

There are likes of Slip To The Void, All Hope Is Gone, Words Darker Than Their Wings, Show Me A Sign, Ghost Of Days Gone By (just to name a few) to prove it.

[JSlade]

I love ABIII! Was my favourite Alter Bridge album till Fortress got released, which smashed everything before it, but it's got a ton of good stuff still. Disagree that it's their most consistent, Make It Right and Breathe Again are way below the quality of everything else on there to my ears, but the high points like Slip, Isolation, All Hope is Gone, Show Me A Sign and Coeur d'Alene more than make up for it. I also think it was a necessary step on the way to Fortress, with the darker themes and more in the way of experimentation than they'd done previously.

Agreed, but Fortress has moments just like that, except worse for me. Peace is Broken and Cry a River are far worse than Make It Right and Breathe Again, IMO. It seemed like AB was maybe chasing singles on Fortress with a couple of songs.