Pawns & Kings (Alter Bridge - VII)

[Schulzy]

I received my vinyl copy of Pawns & Kings today along with t-shirt. I'm kinda bummed that there is no lyric sheet or inclusion of digital download. I guess I've been spoiled by other vinyl albums I've purchased in the last year from Starset, Disciple, Memphis May Fire, Nothing More, Wolves At The Gate, Fire From The Gods, and Light The Torch. The packaging is nice along with photo of the guys and signed logo sheet. I wish a little more care went into printing on the t-shirt as the logo is slightly crooked. Here's a link to photos.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/196715445@N07/79c3137zp2

[psycosquirrel789]

This record is a 10/10. I hear so many elements working together from each previous album. This record is like listening to the entire history of Alter Bridge all at once.

Production wise, absolutely stunning. Elvis’ team killed it this time.

[Andy92]

This record is a 10/10. I hear so many elements working together from each previous album. This record is like listening to the entire history of Alter Bridge all at once.

Production wise, absolutely stunning. Elvis’ team killed it this time.

The production is definitely great on this one. The guitar and bass tones are killer on it. Everything sounds absolutely massive, but there’s also a lot of clarity in each part. This is my favorite kind of hard rock/modern metal sound.

[Schulzy]

This record is a 10/10. I hear so many elements working together from each previous album. This record is like listening to the entire history of Alter Bridge all at once.

Production wise, absolutely stunning. Elvis’ team killed it this time.

The production is definitely great on this one. The guitar and bass tones are killer on it. Everything sounds absolutely massive, but there’s also a lot of clarity in each part. This is my favorite kind of hard rock/modern metal sound.

Listening to it on vinyl now. The clarity is stunning. Nothing sounds super muddy or insanely loud. And I finally figured out the song that Last Man Standing reminds me of - Tom Sawyer by Rush.

[fix]

Also a 7/8 part in Tom Sawyer indeed, good find!

I also noticed this record sounded better on vinyl than previous releases.

[WaywardOne]

People on TABN are praising Elvis’s production. If that isn’t a sign of the apocalypse I don’t know what is

[AHart96]

The bridge of Dead Among the Living is stuck in my head, such a great melody. I think this one is going to be a BANGER live

[Dan Dando]

The bridge of Dead Among the Living is stuck in my head, such a great melody. I think this one is going to be a BANGER live

Definitely. The bridge really takes that song from good to bloody good

[psycosquirrel789]

The opening of Last Man Standing sounds like ODR for the first time since ODR. It gives me The End Is Here/Who’s Got My Back Now vibes. It’s pure old school Tremonti. The nostalgia is real. This album is special.

[austinjhnsn]

This album is 100% the best work since Fortress. I think time will tell but as of right now this is up there with albums 2 and 4. The only song I really dont gel with is Holiday, but its still a fun jam. Every song sounds like it belongs, and this album has more passion than most of the last two albums.
also, Fable is the best song they’ve written since Blackbird, IMO.

[fix]

People on TABN are praising Elvis’s production. If that isn’t a sign of the apocalypse I don’t know what is

It’s still relative to the previous albums haha, but yes. I feel like how they recorded and produced (less layering) this album is much better suited to the production style the band wants and Elvis provides. Really does sound great.
Even though at times I wish it was a bit more dynamic - like strip down some of the layers on Myles at some points or make Stay’s verses a bit toned down for better dynamics. The ‘wall of sound’ is great for the heavier and riffy stuff, but some times you need things to quiet down a bit.

[DarkKnight12]

People on TABN are praising Elvis’s production. If that isn’t a sign of the apocalypse I don’t know what is

It’s still relative to the previous albums haha, but yes. I feel like how they recorded and produced (less layering) this album is much better suited to the production style the band wants and Elvis provides. Really does sound great.
Even though at times I wish it was a bit more dynamic - like strip down some of the layers on Myles at some points or make Stay’s verses a bit toned down for better dynamics. The ‘wall of sound’ is great for the heavier and riffy stuff, but some times you need things to quiet down a bit.

My thoughts exactly !

[Lotha]

I'm just popping in because I heard from Shea and Andy that Greg ranked Stay dead last. So what I wanted to say was, Greg, you've always had impeccable taste.

[SHEAKENBAKEN]

Time for Cam to ban Jana from TABN

[Lotha]

You'd hardly know the difference!

[Crumbso]

I'm here to do some random truth tellin'. Here are some opinions/moderately warm takes:

- Stay and Holiday should be removed from the album. OK songs but they don't feel like AB to me
- Pawns and Kings should have opened the album. Come one, beautiful chords and gentle singing followed immediately by kicking you in the teeth. "Embarking on the journey yet to come"... it's perfect.
- They should open the shows with P&K on this tour too.
- Fable is as good as Blackbird and Wings
- Nobody, and I mean nobody, can deliver these kind of songs as emotionally and genuinely as Myles
- The combo of Fable followed by Season of Promise is awesome. Its like a all the heavy catharsis of Fable is just instantly melted away by the brightness of Season.

[Andy92]

I'm just popping in because I heard from Shea and Andy that Greg ranked Stay dead last. So what I wanted to say was, Greg, you've always had impeccable taste.

All right go back to Discord now.

[cheesedip1]

------Holy crap, Fable is really good.

Right when it got to the guitar breakdown right before the dueling guitar solos stuff, I felt this smile just form across my face.

Heck yeah bros.

-------I need more listens but I actually enjoyed the chorus of Holiday. Had a catchy feel to it.

[Dolo]

Right when it got to the guitar breakdown right before the dueling guitar solos stuff, I felt this smile just form across my face.

That's exactly what makes this song incoherent in my book. You've got this proggy build-up which then explodes into something pretty heavy and then suddenly they go into this pull-off/hammer-on bluesy breakdown which goes out of nowhere.

[maximzub]

Right when it got to the guitar breakdown right before the dueling guitar solos stuff, I felt this smile just form across my face.

That's exactly what makes this song incoherent in my book. You've got this proggy build-up which then explodes into something pretty heavy and then suddenly they go into this pull-off/hammer-on bluesy breakdown which goes out of nowhere.

I'll add to that the sudden heavy guitars when they come in after the soft section at the beginning. And also, after that section, the lone notes before the main riff. It screams that they artificially stitched those two parts of the song together.