Alter Bridge Album: “Blackbird”

Alterbridge return with an even better album than their powerful debut! This disc is filled with great rock tunes played by a tight band and the ever-impressive vocals of Myles Kennedy. On this new album guitarist Mark Tremonti is playing better than ever and achieves a nice wall of sound. Despite his increased presence, I really think that the highlight of this band is the intense vocals of Myles Kennedey. His dynamic voice is pure rock heaven and so enjoyable to listen to. Good solid production and a nice bonus track on the import version rounds out this great album. I think the only improvement could have been the flow of the album as I think the middle section is so strong that a bigger and more intense opening song would have been great. It feels like a long time since such a good rock band has been around and Alterbridge is definitely one of the quality bands out there.

Rock & Roll has RETURNED! ALL HAIL ALTER BRIDGE!!! Finally, TRUE music made by TRUE musicians has returned. Now, would someone PLEASE remove all the crap that's littering the airwaves?

This sophomore effort from Alter Bridge is more like a doctoral dissertation. In short, this album is nearly perfect. From the first track to the last----NO FILLER! The opening is like a punch in the face. And, if you like energy, well, huh, um, you've come to the right place. Blackbird is packed with the emotion that has been sadly missing from music for a long time.

Blackbird also contains the amount of energy that can only be compared with a grenade----with the pin pulled----thrown into a CASE of grenades----riding shotgun in a fully loaded fuel truck----driven straight into a nitro glycerin plant!!!

The track "Rise Today" has already been slated by CBS to appear as promotional use for SCI: Miami, as well as by the WWE for upcoming wrestling events. (This was decided before the album was even released.) "Rise Today" in incredible, but its definitely not alone on this album. (In fact, there are too many good hooks to mention in a review.) Also worthy to note is the very Led Zeppelin-like "Watch Over You", which you will get from the first note. All in all, the band's influences are obvious throughout this album.

Also, even though One Day Remains was, and is, a great album----you can definitely tell that lead vocalist Myles Kennedy had a hand in the songwriting for Blackbird. Not to mention, Alter Bridge enlists the guitar chops of Kennedy (which are huge) for this album; and, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti appears to not have any problem sharing the workload with Kennedy.

In short, Blackbird is beauty, brains, and tremendous amounts of brawn. You know, music that makes the hair on your arm stand up, and makes you want to sing and shout at the top of your lungs? That's Blackbird, and that's Alter Bridge.

Such a strong and powerful music! Tremonti at his best and Kennedy even better! Highly recommend!

THE BAND: Mark Tremonti (guitar & backing vocals), Myles Kennedy (lead vocals & guitar), Brian Marshall (bass), Scott Phillips (drums & percussion).

THE DISC: (2007) 13 tracks clocking in at approximately 59 minutes. Included with the disc is a 5-page foldout containing song titles/credits, song lyrics, and thank you's. The CD is enhanced - featuring a 5 minute in-studio behind the scenes video for your PC. *Upon initial release, Best Buy offered this album with 2 bonus tracks "The Damage Done" and "New Way To Live" (bringing the total listen to about 68 minutes). Recorded at Blackbird Studio (Nashville, TN) and Studio Barbarosa (Bavon, TN). Label - Universal Republic Records.

COMMENTS: "Blackbird" is a solid hard rock album. In my opinion, harder overall in feel than their debut. Only one single has hit the airwaves ("Rise Today"), but it's still early in "Blackbird's" existence. Alter Bridge's debut, "One Day Remains" (2004), had several hits - "Open Your Eyes", "Find The Real", "Broken Wings" (and one semi hit with the title cut) - which made it pretty radio accessible. However, "One Day Remains" also had several filler tunes. Where I don't hear 3 or 4 bonafied singles (per say) on "Blackbird", I do hear solid track after solid track. "Blackbird" is a more cohesive and polished effort. The heaviest tracks include the quick paced opener "Ties That Bind", "Coming Home", "One By One", perhaps the two hardest tracks on the disc "Come To Life" (with a shredding guitar solo) and "White Knuckles". All are catchy tunes that get your blood pumping. The slower tracks include "Before Tomorrow Comes", "Watch Over You", and two of my favorites to date, "Brand New Start" (more great solo guitar work) and the title track. The bonus tracks are solid and worth the search - "The Damage Done" is heavy mid-tempo cut, while "New Way To Live" is a slower paced melodic gem featuring some great guitar work. In 2007, gone is Kennedy's old band Mayfield Four, as is Tremonti's Creed. Without drawing any attention to Scott Stapp (and a "where is he now?" kind of statement), it's clear to me that Alter Bridge has risen to the challenge (4.5 stars).

My experience has been that follow-up albums are usually let-down albums. But, I that is definitely not the case with this album! Maybe it's just me, but this album feels a lot more heavy (are there flashes of Iron Maiden in there or is it just me?!?). I was instantly captivated again my Tremonti's hard-rockin guitar prowess, and Brian Marshall is awesome on bass.