 
Creed and Alter Bridge axe slinger and general
shred machine Mark Tremonti has finally found
the time to break away and recorded an extremely
long awaited solo record. Having achieved tremendous
amounts fame with both of his current bands and
having a huge global following, he has opted to
break away and record a solo album full of material
deemed not appropriate for either man project,
where he both plays guitar and provides lead vocals
making this his debut as a vocalist. When talking
to the press before the album’s release
Tremonti claimed it was a speed metal album and
had some thrash metal influences, an interesting
project for a man primarily of the rock scene
to be involved in if I do say so myself.
I couldn’t wait any longer I had to listen
to this thing it was driving me crazy; we start
off with “Leave It Alone”, for the
first time in a very long time my jaw has dropped
to the floor, not from the musical content oh
no, what’s got me in awe is the sheer fact
that Mr Tremonti who I have been a huge fan of
for years has been holding these incredible vocals
back from us for all this time. It’s clear
from the get go that this material would have
never fit with Alter Bridge or Creed as it’s
much heavier and has a dirty raw feel to it which
neither Myles Kennedy nor Scott Stapp would have
been able to pull off, Mark though hit’s
the nail straight on the head. His voice is much
deeper so he can give these tracks gritty style
alongside some incredibly beautiful melodies when
needed; this blend makes for some of the greatest
music to be released in a long time.
One of my favourites if not my actual favourite
has to be “You Waste Your Time”, this
song in particular really show’s off Tremonti’s
vocal range to its fullest extent with the gritty
melodies he produces, the following song “New
Way Out” also does this yet it’s more
of an Alter Bridge styled track as a couple of
them seem to be but where Kennedy’s higher
vocals would clash with the lower tones present
in these tracks Tremonti’s gentle side takes
over and with his deeper tones he really creates
a beautiful link to the music. I wouldn’t
really class this as speed metal to be honest
as it gives off the wrong impression about the
album, I mean yes tracks like “Giving Up”
and “Wish You Well” are extremely
freaking heavy but they are not speed metal per
say, I’d class them as extremely heavy rock
with melodic injections and also for that matter
just as there are these heavier tracks you’ve
got tracks “The Thing’s I’ve
Seen” and “Proof” which are
really low tempo soft songs so it’s a very
well balanced release.
Honest to God if you’re a fan of either
Creed or Alter Bridge this will definitely appeal
to you, but even if it isn’t if you’re
a fan of acts like Shinedown, Black Stone Cherry,
Art of Dying or hard rock in general as you have
everything laid on the line here for you on one
album; thick chunky riffs, raw gritty vocal work,
melodic choruses that will get stuck in your head
for the rest of the week, tremendous guitar solos
and above all its Mark freakin’ Tremonti,
you cannot go wrong and every song on the record
got a 5 star rating on my iTunes! GET THIS ALBUM!
5/5
Review by James Webb
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