Okay, so my earlier complaint about the album possibly being too long might not hold. I'm having a hard time trying to decide what songs would be best to cut out and reorder the album. It's just a really long album with some really dense songs to it.
To point out some more highlights on the album, I gotta say that Cradle to the Grave has really been standing out for me on the most recent listens. It's right up there with the two epics and Island of Fools imo. It's a very emotional song, the lyrics are really poignant. "There's no way to deny the brevity of life."
Christ, that line really stands out to me, especially in the context of the song. Seems to be about
Myles's relationship with his parents and his anxieties about them eventually dying in the years to come.Also Losing Patience has been growing on me a lot with repeated listens. It's a really hooky number. Both it and Poison in Your Veins have choruses that would have made for some really big hits in the Rock/Metal world back in the 80's, I think. The latter's chorus is definitely the one instance where I really feel like Myles' time with Slash has influenced his work on AB. While it's nothing like what Guns 'N Roses would have written about lyrically, the chorus melody is really reminiscent of stuff on Appetite for Destruction.
I use to be a heavily active poster at TABN forums (I'm Electricladyland)....in fact I was member way back in 2004 when it was alterbridgeband, and that's how I discovered Dream Theater. I'll pop in every now and then, but I stopped maybe 5 years ago when everyones thoughts and opinions were challenged by other members, and there was constant name calling. "No you are wrong my opinion only matters they need to go back to their One Day Remains roots you stupid blah blah blah blah." I just got sick and tired of it all. I think things are better though, and there's plenty of good people on that forum, especially those from the ABB.net days
Yeah, I first joined TABN when Fortress came out and I got burned out by the way folks talked on that forum pretty quickly. I only just recently started going back there for The Last Hero.
I would like to think the name-calling and the negativity has died down relatively enough since they moved servers or reset the forums back in 2012. Some people still like to harp on they think AB needs to go back to ODR-sound, ditch Elvis as a producer, have Myles not play guitar on tour so that he can be more a frontman, etc. There are also people that don't like stuff like the chugga metal riffs or the layering Myles backing vocals that the modern-day AB has incorporated in their songs and that's a fair gripe to feel.
I do feel like the TABN forums is still a good forum to post about anything in (it's still the first place, I'd go to on the web. DTF is the second place I go to afterwards, aside from Twitter.) Things are being tense when closing in on album release day and few people are not really feeling the first singles so far and think The Last Hero may reflect that, but really, does any singles in their catalog really reflect the album as a whole? No, AB has always been more defined and revered on the backs of their albums as a whole rather than "hit" singles.
I will say this. I do think them going back to an ODR-sound may be a step back (though some nods to it, not too much, can be appreciative like in My Champion), since, to me, it would be admitting that Myles failed as a songwriter, lyricist, and guitarist for AB and that's just not true where him taking part in those roles from Blackbird, onwards, has played a huge role in defining AB outside of the shadows of Creed or any other projects that AB members are in. All I can say is we know these guys are top-notch musicians and they always create an album that will reflect that and show their strengths and create songs that people can relate to and get behind and I don't see any reasons why The Last Hero will not show that.
Part of the problem is that the mods at TABN are banning any discussion about The Last Hero as a whole album until it's been officially released. While I understand their motivations for doing that, I strongly believe it's the wrong move on their part. Fact of the matter is that people already know that the album leaked and are talking about it elsewhere. Hell, a new sub-reddit was made by folks just to talk about the album. So instead of giving members a new thread to talk about the spoilers of TLH amongst themselves as an outlet, they're just suppressing everything and it's causing a ton of tension there among everyone.
I've actually been pretty frustrated this past week, trying to hold myself back from replying to certain comments at the forum, because my thoughts on certain topics are directly influenced by the fact that I
have heard the whole album and know its general sound and texture. You're absolutely right that the two singles don't really reflect the final album very well at all. Hell, like I said earlier, My Champion actually feels like it
shouldn't be on this album. It's a fun song and offers variety, but the whiplash effect of how tonally different it is from the rest of the album kinda brings my point to the forefront: The Last Hero is a heavy metal/prog metal album.
Topic: The Official Alter Bridge Thread v. PAWNS & KINGS (Read 259635 times)
