We are happy to celebrate the album "One Day Remains" by the band "Alter Bridge" which was released on August 10, 2004.
You are probably familiar with the nickname of the first episode of a new TV series, it is called "Pilot".
In the pilot, there are usually one or two famous actors, the concept of the series is a bit familiar from other series or movies, and the production and directing do not really belong to big names.
This one is a little bit different !!
We really loved the previous series (Creed) and also the main actors (one of them celebrated their birthday yesterday), we know how to recite the lyrics and even shed a tear in the drama scenes when the main actor welcomes us "with arms right open".
So why the hell was the lead actor (Scott Stapp) replaced, the "characters" of the other actors and so was the "plot" ???
We are sure that this is what the audience, critics, and other friends who loved "Creed" felt. What now??
Doing a spinoff of something that ended just a year ago? Well... for sure it's not !!
This is a completely new series, which gives actors more freedom to express themselves because they aren't in the shadow of the main famous actor, and they have a leading talent who knows how to take them to new heights.
(Photo: promediabank.com)
This "Alter Bridge" album is exactly this "pilot" and that's how it was created.
In the same year when "Creed" members announced their breakup, this debut album by Alter came out!
Already around the year, 2000 things started to bubble up in "Creed", disagreements mainly between singer the band leader Scott and the rest of the band intensified and this became even more valid with the departure of Brian Marshall when in 2004 they announced that they were disbanding (although they returned for another album "Full Circle" released In 2009).
It's not that simple to break up a package with a winning formula after three successful albums, three Grammy nominations, and one Best Rock Song win in 2001, especially when in addition they have a large and devoted fan base.
Our special friend, the "Sawmill from Texas" Mark Tremonti was determined to continue to form and create a new band, and together with the other members of "Creed", they were looking for a singer...
Three years earlier (in another dimension) the second album of the band "The Mayfield Four" was released after the commercial failure of their first album (but a great success by the critics and musicians) this album also did not really succeed and the end has already begun to give its signals. The band's founder and lead singer Myles Kennedy drowned in depression following his band's failure and returned to teaching guitar, which he did just before founding the band. Some say this is also the reason for his refusal when he received an offer from "Velvet Revolver" (not sure if Slash or Matt approached him) but he refused, yes... yes... he refused the Guns lineup !!
Anyway, he refused Slash and Matt but when Tremonti approached him a year later, he said yes !! (And how glad we are that he said yes)
(Photo: wallpapaerflare.com)
That same year, 2003, the band members began working on the album, with Tremonti bringing to the studio almost all of the music and about half of the lyrics and Myles completing the other lyrics. And here you have a "pilot" album ready. How simple and easy!
Although it sound simple and easy it was much harder!!
Everyone expected to get "Creed", these are the same musicians! Ok, you replaced the main "actor" but it should be the same?! "Creed" members were exposed to pressure not only from fans but also from producers, executives, and record companies. Everyone demanded "Creed" and the band to return to Scott. Imagine how difficult it was for a new actor to join a "cast" that everyone knows and loves when apart from the same cast no one wants him. But unlike what happened on the outside, this bonding was so natural and amazing that the band members did not let any outside pressures dictate the way for them and they released this album the same year they announced "Creed" breakup as mentioned.
So everyone who expected to get "Creed", got a whole new and completely different band.
This album is special for a lot of reasons, let's start with the fact that we undoubtedly feel that there is a moving touch here, but Tremonti here gives his creativity a complete freedom that is not dictated by anyone (especially not by people who think they are in the image of Messiah). The riffs and guitar sound sometimes feel like grunge, sometimes heavy metal, and sometimes melodic hard rock.
Myles brings an amazing vocal talent and presents the songs with caresses, roars, assertiveness, and full synchronization with Tremonti. There are also good performances by Brian on bass and Scott Phillips on drums but they are not prominently expressed throughout the album.
Aside from being a talented singer, Myles is also a guitarist by grace but does not perform guitars on this album, at least not getting credit for it, unlike what happens on the band's future albums.
The album brings a number of songs that make up the band's base in terms of sound, melody, and lyrics.
The song “One Day Remains” which begins with Tremonti's "dance" and the rhythm of Brian and Scott is one of the band's foundations.
Continue to "Open Your Eyes" which is one of the most exciting on the album and an integral part of the band's stylist in performances, with a melodic and catchy structure that makes you want to sing out loud.
The song "Metalingus" is one of the most prominent songs on the album and one of the band's hallmarks at the beginning, although it was not released as a single, it became the theme song of the wrestler "The Edge". It is something completely new that feels like a piece all band members have wanted to create for a long time and failed with their previous lineup, with Myles as we said performing amazingly with scary lows and frightening highs.
Moving on to the most moving song on the album (in our opinion yes!) “Broken Wings”, Tremonti’s fret with the text and voice of Myles showing here that this is just the beginning of the amounts of emotion we are going to get from it is just an amazing opening shot.
If that's not enough then there is another little thrill "In Loving Memory" that totally breaks you down. One of our most moving songs in recent years as it has a personal pedigree, a song that embraces our lost loved ones and says goodbye to them as it promises not to be forgotten.
But with the song "Watch Your Words" you already know... while in the Tremonti language "The Sawmill from Texas" (we invented it) drops "bombs" that have been boiled down somewhere in the metal cellars, Brian and Scott carry it on their shoulders and Myles like a huge giant lead you towards the horizon, it happens... a small smile slowly expands on your face with the internalization of the insight that there is something new, exciting, kicking, aggressive and amazing. If until now there were doubts or uncertainties, now you already know this is it !!
So in honor of the end, we will have an apocalyptic song that also clearly characterizes the sound of the band "The End Is Here", "Here you have found the answers for the rest of your life..."
We know that a lot of the band's fans were not really exposed to this album, especially in light of the fact that the second album "Blackbird" is the one that was the band's breakthrough and brought it to international success, we are convinced that there is even a chance it is not in your arsenal.
So it's not too late, this is a good opportunity to go back and listen to the album from which it all started because today we already know who Alter Bridge is and we're just crazy about them !!
Listen to the album on: Spotify, Apple Music