All right, it's go time. This is going to be a lengthy write-up.
38. Alter Bridge – AB III (2010)Alternative metal, hard rock, post-grunge.
All righty, then, we now move on to talk about the first Alter Bridge album on this list. It is the ever-so polarizing among the fanbase,
AB III. What makes this album pretty polarizing? Well, let’s go into some detail here. No wait, that would take too long. To sum it up, the year was around late 2009 – early 2010. Creed reunited, GNR guitarist Slash wanted Myles Kennedy to sing lead vocals for his solo band, so where does that leave Alter Bridge? Hard to say at the time. Thankfully, Mark Tremonti, Myles Kennedy, Scott Phillips, and Brian Marshall assured us that Alter Bridge was going to release a 3rd album and out comes
AB III.
Coming off the backs of their best album, at that point, maybe ever (hard to say), in the form of Blackbird, the follow-up sure does have a lot to live up to. In the fans’ eyes, did it live up to the hype? I want to say, not initially. I don’t know what was up in the air around that period, but I can easily say when I first heard AB III, I was a bit disappointed. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because they didn’t have a near 8 min. song like
Blackbird in AB III? Maybe, them releasing their ending track,
Words Darker Than Their Wings, as a free download ruined the album listening experience? Maybe, there was too many radio-structured songs in the middle portion of the album thus had an ebb and flow to it where having the album be 66 min. and 14 songs didn't benefit the album but rather made it weaker? Whatever the case, it was certainly a polarizing album for AB at the time.
However, looking back at the album now in 2016, I can appreciate it for what it is which is just another well-crafted album, didn’t top their last album though, from my favorite band that a lot of meaningful songs to me. AB III, as the band described it, was kind of a loose concept album. They structured it depicting a tale of a guy that was going into the lowest point of his life, trying to find meaning and, in 2011, I can relate to the story, because I felt like the guy that they were depicting, and it was not an easy feeling to go through at the time.
The album started off with
Slip to the Void, a track that started off with some keyboard programming for 1:30 with Myles singing about the guy that has slipped so hard, to a point where he may not get back up, and the great kicker about that song was after that intro, the song kicked into high-gear and pretty much never looked back from here with a powerful chorus. “Left to face this alone. Left to die with nothing you can own. Left to break in the cold. In the void that you made. The moment you let love go.” The scary part about that song is that they kept kicking butt during the bridge verses with some awesome guitar licks into between words before going back to the awesome chorus, setting the tone really strong for the album (which sadly the album really couldn’t handle for the most part).
Then comes
Isolation, the first single of the album, and I think it was a strong choice. This song represents the high-energy single that they probably wanted to get out first as oppose to the more mid-tempo like (Open Your Eyes, Rise Today) songs in prior singles. This was their biggest song in terms of mainstream rock radio media as the track hit #1 in active rock, first time they were able to do so, and got a guest appearance on Jay Leno. To sum it up, despite the whole Creed reunion and Myles with Slash, this song represents that Alter Bridge is back, baby.
Ghost of Days Gone By was next, and yeah, it had some poppy flair to it which lyrics that hit me hard about yearning to go back to a time where things were well in life, and it seem way too poppy for an AB song, at the time, and then there was a shift during the bridge, when Myles sang “I don’t wanna DIEEEEEEEE!!!!!,” where all of a sudden the song got darker and darker which sets well to
All Hope Is Gone. To me, that song had this interesting pirate/medieval vibe with a very extensive instrumental bridge and another solid Mark Tremonti solo.
Show Me A Sign was probably their darkest and most broody song ever. Clocking at 6 min., it was the longest song of the album and I think they had one of the more better bridge structures they had with the instrumental part, then a solo, then a bridge verse, and then they had this voice changing thing that sounded like Myles was a demon or something and a great closer.
Fallout was probably my favorite song from this album. Had bit of a bluesy vibe in the pre-verses. I think this is an example of an Alter Bridge style-song with regarding their usual structure done right. I enjoyed the lyrics in the bridge a lot “He left behind, he's walking, a burning still he tries to unearth the meaning to this life. Cast aside, he's weary, a bleeding to behold. Disconnected, still he fights to belong.” Also once again, Mark delivered another tremendous ending solo.
Coeur D’Alene was one of more deeper songs for the band. Myles, being from Spokane, Washington, which was somewhat close to the lake, seemed very inspired when creating this song. It was dark, it was yearning for some hope. It’s all good.
Then comes out
Life Must Go On. Another one of my favorite tracks. Sure, after the guitar intro when the drum kicks in, it sounded familiar to Creed’s My Sacrifice. As I stated earlier with Geddy Lee’s Still, I like these sorts of songs that gives you hope to carry on with life, in light of all the wrong that has been experienced, and that we may find some form of light at the end of the tunnel.
Words Darker Than Their Wings is the closing track of this really long album for Alter Bridge. It plays off as a conversation of the guy of the story, sang by Myles, talking with a friend of his regarding everything that has happened. To make this work, we had another guy on the vocals. For the 1st time ever, Mark Tremonti stepped up and did some lead vocals and, I think, while it was weird at first, he did well which may have give him enough inspiration to go ahead and do a solo band with him on lead vocals (more on that later). The song was strong, obviously Myles and Mark’s voice molded well which Myles hitting probably his highest high note ever (legend has it that one of the reasons why they do not want to play this track live is that Myles is afraid he might blow his voice out trying to hit that note) and ended the album on a good note.
Well, after that long write-up, I think it’s safe to say that AB III was a damn good album for me. Just not as good as the other albums I will talk about in this list, but this album still has done good for them. After getting themselves on
in areas outside of the US, they were finally able to get good promotion as themselves which help grew a bigger fanbase and got themselves playing in bigger venues than before, including arenas in the UK. In the US, they got a #1 single for the first time.
Anyway, AB III. Good album. Helped further establish the band’s own identify and presence in this unpredictable music industry.
Favorites:
Slip to the Void,
Ghost of Days Gone By,
Show Me A Sign,
Fallout, and
Life Must Go On