Official "The Last Hero" Thread (pre-release discussion)

[Jaded Rescue]

And lest we forget, there's still Breathe to get hyped for

I'm more excited for Breathe than anything they've done in 10 years.

[anguyen92]

Again, its times like this where I always ask myself, "What is the AB sound? How can one truly define the music and sounds that Alter Bridge makes?" Again, I'm still searching for that answer after almost a decade.

See this question was answered for me on their first album. The AB sound is everything. It's:

Hard and Bluesy (Find the Real)
Upbeat and Energetic (One Day Remains)
Hopeful (Open Your Eyes)
Dark (Burn it Down)
Metal (Metalingus)
Emotional (Broken Wings)
Beautiful (In Loving Memory)
Melancholy (Down to My Last)
Heavy and in your face (Watch Your Words)
Introspective (Shed My Skin)
Desolate (The End is Here)

This band is capable of so much variety, and I think almost all of us on here have been aware of this since day 1 in 2004. Blackbird still had some variety, and then from there they tried dark, and like every comic book movie after The Dark Knight everyone thought that "dark" was the only appropriate direction for anything anymore. Life isn't all dark. It's ups and downs, and that's what AB did so well on ODR.

I concur.

[Jaded Rescue]

And other than the solos nothing sounded inspired to me.

I wish I could remember their recent solos better. There are so many musical phrases where I feel like a crazy person screaming at my phone, "SLOW DOWN! I WANNA HEAR THE DAMN NOTES!" I miss the ODR and Blackbird days where the solos would really get stuck in my head for days on end because they were so melodically enticing.

[Lotha]

I love complicated crazy solos as well as your preferred kind.

[Jaded Rescue]

I love complicated crazy solos as well as your preferred kind.

Hahaha. They definitely have their place too! And as a guitarist I love the complicated ones for breaking down what they did in my head. But a solo like Down to My Last can be both complex and musically blissful.

[slasherbridge]

I really think if they didn't want to be dark and brooding, they wouldn't write dark and brooding songs. I think it has less to do with what a certain group of fans want, and more to do with the general feeling in the band. I like both sides of the band.

[gbruin]

I love complicated crazy solos as well as your preferred kind.

Hahaha. They definitely have their place too! And as a guitarist I love the complicated ones for breaking down what they did in my head. But a solo like Down to My Last can be both complex and musically blissful.

DTML is still one of my favorite solos ever. Like really, ever.

[Jaded Rescue]

I love complicated crazy solos as well as your preferred kind.

Hahaha. They definitely have their place too! And as a guitarist I love the complicated ones for breaking down what they did in my head. But a solo like Down to My Last can be both complex and musically blissful.

DTML is still one of my favorite solos ever. Like really, ever.

Yeah, seriously. Like not just AB. Like any band ever. It's up there.

[Ryan]

Here's my take on the lyrics for Poison...haven't been able to follow this thread the last two days so, apologies if someone has already posted them.

Poison In Your Veins
how long will you cower down, until you come to see
that courage is the hollowed ground, it changes destiny
that only those who dare to win, with no fear have no remorse
the time has come to rise again, you were meant to be much more
somehow
somehow

it’s like poison in your veins, oh it’s the beast you cannot tame
the way you let your fear burrow inside will chew you up and spit you out in time
release the poison in your veins right now
right now

everything that could’ve been has only failed to be
cause you wasted all your precious time you were too afraid to dream
well damn it all to hell i say don’t you waste another day
it’s time for you to own it now, the world is yours to take
right now

it’s like poison in your veins, oh it’s the beast you cannot tame
the way you let your fear burrow inside will chew you up and spit you out in time
so release the poison in your veins, come on bleed it out it’s not too late
what you choose to say (see?) is falling short, it’s time for you to rise and be much more

don’t waste another day
the world has slipped away
the world is yours to take
if only you could change

solo (myles)

oh it’s like poison in your veins, oh it’s the beast you cannot tame
the way you let your fear burrow inside, will chew you up and spit you out in time
release the poison in your veins, come on bleed it out it’s not too late
what you choose to say (see?) is falling short, it’s time for you to rise and be much more
release the poison in your veins right now
right now
right now
right now

I did post them earlier but no biggy We seem to hear different things for some of the lyrics and Im pretty sure it's a mark solo (as others have said)

you're right, that's definitely Mark soloing...not sure why i put Myles.

[Mister Gold]

Again, its times like this where I always ask myself, "What is the AB sound? How can one truly define the music and sounds that Alter Bridge makes?" Again, I'm still searching for that answer after almost a decade.

See this question was answered for me on their first album. The AB sound is everything. It's:

Hard and Bluesy (Find the Real)
Upbeat and Energetic (One Day Remains)
Hopeful (Open Your Eyes)
Dark (Burn it Down)
Metal (Metalingus)
Emotional (Broken Wings)
Beautiful (In Loving Memory)
Melancholy (Down to My Last)
Heavy and in your face (Watch Your Words)
Introspective (Shed My Skin)
Desolate (The End is Here)

This band is capable of so much variety, and I think almost all of us on here have been aware of this since day 1 in 2004. Blackbird still had some variety, and then from there they tried dark, and like every comic book movie after The Dark Knight everyone thought that "dark" was the only appropriate direction for anything anymore. Life isn't all dark. It's ups and downs, and that's what AB did so well on ODR.

Or maybe Alter Bridge just isn't a rock band anymore.

While I have to admit that I have a bias against One Day Remains, I think it's worth recognizing that the band has become increasingly more heavy and complex with each subsequent album- even if it wasn't always 'better' (i.e. AB III).

I really can't wait to comment more openly here once TLH is out, but for now I have to say that I think the band's more recent 'light' songs feel increasingly more out-of-place from the rest of the albums they're on. While I can respect the need for variety, there's also something to be said about tonal consistency on an album too.

For example, All Ends Well just barely fits into Fortress, IMO. Its more overt optimism almost feels at total odds with the rest of the album- and it's only because the song's lyrics are immediately juxtaposed by the lyrics of the title track right after that it feels like it fits in. All Ends Well indicates that we can overcome our own individual struggles and have personal victories so that 'all ends well,' but Fortress reminds us right afterward about the long run and that nothing lasts forever.

This isn't to say that songs like All Ends Well are bad; they just feel increasingly out of place with the band's more recent albums. These songs might please fans of the earlier albums and offer more variety, but as the band descends further into the heavy metal/progressive metal direction, they'll stand out more and more in a negative way. It's almost like having a really big zit on your face on Prom Night... albeit if that zit somehow also had its own charms and could work better under different circumstances.

[anguyen92]

^^ The thing is, though, you might not think that AB is just a hard rock band, anymore, but I honestly doubt that many metal communities is really willing to accept AB as a metal band (because, ewwww, they used to be Creed and are not brutal or flashy enough.......), but screw those communities anyway (Dream Theater Forum community is great though).

[Mister Gold]

The thing is, though, you might not think that AB is a hard rock band, anymore, but I honestly doubt that many metal communities is really willing to accept AB as a metal band, but screw those communities anyway.

That depends on what communities you go to though. Hell, even when the reviews come in and make a point of calling the music 'rock,' they immediately undo their point by making comparisons to bands like Metallica, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden or Queensryche. All four of those bands are all openly recognized as metal bands- not rock bands.

That's the sound that Alter Bridge has been increasingly compared to with each album, with decreasing comparisons to grunge bands like Alice in Chains or rock bands like Creed. Hell, the new review that ABN just put out for The Last Hero even admitted that there's a noticeable Gojira influence present through out the album.

Even if almost everyone out there these days tries to deny it, we have to face facts: Alter Bridge has embraced more and more metal influences with each album and it's become increasingly more prominent with each album too. At some point, we have to recognize that actually means something and recognize that the Alter Bridge that made One Day Remains was a very different Alter Bridge than the one we have today.

[Ryan]

i agree...i believe the band has evolved and is continuing to evolve and isn't the same band that wrote One Day Remains...especially more so because Mark wrote ODR almost entirely as the next Creed record, before AB was even a thing.

people's tastes evolve and change over time too.

[anguyen92]

At some point, we have to recognize that actually means something and recognize that the Alter Bridge that made One Day Remains was a very different Alter Bridge than the one we have today.

I'm willing to accept that, but I don't think some people want to accept that yet, but they are going to have to sooner or later as sad is it may be to them.

[fix]

I agree with the out of place thing. TLH seems to have all things though judging from reviews.

I really think if they didn't want to be dark and brooding, they wouldn't write dark and brooding songs. I think it has less to do with what a certain group of fans want, and more to do with the general feeling in the band. I like both sides of the band.

^ and this. It's not 'us' driving them, it's them driving them. Mark is a sucker for the dark and heavy, Myles loves himself some metal but also more proggy stuff. It's not strange they are drawn to that direction.
And I'm loving it haha. The songs I revisit (generally) are the heavy songs or the ones that go places. But to each their own. The thing about AB is it has fans on all sides of the spectrum, that makes it hard for them to satisfy everybody I guess.

[anguyen92]

I will say this though. As much as Mister Gold is most likely right about a song like My Champion looking more and more out of place in the modern-day AB, I still feel like the idea that "people discrediting it as a song, because it does not sound like what AB is to them and therefore, it is crap to them," just seems off-putting to me for various reasons. It's still a damn good song.

[Mister Gold]

I will say this though. As much as Mister Gold is most likely right about a song like My Champion looking more and more out of place in the modern-day AB, I still feel like the idea that "people discrediting it as a song, because it does not sound like what AB is to them and therefore, it is crap to them," just seems off-putting to me for various reasons. It's still a damn good song.

And I absolutely agree with you on that! All Ends Well and My Champion are both great rock songs. They're fun as hell and are really well done.

My Champion reminds me so much of something Journey would have come up back in the 80's and I love that. But at the same time, something like Journey doesn't necessarily mesh in well on an album or band that generally feels more in line with Operation: Mindcrime-era Queensryche or classic Metallica or Iron Maiden.

To me personally, I think that issue can easily become a problem for the quality of an album overall.

[AB23]

poison in your veins just feels like a very boring song to me. Another let down in the chorus.

I understand the love for The Other Side though. The lyrics are pretty solid, and I can get why people love depressing-AB. Just not my cup of tea though.

[AB23]

Its funny to see iTunes US say "Poison in Your Veins" and alterbridge.com and iTunes in other countries say "Poison in you Vains". So which one is it?

Its veins. Vain and vein are not interchangeable words. They are two separate words with two separate meanings.

[AB23]

Anyone else think The Other Side lyric is inspired by the Paris shootings? I think it might be.

Nah I think its just more or less a lyrical sequel to the conversation Myles and Mark had in WDTTW, personally. I don't think it was inspired by any current events. Could be just me though.