A saga of the darkness and heaviness in this post grunge sound but too repetitive and exhausting.
Someone worth leading, someone everyone can respect, someone everyone can follow, a hero, probably the last one. “The Last Hero” is the 5th album of ALTER BRIDGE, published in October 6th, since 2004 and their first one “One Day Remains”. The album mainly tries to pass a message about what it means to be a hero and leader and how people are being misguided from the ones that lead now. Overall, the album carries a kind of post grunge sound reminding a bit of Alice in chains.
This album is a saga of the darkness and heaviness ALTER BRIDGE are trying to achieve while it sounds more riff attacking and aggressive compared to “Fortress” and “AB III”. This is actually a really great (and paying of) feature of the band, while the dropped tuning and the really heavy riffs of Tremonti give an actual boost on Myles Kennedy’s voice who literally shines, using his lower voice. The best feature is that sometimes he has to crawl back and gradually load and then he unleashes his echo and screams with his upper voice leaving the audience mind-blown more satisfied than ever.
“Show me a leader” is the 1st song of the album and it was released as a single the past July. It’s a very attacking and rebellious song which probably should not be the first song of the album. It drains lots of the listener’s energy and doesn’t give him space to prepare for what’s coming. It also gives the impression of the band trying really hard to play through and sometimes produces the feeling of being asphyxiated because of the heaviness and the loading.
“This album is a saga of the darkness and heaviness ALTER BRIDGE are trying to achieve”
“Show me a leader”, “The writing on the wall” and “My champion” are the 3 of the first 5 tracks that really kick in the start of the album. But it feels like the album doesn’t have a purpose. It is not taking the listener somewhere but rather comes hammering on him with the 3 most powerful songs of the album, exhausting him already, causing the feeling that there is nothing else to listen and being in the danger of becoming boring and repetitive.
5 songs after comes “Cradle to the Grave”. This song is pure magic. Perfect structure, impeccable guitar laying, an excellent timed melodic solo, stunning vocals and a slight heavy ballad tone, are the main characteristics of the best possibly song of the album. The lyrics actually stay on the listener’s mind and the rhythmic refrain kicks in a way that nobody can resist of attempting to sing along. Not to heroic and not to modest either, “Cradle to the Grave” is the proof of the geniuses ALTER BRIDGE are.
Several songs follow the continuing of the album that stay at the same point of the first 5 tracks and this is the main negative of the album because its making it really repetitive and quite boring. But for what is worth 2 more songs “You Will Be Remembered” and “Last of our kind” (bonus track) follow the greatness of “Cradle to the Grave”.
Passing on to the 9th track titled “You Will Be Remembered” there aren’t many words to describe the feeling of the song. It’s patriotic, it’s really filled with proud, it actually gives the impression of talking about heroes, it makes the listener get goosebumps for 4 minutes and 42 seconds and it literally saves the album along with the other two being referred above. It’s a song that captures the main theme of the album perfectly and passes it through. The mostly clean guitar sound along with the voice of Myles, urge the audience to travel along and listen to this story telling song. A very catchy refrain that gets once in your head and stays there for ever. A song that could easily stand by itself as a single and also as a possible theme song in war movies, starring honoured privates, patriot soldiers and veterans fighting for their country.
Last song but definitely memorable and worth mentioning is the bonus track of this album, “Last of our kind”. This track can literally represent all the heavy songs of the entire album. Perfect murderous riffs with a drop tuning give this darkness and aggression that ALTER BRIDGE worked really hard to achieve. A carefully balanced song that types the band’s character can make anyone become a fan of their music. The negative is that it’s another too powerful and attacking track which may go unnoticed due the fatigue of the listener from the previous songs and it’s a shame because it is the song that prints the band’s sound.