Side 1: One Life/Wouldn't You Rather/In The Deep/Godspeed/Native Son
Opening up with a very calm intro, very similar to the Slip to The Void in feeling except a positive version instead of the darkness which Slip features, Myles sings nice and calm throughout it feels uplifting before fading out and the first single rips in. Wouldn't You Rather's riff comes in hard and aggressive, Myles shifts from a calm style to an upbeat rock vocal. Following up One Life this feels like a great 1-2 combo in terms of opening. The straightforward rocker feeling like an extension from the previous track. Nice short solo section and a Rime Of The Ancient Mariner reference which is always welcome when it fits. Good opening. Another prerelease track comes in next, In The Deep was one which I gravitated to more than Wouldn't You Rather, with the latter being enhanced by its album placement. In The Deep has an interesting riff before shifting to a more laid back verse with the chorus having Myles singing fairly high vocal section. The chorus is really uplifting while the verses feel more reflective. Another shorter commercial track but it is still a good track, sometimes the chorus delivery style isn't the most effective but it as a whole is another really good track. A piano based intro brings in Godspeed a song which I believe was written for a friend of the band who passed away. The song soon shifts away from the full ballad and the keys go into the background. The drumbeat is incredibly upbeat and Myles sings quite well over it. It is very clear that this song is a tribute and it clearly is for someone who was fairly influential to the band. This song doesn't quite connect with me as much as the previous two but it really is a beautiful tribute to a friend and Mark delivers a good solo. I believe I heard that Mark was going to sing this song originally but they demoed Myles and decided it was his song, the song feels longer than its length... in a good way. Native Son closes off side 1, starting with a calm intro before a heavy riff breaks the serenity. Some nice higher notes are featured here, a strong rocker which continues a very upbeat trend, while getting heavier without feeling out of place.
One Life - 8/10
Wouldn't You Rather - 9/10
In The Deep - 9/10
Godspeed - 8.5/10
Native Son - 8.5/10
Side 1 - 43/50
Side 2: Take The Crown/Indoctrination/The Bitter End/Pay No Mind/Forever Falling
Side 2 kicks off with another single, Take The Crown's guitar and vocal intro leads into a heavier of the singles. A massive chorus is featured in this track, easy and singable in the live setting. Myles vocals have been really good throughout the album and here is a great showing of it. The verses are slightly darker while the chorus is incredibly uplifting. It Has a clear sports connection, it however does miss something to push it into the amazing category. Indoctrination comes in slowly, it is interesting that on an album with so many shorter songs their introductions are slower and drawn out more than I would expect. Myles starts off singing rather low and the riff is low with him before it shifts to the uplifting music that they have been making on the record thus far. It clearly takes a very clear stance on followers and their devotion to their leaders, more specifically religious but it is applicable in other settings. I like the chorus a lot it really works quite well. Another really good track, nothing has completely blown me away thus far and we are halfway through the album, but it has been super enjoyable and uplifting. Definitely and album which will be getting listened to more frequently. The Bitter End comes in with a piano intro and Myles comes in singing melodically and really peacefully at the same time, his tone on the intro is quite strong. The chorus is short but uplifting once again with some incredible vocals from Myles. The best song thus far on the album. Verses are well delivered and as a whole this song should be longer it really doesn't feel like it is the shortest track on the album barring One Life. Pay No Mind Fades in with from the previous track and those synths sound great. This was the grower of the singles for me, it is continuing to grow on me and wow has it grown, its placement on the album is incredibly well done. Uplifting and that chorus is amazing. The synths add a great element to the song and is a great evolution for the band as they don't dominate the song but compliment the band's sound. I would love to hear a version of this song with an orchestra I think it could be immense. Side 2 closes off with Forever Falling, a track featuring Mark on the lead vocals barring the chorus where Myles comes in, It opens with an acoustic introduction before launching into the heaviest riff thus far on the album, Mark comes in fairly strong, the chorus is pretty good and the shift back to Myles adds a nice contrast. As a whole the song is quite strong it doesn't quite click fully for me but the chorus is good and Mark's lead vocals are a welcomed shift adding some uniqueness to the song, and a nice solo is featured near the end.
Take The Crown - 9.5/10
Indoctrination - 9/10
The Bitter End - 10/10
Pay No Mind - 10/10
Forever Falling - 9/10
Side 2 - 47.5/50
Side 3: Clear Horizon/Walking On The Sky/Tear Us Apart/Dying Light
The final side of the album comes in with Myle singing very some very contemplative lyrics over some calm keys. However the atmosphere does a 180 pretty quick going dark and Myles tone gets a fair bit darker as well. A nice instrumental passage ensues and the song speeds up a little. The prechorus is good and the chorus lets Myles let out a nice longer note. I really like the different vocal delivery styles Myles does throughout the song. The song really should have some sort of outro solo, it could be longer. The title track comes in, starting off low before building up quite a bit, Myles lets out some more high notes and sings beautifully over the band as his voice soars into the Sky. The first song that truely feels like an AB epic and a deserving title track of sorts. Not on par with Fortress, Calm The Fire, or the mighty Blackbird but wow is this a good song. Starting harder before laying off as Myles sings. A simpler song in terms of the message is plain to see as don't let life break you down. Myles' voice is so well suited for this type of song, not a ballad in execution but good at reaching people. Very accessible and the calm nature of Myles vocals is very comforting in a way. Dying Light closes off the album, the culmination of everything which has come before it on the album. It really ties the song back to AB III which is really fitting due to the similarities between the two albums. Myles sings it incredibly well. Overall this album was incredibly consistent and I think many songs will grow on me. A very consistent and intriguing album.
Clear Horizon - 9/10
Walking On The Sky - 9.5/10
Tear Us Apart -9/10
Dying Light - 10/10
Side 3 - 37.5/40
All right, my Earbook and shirt bundle is here. If there's one thing I appreciate the Napalm Records online store for, along with the fact that they do deliver their packages in a timely manner, they make sure they secure the goods by heavily taping the package to death. The shirt looks really cool with the giant lady and the trapeze walker in the front and a decent design on the back.
The Album Cover of course is magnificent, but it looks so nice as a book cover. I was hoping for more of the nicely crafted graphics like in the Fortress booklet, but instead, it's more of band pictures and them in the studio along with Elvis, Jef Moll, and Tim Tournier in the studio. Of course, all of the bands said their tys to their familes, friends, Elvis, Tim Tournier, Dan Sturgess (the guy that creates their lyric videos and led the company that filmed the Royal Albert Hall DVD), and, of course, the fans.
I thought in the credits regarding who did the strings, keyboards, programming, it would be Elvis alone, but actually, Myles was included in that in addition. Interesting. Also, it does specifically state that all songs were written by Alter Bridge, so it's still up to us to still figure out who had a key hand in which songs between Mark and Myles.
Some of the best lyricism I've ever heard from both Mark and Myles on this album!
One thought I've had since giving the disc a few spins is this... Enough songs on this album start out with a thin but fuzzy picking intro. Maybe they'd sound better on a clean tone like some of AB's classic intros.
I tthink Wouldn't You Rather could've done without the Middle Eastern intro. After the sublime sounds of One Life fade out, I think just a 4 count from Flip into that nasty main riff would have been a tasty kick in the teeth!
First off it is great reading the various opinions about this record from all the different styles and things that everyone likes about AB. It really is a test to how good of musicians these guys are that everyone likes something different.
I definitely fall in the camp that this record is not as good as TLH and that TLH is not as bad as some of the outspoken people in this forum routinely trash it. As fresh as this one is and different as it is I know it gonna take time to grow just like AB3 did for me because many of the songs are not riff driven. I hated that album outside of Isolation and a few others for a long time. Now I like almost every song on it.
As others have said I think this album is full of good songs and the couple of weaker tracks (Bitter end & Tear us apart) may be stronger than the weaker tracks of other albums but it is missing the strong standouts. None of the top tracks on this album are even close to the greats of all the other albums. Walking the sky, Clear Horizon, and Native son are probably my three favorites would be mid level on every other AB record. The lack of solos, wanting a concise 4 minute song on every song and no epics really hurt it for me. With all the emphasis these songs have on melody and stripping them down to pop style tracks Myles does really shine. Also not what sure all the hype about FF is, that song is a big jumbled mess. As much as I want to love that song it's still not doing it for me.
Anyways I hope this album brings them the success they were looking for and they find their way back to being the best guitar band this side of hard rock with what only Myles and Mark can culminate together leading to the riffs and dueling solos we have come to know and love.
slasherbridge wrote:Tear Us Apart reminds me of The Smashing Pumpkins. Change my mind.
I've read here that it reminded them of Sum 41 and I'm seeing aspects of that (then again, I don't have any grasp of Sum 41 except for like two songs).
I really don’t like Tear Us Apart. It’s the cheesiest shit amongst cheesy AB ballads, I’ll probably only listen a few times because I’ve heard this song a million times in the past. I rate it below You Will Be Remembered.
However, love everything else. This album sounds fresh to me, like they went out of their way to take some chances and do things differently than they did before.
Take out Tear Us Apart, and sub it with an 8 minute epic and this album would be a 10/10 for me.
Tear Us Apart, Godspeed and The Bitter End are the downers for me on this album. Especially the first, reminds me of Outright a bit which I also didn’t like at all. I see it’s the favorite of some people, which is awesome although I can’t comprehend why on earth you could like that haha! That’s the beauty of it I suppose!
Songs I gravitate towards now are Dying Light, Walking On The Sky, Forever Falling, Indoctrination and Native Son. Probably in that order, which is coincidentally exactly the opposite of the order on the album haha! The (other) singles I’ve already heard a lot, but I still like ‘m all.
Out of pure curiosity, could you guys explain to me what you like about Native Son? It's the incarnation of an ultra-generic hard rock song to me, similar to the likes of Losing Patience, Cry A River or Farther Than The Sun. Unmelodic and boring, AB are capable of so much more. Why does it seem to be in everyone's top 5?
I really don’t like Tear Us Apart. It’s the cheesiest shit amongst cheesy AB ballads, I’ll probably only listen a few times because I’ve heard this song a million times in the past. I rate it below You Will Be Remembered.
However, love everything else. This album sounds fresh to me, like they went out of their way to take some chances and do things differently than they did before.
Take out Tear Us Apart, and sub it with an 8 minute epic and this album would be a 10/10 for me.
I love Tear Me Apart and would sub out ITD in a heartbeat every AB B side is better than that song.
Blackbird wrote:Out of pure curiosity, could you guys explain to me what you like about Native Son? It's the incarnation of an ultra-generic hard rock song to me, similar to the likes of Losing Patience, Cry A River or Farther Than The Sun. Unmelodic and boring, AB are capable of so much more. Why does it seem to be in everyone's top 5?
I agree about Native Son but Farther Than The Sun and Losing Patience are both miles better. Losing Patience is imo one of the best choruses they have ever done with a killer bridge that in itself is better than anything on this album. Same goes for FTS the bridge and twin solo are AB at their very best also more guitar solo in that song than this album combined
Blackbird wrote:Out of pure curiosity, could you guys explain to me what you like about Native Son? It's the incarnation of an ultra-generic hard rock song to me, similar to the likes of Losing Patience, Cry A River or Farther Than The Sun. Unmelodic and boring, AB are capable of so much more. Why does it seem to be in everyone's top 5?
Speaking for myself, the reason I rate Native Son so high on this record is because its insanely catchy and melodic to my ears Every time I listen to it I find myself singing a long to it. The main riff is also major ear candy to me. One of my favorite riffs on the record and instrumentally its one of my favorite songs on the record. Very fun track to rock out to
Every time I listen to it I find myself singing a long to it. The main riff is also major ear candy to me. One of my favorite riffs on the record and instrumentally its one of my favorite songs on the record. Very fun track to rock out to 
