Alright, review time. I don't think I'm good at expressing complex feelings about things in English, especially about something like music, but I'll try to not completely fuck up. A few things to note:
- Melody is the most important part of music for me. I like great riffs and I can enjoy very heavy tracks that are well-made, but I'll always rate melodious - and especially melancholic - tracks higher than those.
- I'll not rate the songs based on how they perform in comparison to other AB tracks. This may be a valid review style, but I don't think I know the songs good enough for something like that yet. Also, I don't want to give Crows On A Wire a 0. A song that's rated with a 10 would be considered as great or at least almost as great as Blackbird, so even for exceptionally amazing songs, this is very hard to achieve.
- Most Alter Bridge songs tend to need some time to grow on me. I think I've listened to them often enough to be able to rate them quite adequately, but it's very likely that the ratings would differ a bit if I wrote this again in a month or so, both in negative and positive direction. This means that nothing is set in stone.
- I love ABIII and actually think it's their best album (Fortress has too many mediocre songs for me, although it also has a lot of great ones). So AB23, if you were thinking about reading this, you should rather think about skipping it.
![Tongue :P](./images/smilies/tongue.gif)
Show Me A Leader - 8.5/10
I immediately loved this song when it got released. Actually, this is the first song from an album I was sure to buy (or, rather, had already pre-ordered) that I bought as a single just because I didn't want to rely on Youtube everytime I wanted to listen to it. Show Me A Leader definitely has some heavy Slash influences, especially in the way Myles sings, and it absolutely works for this track. The feeling it gives me is similar to the likes of Addicted To Pain or Isolation - it just makes me happy because it's got so much groove, the verse and solo in particular. Needless to say that the intro is amazing, but unlike many others, I don't need it to perceive SMAL as a great song. As an album opener, it's not as outstanding as Cry Of Achilles of course, but it's definitely on the same level as Isolation and Addicted To Pain, if not better.
The Writing On The Wall - 5.5/10
Unfortunately, this song is only the first of too many on TLH that are mediocre at best. This is a trend Alter Bridge seem to have started on Fortress where I feel like The Uninvited, Cry A River, and Farther Than The Sun are songs that are enjoyable to listen to, but overall have a significantly worse quality than almost all other AB tracks. The riff sounds uninspired, the verse is
extremely boring, and the chorus is a little better, but follows the pattern of pretty weak choruses that Alter Bridge have put out in the recent past (this includes song that I really like or even love, like Addicted To Pain or Bleed It Dry, as well as those that I've already mentioned). What saves this song from a lower rating are the lyrics and the bridge that is actually pretty good.
The Other Side - 8/10
This is completely new territory for Alter Bridge. This song is downright
evil. From the whispering singing style in the beginning of the first verse to the riff in the pre-chorus and the feeling and lyrics of the whole chorus, there's not a single track in their repertoire that's comparable to The Other Side whatsoever. And damn, those lyrics. "If you believe yours is the only way, then you're a fool who lives to die. Well you deserve the hell you're gonna pay on the other side." Hell yeah. I love that. And I really like this song. It's heavy, it's pretty unmelodious for an AB track, but it kicks ass with its amazing atmosphere. "There will be no paradise."
My Champion - 6.5/10
Okay, here's the issue. My Champion is not a bad song. But as an Alter Bridge fan, I inevitably have to compare it to tracks like Life Must Go On, All Ends Well, Wonderful Life, and Watch Over You because it's pretty similar to them in regards to melody and, at least when it comes to LMGO and AEW, lyrics. They are all better than My Champion (well, maybe except for All Ends Well). I don't really dig the main riff of this song, and I actually think that the pre-chorus is way stronger than the actual chorus (weak chorus pattern again). I also think that the solo is pretty mediocre for AB standards. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy My Champion, it's got a nice up-lifting feeling, but it's just not that good.
Poison In Your Veins - 8.5/10
This is a song that I thought would be one of the mediocre ones when I first listened to it, but I soon realised how wrong I was. This basically is a mixture of Addicted To Pain and I Know It Hurts. The chorus is kinda weak, although I'd say it's definitely better than some others on this album. What really makes this song stand out from other heavy AB tracks is the
amazing verse that has even more groove than the one in Show Me A Leader. Also, this song probably has one of the best solos on the whole album. Listening to Poison In Your Veins just makes me want to leap up and start headbanging, and that's why it's miles ahead of tracks like The Writing On The Wall, Losing Patience and Crows On A Wire. And by the way, "Everything that could've been has only failed to be" is probably one of my favourite lyrics of all time.
Cradle To The Grave - 10/10
If any track on TLH is comparable to Blackbird, this is it. I'm pretty sure it's not exactly as good as Blackbird, but it's definitely the melancholic and emotional ballad of this album, and therefore exactly the style of song which is the reason why I love music so much. The vocal melody in the verse actually reminded me of the Backstreet Boys' Incomplete in the beginning, but luckily that's something I've got used to really fast. The standout part of CTTG certainly is the bridge that features the most emotional and, to me, overall best solo on TLH, a sick riff that complements the song very well as well as an amazing transition to the last chorus. I'm torn between a 9.5 and a 10 in this case, but I think it deserves the highest possible rating (as mentioned in the beginning, this means it's almost as good as Blackbird which is probably actually an 11 on a range from 0 to 10).
Losing Patience - 5.5/10
At the time of writing, I'm not sure if I like Losing Patience more or less than The Writing On The Wall or You Will Be Remembered which is why it gets the same rating. I guess all of these songs could rise to a 6 or drop to a 5 with more listening time. The verse is actually okay and I really like the bridge (the descending riff is great), but the chorus is just... well... bad. I mean, really bad. Not even only compared to other Alter Bridge songs, but to a lot of other hard/alternative rock songs as well. It's definitely not a great song, but it's not the worst one AB have ever written either.
This Side Of Fate - 10/10
This song is what Fortress should've been. Don't get me wrong, Fortress is a great song, but it wastes a lot of its epic potential by going full berserk in the bridge (which is amazing, but simply not what I expected from the track) and due to the chorus that is simply not as good as those of other Alter Bridge epics. This Side Of Fate has it all. The best verse on the album, a fantastic chorus that emits epicness, and a monumental bridge that is a change of pace just like in Fortress, but doesn't completely change the song's atmosphere. Hell, I don't even like Queen, but the short quiet break is amazing anyway, just like the solo (although I don't find it exactly as great as the one on Cradle To The Grave). I also
love how they altered the chorus after the bridge and gave it an almost hopeless vibe that only gets more intense with the final solo that is completely different from the one in the bridge. Overall, this might be even better than Cradle To The Grave, but I can't really decide that yet. Definitely one of the best songs Alter Bridge have ever written though.
You Will Be Remembered - 5.5/10
Guess I'm just not the target audience for such a song. Like with My Champion, it is musically worse than other uplifting songs from the band, and the fact that it is about the US army (at least partially) leaves a bit of a sour taste for me. It's still an okay song, but I prefer something like Life Must Go On and even My Champion over YWBR at any time.
Crows On A Wire - 4.5/10
This is one of the three worst Alter Bridge songs for me, alongside Watch Your Words and Farther Than The Sun. The verse and chorus are horrible compared to what I'm used to when listening to them, and even the bridge is not that good. The only part I enjoy is the pre-chorus that has a real bad-ass feeling to it, but that's definitely not enough to make it enjoyable. Skip track.
Twilight - 8.5/10
I really don't know whether Twilight deserves an 8 or an 8.5, but I'll choose the higher rating for now. In fact, I don't think it's any worse than Show Me A Leader and Poison In Your Veins, even though it's hard to compare to these songs because it has a distinctly different style. Twilight also partly reminds me of Make It Right, but it's more serious and less "fun". My personal highlights are the transition from the verse to the chorus (I love it that they leave out the chord they play in the parts before) and the whole bridge that starts with an incredible atmosphere and ends with a great solo the last notes of which are almost identical to those at the end of the Waters Rising solo. All in all, this is the beginning of a very strong song trio to close out the album, although it's probably not exactly on the same level as the next-to-strongest songs on Fortress (Calm The Fire, Waters Rising, ...)
Island Of Fools - 9.5/10
This is the song I immediately fell in love with during my first album playthrough. The intro is probably the strongest I've ever heard from Alter Bridge, and I think the chorus is the best one on The Last Hero, even more amazing than Cradle To The Grave or This Side Of Fate. I
love the bending guitar in the background that makes the whole thing really special and picks up on the fantastic intro. However, I don't like the verse nearly as much as the other parts of Island Of Fools and - I guess unlike most others - I also think that continuing the intro in this style would've been better than cutting it off with this extremely heavy riff that may absolutely kick ass, but kinda ruins the atmosphere from the very beginning. These two aspects are the reason why Island Of Fools gets only a 9.5. To end with a positive note: It's amazing how they modified the last chorus ("Though you're lost on this island of fools") and the closing solo is one of the best on the record.
The Last Hero - 8/10
Now this is a rating that's really difficult for me. The Last Hero definitely is an epic track, that's without any doubt, but although I'm a fan of music that's considerably more complex than what you hear in modern pop songs, the bridge probably is a bit too progressive for me and really drags the whole thing down. I love the verse, I really like the chorus and the solos, and with a more standard bridge, this could've easily been a 9 or 9.5, but in this state, there's a pretty long part in the middle that doesn't fit the rest of the song. Especially the part where Myles shouts "Chew 'em up, spit 'em up, in the end who'll save us now?" just doesn't sound good in my ears. I'm also not a fan of the main riff that appears for the first time after the first verse. It doesn't sound that good and these strange picking effects even annoy me somewhat. All of this sounds way worse than it is. I still think The Last Hero is a really good song, it just suffers from the same flaw that Fortress has in that its concept doesn't fully work for me.
Symphony Of Agony - 5/10
There's not really much I can write about this song because I've only listened to it a few times. It's definitely not good enough for the main album (although it's probably still better than Crows On A Wire), and quite frankly, I think this is a worse Still Remains. It's got the same song structure with parts that sound very similar, but Still Remains is more catchy and, well... better. Overall, this song is like The Damage Done - a pretty bad track for the typical Alter Bridge standard and that therefore is a good fit for a b-side, but nothing more.
AVERAGE RATING (without bonus track): 7.5/10
ALBUM RATING: 8/10
The Last Hero is a great album, but I absolutely don't know how all these reviewers on the internet can say that it lifts the band to a whole new level. That's bullsh*t in my opinion because I absolutely don't think that TLH is a better album than Fortress, and I also strongly think that the musical progression from Fortress to TLH is way smaller than on all their previous records compared to their respective predecessors. The musical style is pretty similar, and while they developed some new flavours to their music, I don't see a huge evolution. What's great is that the album features three absolutely epic tracks (Cradle To The Grave, This Side Of Fate, The Last Hero) which is more than on any other of their records, and there are a number of other amazing songs on it. At the same time however, TLH also features a lot more really mediocre songs than their former efforts. 5 out of 13 tracks (excluding the bonus track) are okay at best which is a pretty alarming proportion for a band that is so good at writing music like Alter Bridge. I'd still say that the album is really good and deserves 8 out of 10/4 out of 5 stars because some of its tracks are exceptional and will definitely make it to my AB top 10, and probably even in the top 5, but overall, as a record, it's worse than Fortress and ABIII, although likely a little bit better than Blackbird (which, obviously, has AB's greatest track on it, but I think that a lot of the strong Blackbird songs are a little less good than the top 6 on TLH). As expected, Alter Bridge once again haven't disappointed me - but I've never doubted them in the first place.