Alter Bridge – Blackbird (2007)

After Creed had disbanded, guitarist Mark Tremonti had other plans to keep on going musically. Alter Bridge was Mark Tremonti’s second major band, and this release, Blackbird, was a great example of what Mark Tremonti could do musically. Without further explanation, let’s get stuck into listening to it.

The drop-tuned guitars and excellent playing of Ties That Bind kick off a great Nu-Metal tune. It’s a great way to start a post Creed career for Tremonti and is musically accomplished. The lyrics and music deal with internal emotions, but it just sounds epic and brilliant. A great opening track. The guitar solos here are fantastic, no better way to describe this.

Next is Come To Life, which is a really awesome track. It breathes life into Nu Metal of the time and just sounds mega, epic and brilliant. It’s a memorable, listenable, and wonderful tune, the vocals and guitars interact with each other for a brilliant effect. A deep and meaningful listen. The guitars parts at the end are pretty tripped out.

Brand New Start begins with acoustic guitar parts reminiscent of Black Sabbath, before launching into a slower ballad sort of piece on this album. “We will make a brand new start, from the pieces of our heart…” is sung here. The lyrics are introspective and very artistic here, and the whole song is just brilliant, distorted guitar riffs and pounding drums are here. Great stuff. The outro is just awesome, a great effort by Alter Bridge.

Buried Alive is next. It is heavily influenced by the great heavy metal bands of the past and talks about emotional issues. It is amazing and mindblowing Nu-Metal. If you can hear any great post-2000 Metal music, look no further. This is great music, and definitely worth repeat listens here. Brilliant. The chugging riffs are great, as is the singing in the chorus.

Next is Coming Home. It begins with melodic guitar riffs, before launching into a loud and punchy piece dealing with emotional issues internally. It is a great piece that mixes the great Alter Bridge songs with some excellent studio production. The lyrics are spot on as well, a nice listen. These guys may be heavier than Metallica, but really, it is just as good musically as the Black Album.

After that, we come to Before Tomorrow Comes. It talks about distraught emotions but sounds surprisingly musical and upbeat for such a song. “I guess time will only tell?” is sung here. The musical accompaniment here is just perfect. A great and wonderfully deep listen.

Rise Today begins with liquid and acoustic guitar parts, before launching into a classic Nu-Metal tune giving fellow fans a call-to-arms anthem for changing the world. It’s a superb listen and sounds fantastic. Seriously, this is great metal music. A brilliant and fantastic listen. The feedback at the end is also good.

Blackbird is the title track. It has some carefully picked guitar parts at the beginning, before launching into some epic guitar riffage and a great piece altogether. It sounds not dissimilar to a soundtrack that could have and should have been made for either the Doom or Quake video games. Still, it is brilliant. It is nearly 8 minutes long but still sounds great for that length of time. The guitar solos are awesome.

Next is One By One. It is a more groove-based piece, to begin with, before going into another Nu-Metal classic by Alter Bridge. It has a great sound to it, deep and powerful. Another epic listening experience and a great song indeed. Well worth your time.

The acoustic Watch Over You sounds like a love song and is very confident and upbeat for this sort of music. It launches into a great song which is just as listenable as the other songs, although it is less heavy musically. A great and powerful listen. It is a simpler and more ballad oriented tune.

Break Me Down goes back into the Nu-Metal sort of sound. It goes back to the sort of riff-heavy sound that Nu-Metal fans will know and love. Another consistent and interesting listen. It sounds great, even today. This music has not aged one bit.

White Knuckles shows the more aggressive side of Alter Bridge here. It’s a fast, furious, and well structured listen. Much more uptempo, but still great sounding. A nice tune to hear if you like loud, raw, and powerful music. This is really excellent music here. Unforgettable. The drumming and guitar solos here are just mindblowing.

Next is Wayward One which is a slower and more melancholy piece that you will hear by Alter Bridge. It’s about the distress that one can experience in life. It’s still an excellent listen today. Not easy listening to this song, but a good listen nonetheless. A powerful and moody song.

Last is We Don’t Care At All. It’s a great way to end this album and sounds loud and punchy. A superb finish to a great album, and like all the other songs here, it is a must-listen. A good song.

This album is near perfect Nu-Metal. It is also a fantastic introduction to the darker side of music. If you are looking for really heavy music and great musicianship, look no further. Alter Bridge is a great listening place to start for this sort of music.

9/10