This is my first album review, and I would like to start by putting out a quick disclaimer:
I'm going to be putting up album reviews periodically, and for the most part, they're going to be reviews of some of my personal favorite albums. This means some of them are going to be of older works. It also means I'm not going to pretend to be entirely objective about them. I intend for them to be more of a look at why these albums mean so much to me, the things I like about the albums, and some of the ways I think the artists maybe fell a little short. All of this will be MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION, so be sure to take it with a 5lb bag of salt.
All right, now that that's out of the way, on to the review:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVfbosghkTg
Let's start off with the good stuff:
I've watched Mark Tremonti's career ever since Creed came out with the "My Own Prison" album, and a big part of what I've loved is watching him grow and evolve over the years. Now it's very easy to rag on Creed, and for good reason *coughScottStappcough*, but even given the posturings of that particular Jesus wannabe, I always loved both the riffs and the tones Tremonti and crew came up with. When it was announced that Creed was breaking up, and that the rest of the band was reforming as Alter Bridge with Myles Kennedy on vocals, I was thrilled. When One Day Remains was released, I snapped it up immediately, and was NOT the least bit disappointed. To my ears, it felt like everything I liked about Creed, only with their mediocre singer replaced with one of the great rock vocalists of the modern era.
Apparently, Slash agrees with me. But I digress...
The Blackbird album was even better. Heavier, darker, meaner, etc. And ABIII, while taking me a few times to really "get" it, was a classic. But the whole time, I found myself wondering, "what would happen if Mark had the opportunity to do an album with no restraints, and no having to worry about anyone else in the band?"
With The Tremonti Project's "All I Was", the question has been answered, and the answer is, in my personal opinion, one hell of an album. It has its pluses and its minuses, but overall, I think it's a fantastic rock/metal album. To put it mildly, it's been in constant rotation in my car's CD changer (yes, I still have a CD changer in my car) since I bought it. I haven't gotten sick of it yet.
So what are the pluses? Well, it definitely plays to Tremonti's strengths. The rhythm playing is phenomenal. From the beautiful clean playing on "The Things I've Seen" and "New Way Out" to the ridiculously heavy riffage of "You Waste Your Time" and "Giving Up", I think Tremonti covers the sonic territory better than he ever has before. The songwriting is solid, with melody never taking second place to the guitar playing, and the musical and emotional range of the album covers pretty much all the bases. And for anyone wondering how Tremonti handles vocal duties, well, he's very good. Myles Kennedy doesn't have anything to worry about (IMO, I don't think Kennedy has anything to worry about with any rock vocalist currently walking the Earth), but Tremonti shows himself to be a very very solid lead singer.
As for the minuses, again, strictly in my personal opinion, they're few and far between. There are a few moments where Tremonti doesn't sound entirely comfortable in his role as lead vocalist, mostly when trying to throw in vocal "fills". And while Tremonti is an amazing lead guitar player these days, I've never been a huge fan of his lead style. It always seems to be just a little over the top for the song to my ears. Does this mean he's actually over the top? Not necessarily. Again, and feel free to repeat after me, this is just my opinion. For others, his lead work may hit the perfect spot.
Over all, I love this album. I find myself singing along with the majority of the songs on it, and am genuinely looking forward to hearing the follow up, whenever that happens.
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