Walk The Sky Production Quality.

[cheesedip1]

----Open Your Eyes is one of the best songs Alter Bridge has ever done.

----Blackbird is also one of their best songs. However, if you ranked all parts of that song, the chorus would come in last. Everything else in that song is better than the chorus. The pre chorus riff, the verse, the outro, etc.

----Blackbird is not their best album. Too many weaker choruses on that album.....cough.......wayward one, white knuckles, one by one, break me down, coming home, buried alive....etc

-----Also more people could get into the albums of alter bridge probably if the mixing was better.

------Theyre still a great band, regardless of my minor criticisms.

[MuffinMcFluffin]

----Open Your Eyes is one of the best songs Alter Bridge has ever done.

----Blackbird is also one of their best songs. However, if you ranked all parts of that song, the chorus would come in last. Everything else in that song is better than the chorus. The pre chorus riff, the verse, the outro, etc.

----Blackbird is not their best album. Too many weaker choruses on that album.....cough.......wayward one, white knuckles, one by one, break me down, coming home, buried alive....etc

-----Also more people could get into the albums of alter bridge probably if the mixing was better.

------Theyre still a great band, regardless of my minor criticisms.

This stuck with me for a second, and as much as I personally enjoy the chorus, I started telling myself one reason I liked it is simply because the power behind Myles' vocal... but then it got me to realize within that there are very few AB choruses since Blackbird (the album) where Myles is mostly flying solo in singing the chorus. Now you either have Mark harmonizing, Myles harmonizing with himself, or both.

Since Blackbird, these are the only songs where you truly feel Myles dominating the vocal soundstage in the choruses or isn't being harmonized with at all (I'm not considering Breathe, Solace, or Cruel Son on this list):

Make It Right
The Uninvited
All Ends Well
The Other Side
Crows On A Wire
Twilight
Pay No Mind

There is definitely harmonization in the chorus for All Ends Well, but it's not very heavy. Make It Right has some filtering going on, but it mostly just sounds like one Myles only.

Anyway, I did the math... we're looking at about 12% of their songs since BB to have Myles buried in vocal layers. It can add to a chorus, but I go back to some of these choruses and wonder if that's a contributing factor to why I could like those songs so much (note that I don't really like Make It Right or Twilight, but the little that I do like may come from this).

When I go back to Blackbird, I'm thinking about what it would sound like if it was arranged today. How much would Myles be buried, what other bad loudness war mixing would they include, etc.? It's shameful to think about, and it only makes me love the power of that song's chorus that much more.

Every song ever made has a relative weak point, and although one would want the chorus to be the ever-pleasing crescendo of the track, Blackbird is definitely not a song with a weak one (even if it does relatively). I happen to think the chorus is fantastic, but that's one man's opinion. Would I feel the same if he was harmonized? Maybe not, I'm not sure. I'm also not willing to find out.

I'm legitimately glad they got that song out of the way before they changed their sound one album later.

[Addicted To Pain]

I'm coming to this forum really late. I agree with people who say that The Last Hero and Walk The Sky were badly produced. I kinda wanna say the same thing about Blackbird, but it's a different kind of badly produced. One Day Remains has good sound, but it sounds like the guitars were double-tracked, which isn't good. AB III and Fortress are their best produced studio albums for me. I still wish they would have a more ringier snare drum.

Now there is one live album that was produced much better than any of the studio albums: Walk The Sky 2.0. It's perfect. I wonder if somebody other than Michael Baskette produced it.

[Addicted To Pain]

It's their signature song, the one that pretty much symbolises the real beginning of the band as a creative unit, and its theme digs deep with a ton of people.

That said, I do prefer Fortress and a few others myself.

It's an amazing song, but I can't really listen to it anymore because it brings up sad memories. I also prefer other epic songs such as Cry Of Achilles, Fortress, and The Last Hero.

I still think Blackbird is their best song. I don't want them to live on it, though. I want them to make their next Blackbird.

Bands when they try to make the next <insert hit song name> always end up failing. The point of Fortress, for example, wasn't to make the next Blackbird, but to make the first Fortress.

[TenaciousBe]

It honestly blows me away that any of you guys still think Blackbird (the song) "isn't that good." I heard something the other day that vaguely reminded me of the opening to that song, so I told my wife I needed to play this song for her (she's not really that into AB, just hears a little bit here and there in the background from what I happen to play). I pulled up the Royal Albert Hall show, found Blackbird, and played it for her, and even after hearing that song a billion times, I was still wiping tears out of my eyes watching them play it. I know the subject matter of the song is meant to be a tear-jerker anyway, but it's not even the lyrical content, it's just the feel of the music, the solo, the guitar tones, the way Myles sings, everything. If you guys can't feel that emotion from this track, I am so sorry, because it's an incredible feeling.

[Addicted To Pain]

It honestly blows me away that any of you guys still think Blackbird (the song) "isn't that good." I heard something the other day that vaguely reminded me of the opening to that song, so I told my wife I needed to play this song for her (she's not really that into AB, just hears a little bit here and there in the background from what I happen to play). I pulled up the Royal Albert Hall show, found Blackbird, and played it for her, and even after hearing that song a billion times, I was still wiping tears out of my eyes watching them play it. I know the subject matter of the song is meant to be a tear-jerker anyway, but it's not even the lyrical content, it's just the feel of the music, the solo, the guitar tones, the way Myles sings, everything. If you guys can't feel that emotion from this track, I am so sorry, because it's an incredible feeling.

I feel very sad emotions when listening to the song. That's precisely the reason why I can't listen to it anymore. It's an amazing song, but I like to listen to others that I don't associate with such sad emotions. I'm still using Fortress as an example, and The Last Hero and Cry Of Achilles belong there too.

[TenaciousBe]

It doesn't necessarily bring up sad emotions for me, at least in terms of the lyrics, just... emotions. The music is so intense, it just makes me feel all the feelings, and I love it.

[chtimixeur]

Loudness war doesn't make sense anymore at all in the age of streaming services, because ultimately, it makes your band sound tinier than the other ones.
I hope the band and Elvis see that video before they start recording the next album.


It starts getting interesting around the 15th minute.

[Addicted To Pain]

----Open Your Eyes is one of the best songs Alter Bridge has ever done.

----Blackbird is also one of their best songs. However, if you ranked all parts of that song, the chorus would come in last. Everything else in that song is better than the chorus. The pre chorus riff, the verse, the outro, etc.

----Blackbird is not their best album. Too many weaker choruses on that album.....cough.......wayward one, white knuckles, one by one, break me down, coming home, buried alive....etc

-----Also more people could get into the albums of alter bridge probably if the mixing was better.

------Theyre still a great band, regardless of my minor criticisms.

This stuck with me for a second, and as much as I personally enjoy the chorus, I started telling myself one reason I liked it is simply because the power behind Myles' vocal... but then it got me to realize within that there are very few AB choruses since Blackbird (the album) where Myles is mostly flying solo in singing the chorus. Now you either have Mark harmonizing, Myles harmonizing with himself, or both.

Since Blackbird, these are the only songs where you truly feel Myles dominating the vocal soundstage in the choruses or isn't being harmonized with at all (I'm not considering Breathe, Solace, or Cruel Son on this list):

Make It Right
The Uninvited
All Ends Well
The Other Side
Crows On A Wire
Twilight
Pay No Mind

There is definitely harmonization in the chorus for All Ends Well, but it's not very heavy. Make It Right has some filtering going on, but it mostly just sounds like one Myles only.

Anyway, I did the math... we're looking at about 12% of their songs since BB to have Myles buried in vocal layers. It can add to a chorus, but I go back to some of these choruses and wonder if that's a contributing factor to why I could like those songs so much (note that I don't really like Make It Right or Twilight, but the little that I do like may come from this).

When I go back to Blackbird, I'm thinking about what it would sound like if it was arranged today. How much would Myles be buried, what other bad loudness war mixing would they include, etc.? It's shameful to think about, and it only makes me love the power of that song's chorus that much more.

Every song ever made has a relative weak point, and although one would want the chorus to be the ever-pleasing crescendo of the track, Blackbird is definitely not a song with a weak one (even if it does relatively). I happen to think the chorus is fantastic, but that's one man's opinion. Would I feel the same if he was harmonized? Maybe not, I'm not sure. I'm also not willing to find out.

I'm legitimately glad they got that song out of the way before they changed their sound one album later.

Ghost Of Days Gone By and Fallout could make this list probably. Only half the time in the choruses is Myles harmonized.

[riemslag1]

Back to the title of this thread.
I don't really care about the production quality of WTS.
What's really bothering and worrying me is the quality of the songwriting beiing far below AB-quality.
TLH was already a step down after Fortress.
Just hope they can turn that around with the next album after these two last somewhat disappointing albums.

[chtimixeur]

In retrospect, I don't have much of an issue with The Last Hero, especially when I compare it to the Tremonti or Myles solo albums. Sure, it's no Blackbird or Fortress, but I enjoy most of it, and most of the material is superior to AB III's (which to me is filled with average songs).
Walk the Sky didn't age too well for me, aside from a couple standout tracks. For instance, I still think Mark's solo on Dying Light is one of the best ones of his career.

If we're talking about prodction and mastering, I was listening to some random WTS tracks from it the other day, and I couldn't believe how bad it sounded. I mean, I know Elvis is terrible, but I'm always flabbergasted when I spin a record of his I haven't listened to in a while.
Sometimes wonder if people from the AB team even listen to the final mastered albums.
How can they give the green light to such horrendous sounding masters?

[Addicted To Pain]

In retrospect, I don't have much of an issue with The Last Hero, especially when I compare it to the Tremonti or Myles solo albums. Sure, it's no Blackbird or Fortress, but I enjoy most of it, and most of the material is superior to AB III's (which to me is filled with average songs).
Walk the Sky didn't age too well for me, aside from a couple standout tracks. For instance, I still think Mark's solo on Dying Light is one of the best ones of his career.

The Last Hero, in my opinion, is awesome. It does have my two least favorite Alter Bridge songs (The Other Side and This Side Of Fate), but that's made up for by the other killer songs all around. Plus, I think Myles shines the most out of any album in his Alter Bridge career. (I can't speak for Mayfield Four, Slash + MK&C, or his solo career.) 7 guitar solos and 8 songs with vocals that consistently go up to or higher than C5.

I seem to agree with most people about how good Fortress is. Personally, I like heavy stuff (but not screaming or incomprehensible riffing), which Fortress has a lot of.

Most people think AB III is one of their best albums, while I disagree with you. In fact, I think it's their worst. I could definitely do without All Hope Is Gone, Still Remains, Make It Right, Wonderful Life, Coeur D'Alene, Life Must Go On, and Zero in their catalog. Plus, the vocal tricks that Myles does in the studio versions of Slip To The Void and Words Darker Than Their Wings don't mesh well with me. I prefer the Live At The Royal Albert Hall versions.

And yes, Walk The Sky is a bleak album, to say the least. It's an interesting step in their career, but the complicated tunings, overproduction, synth, and predominant lack of guitar solos were some negatives that made me not like it as a whole.

[Dan Dando]

. I could definitely do without All Hope Is Gone...

Blasphemy

'A tireless stream of indifference flows through veins till the river runs dry' - Have always loved that opening lyric

[scarecrow]

In retrospect, I don't have much of an issue with The Last Hero, especially when I compare it to the Tremonti or Myles solo albums. Sure, it's no Blackbird or Fortress, but I enjoy most of it, and most of the material is superior to AB III's (which to me is filled with average songs).
Walk the Sky didn't age too well for me, aside from a couple standout tracks. For instance, I still think Mark's solo on Dying Light is one of the best ones of his career.

The Last Hero, in my opinion, is awesome. It does have my two least favorite Alter Bridge songs (The Other Side and This Side Of Fate), but that's made up for by the other killer songs all around. Plus, I think Myles shines the most out of any album in his Alter Bridge career. (I can't speak for Mayfield Four, Slash + MK&C, or his solo career.) 7 guitar solos and 8 songs with vocals that consistently go up to or higher than C5.

I seem to agree with most people about how good Fortress is. Personally, I like heavy stuff (but not screaming or incomprehensible riffing), which Fortress has a lot of.

Most people think AB III is one of their best albums, while I agree with you. In fact, I think it's their worst. I could definitely do without All Hope Is Gone, Still Remains, Make It Right, Wonderful Life, Coeur D'Alene, Life Must Go On, and Zero in their catalog. Plus, the vocal tricks that Myles does in the studio versions of Slip To The Void and Words Darker Than Their Wings don't mesh well with me. I prefer the Live At The Royal Albert Hall versions.

And yes, Walk The Sky is a bleak album, to say the least. It's an interesting step in their career, but the complicated tunings, overproduction, synth, and predominant lack of guitar solos were some negatives that made me not like it as a whole.

disagree that the last hero is awesome, agree that abiii is quite weak. other than life must go on, i could go without all the songs you listed. although wonderful life was quite powerful to listen to after my dad died.

[davidstvz]

. I could definitely do without All Hope Is Gone...

Blasphemy

'A tireless stream of indifference flows through veins till the river runs dry' - Have always loved that opening lyric

Definitely one of my favorites as well!

[MylesKennedy69]

I still maintain what I said about Blackbird being possibly one of the greatest songs ever written by any band, ever. That one poll where they named the solo the greatest of all time? No joke. Fortress is a great song too, and they've written some other amazing stuff, and like Muffin just said, I don't want them to just kick back and live off that song forever, but... it's up there in the upper echelon of top-tier songs ever written. It may not have the commercial success, but from a purely objective standpoint, it's up there with stuff like Purple Rain, Bohemian Rhapsody, that stuff. It is an absolute MASTERPIECE of a song. I think we as AB fans sort of take it for granted because we've heard it so many times and maybe the "goodness" of it doesn't strike us so hard when we're so used to hearing it, but the music, the lyrics, the solo, every bit of that song is just incredibly written. I don't fault anyone for preferring to hear other songs at this point, if you've heard BB a billion times, but it just seems ludicrous to me to say they've written "better" songs. Blackbird is an absolute gold standard for songwriting.

Wholeheartedly agree. I've heard the song a billion times and I still get chills when it ramps after the first verse.

[Dan Dando]

I still maintain what I said about Blackbird being possibly one of the greatest songs ever written by any band, ever. That one poll where they named the solo the greatest of all time? No joke. Fortress is a great song too, and they've written some other amazing stuff, and like Muffin just said, I don't want them to just kick back and live off that song forever, but... it's up there in the upper echelon of top-tier songs ever written. It may not have the commercial success, but from a purely objective standpoint, it's up there with stuff like Purple Rain, Bohemian Rhapsody, that stuff. It is an absolute MASTERPIECE of a song. I think we as AB fans sort of take it for granted because we've heard it so many times and maybe the "goodness" of it doesn't strike us so hard when we're so used to hearing it, but the music, the lyrics, the solo, every bit of that song is just incredibly written. I don't fault anyone for preferring to hear other songs at this point, if you've heard BB a billion times, but it just seems ludicrous to me to say they've written "better" songs. Blackbird is an absolute gold standard for songwriting.

Wholeheartedly agree. I've heard the song a billion times and I still get chills when it ramps after the first verse.

I really enjoy watching people listen/react to it for the first time on YouTube. It almost always blows folks away

[Crumbso]

I would now like to give this thread an award for becoming the most off-topic thread of 2022.

[Dan Dando]

I would now like to give this thread an award for becoming the most off-topic thread of 2022.

I'd like to thank my agent...

[TenaciousBe]

Walk The Sky is a great album, sounds fantastic, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.