Published on Sep 20, 2004
Is it wrong to think of Alter Bridge as Creed Mk. III?
Granted, the supergroup which brought us tracks like “Higher”
and “With Arms Wide Open” imploded in 2003, leaving singer Scott
Stapp to follow his own paths in life. Hooking back up with former
bassist Brian Marshall, fellow ex-Creed members Mark Tremonti and
Scott Phillips set out to begin life anew, this time with singer
Myles Kennedy.
Yet despite a new name, Alter Bridge is going to have a hard
time shedding the ghosts of Creed — especially when so many songs
on their debut album,
One Day Remains, sound like castoffs from Creed.
Give the boys some credit: instead of going for a Stapp
sound-alike, they went with someone who has more vocal range in
Kennedy. There are slight similarities, but for the most part,
Kennedy is given free reign to exercise his own style, which is a
good thing.
But musically, often it seems like
One Day Remains is like facing a mirror image of a disc like
Human Clay. “Find The Real” has more than a little in common
with “What If,” while “Open Your Eyes” feels like yet another
re-write of “Higher,” albeit a lot more enjoyable than “My
Sacrifice” from
Weathered. “In Loving Memory” is almost a sad take on “With
Eyes Wide Open,” losing the orchestration as well as the emotional
bond of the original.
There are times that Alter Bridge does strike out on their own,
trying to set themselves apart from the smoldering ruins of Creed.
“Burn It Down” has an almost Soundgarden-like feel to it, and is
rather enjoyable. If only the other moments of originality had this
kind of interest; tracks like “Down To My Last,” “Shed My Skin” and
“The End Is Here” have a certain amount of guilty pleasure to them,
but they aren’t nearly as memorable, quickly fading into the
background of whatever you’re doing.
This is where Alter Bridge is going to have its biggest struggle
— and, on
One Day Remains, they don’t succeed. With the exception of
their final album, Creed was able to lock in the listener’s
interest from the first note all the way through the final fadeout.
Kennedy and crew need to find their way of doing this, and for a
time they are successful, but they just didn’t have the songwriting
momentum to keep up such a pace. By the time “Down To My Last”
kicks in, chances are your attention will have drifted off.
It’s not that
One Day Remains is a bad disc — it’s a lot better than
Weathered — but that Tremonti and crew are fighting an
uphill battle against a monster three-fourths of Alter Bridge
created. Alter Bridge has every right to make their own music and
try to be happy and successful in the marketplace. They just
haven’t gotten the formula down quite right yet.