You know, I never liked Creed. When they first came out, they were all the rage and had some kind of “fresh and cutting edge” sound that quickly earned them all kinds of fame and cash. Yeah, they had a nice, raw rock sound, and it was definitely a lot better than listening to the Backstreet Boyz and any of the other hot Perlman products of the time.
The problem with Creed, though, is that they never made a new album. Yeah, they put out several more records which were well-recieved and earned them millions of dollars. They never progressed MUSICALLY, though, and to me (and other music nuts), that’s infinitely more important than making money.
So Creed breaks up, and out of the ashes rises two projects. You’ve got Scott Stapp in one corner, who breaks out of the Creed mold immediately by pushing a bluesy song on the Passion-inspired soundtrack coming out in a few weeks. In the other corner, you’ve got Altar Bridge — a band that features the other members of Creed not named Scott Stapp.
Don’t worry, Creed fans — Creed is still making records.
Actually, Alter Bridge’s “One Day Remains” is what would happen if you took Creed and mated them with bad parts of every big-name band you can think of. You’ve got some Hoobastank, you’ve got some Nickelback, and you’ve got a LOT of Chris Cornell. The problem with the record, though is…okay, the problem is EVERYTHING.
There is no originality involved in this project. Lead singer Miles Kennedy is a sad, sad ripoff of everything that you’ve ever heard in rock music. He copies everything but excels at nothing. From the opening song, he’s trying to channel Cornell as best as possible, but he sounds like a singer for one of those poor indie bands that you see opening for OTHER poor indie bands.
I’m sure you’ve all heard “Open Your Eyes” by this point. It’s the lead single off the record, and for good reason — it’s because IT IS CREED. This song is a perfect example of why I hate this record and this band so much — because they are presenting NOTHING that is fresh or new. Instead, they’re ripping off not another good band, but a band they JUST QUIT.
Mark Tremonti is going to bear the brunt of my anger here. For five years, I’ve heard Tremonti play the same riffs over and over again, and he’s gotten accolades as a great rock guitarist. WHY? Taking a drop-D/F riff and ripping it up in a song was cool the first time, but it’s gotten old after several albums. Tremonti was the main reason for Creed breaking up and Alter Bridge forming in the first place; the guy was being “creatively stifled” by Scott Stapp, so he took the other guys and started a new Creed.
I don’t want to sound like I’m bitter. Even though none of these guys are what I would consider to be stellar musicians, I am ALWAYS willing to forgive those minor flaws if someone will at least make an attempt to make some forward progress. These guys could have banded together and said “hey, you know what? We’ve made plenty of Creed records, so let’s make something new.”
This album is abysmal, from top to bottom. There are no redeeming qualities to it, and I’m already deleting it from my iPod.
You know, Scott Stapp was never my favorite singer. I hated him and the rest of Creed equally; I’m cool like that. Stapp might be full of himself, but I’ll give him full credit for attempting to do something new with his newfound solo career. Yeah, the song still sucks, but at least he’s trying to branch out.
Alter Bridge, however, can throw themselves off a bridge.
