Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Review for new Alter Bridge (3/4 Creed) album

One Day Remains

Originally released: 2004
Wind-Up Records
 
 
 You can't kill Creed, even if you try. Anyone hoping that the departure of Scott Stapp would end an era of evangelical grunge would be advised to skip the debut from Alter Bridge, a.k.a. three-fourths of Creed with a new singer. New frontman Myles Kennedy is a better singer than his one-note predecessor -- his upper-octave voice lands him capably between Chris Cornell and Robert Plant -- but he's just as prone to hokey religious imagery. There's already talk of an "angel" and a "crown of thorns" on the opening track, "Find the Real," and it's not an isolated theme here. On the other hand, guitarist Mark Tremonti just shreds. His piercing solos on "One Day Remains" and "Metalingus" are positively Slash-like and a hell of a lot better than anything on the Velvet Revolver record. Maybe there's some hope for being reborn after all.


KIRK MILLER
(Posted Sep 16, 2004)

The album only got a 2 out of 5 star review

Contraband received a 4 out of 5 star review


 

Bah RS don't know shit - but slash didn't excel on Contraband so i wouldn't say they are too far off the mark, as for that alter bridge album - religious grunge? May have to add that to my Creed collection..... : ok:

slash had his moments on Contraband but a few of the riffs were a bit familiar if you catch my drift.

Well maybe he thought the rest of contraband was better than the rest of the new alter bridge album.

Maybe he would have given contraband a 5/5 review if the guitar work was up to the task.

that cd on Open Your Eyes is fuckin amazing! i must say its better than most of contrabands solo's.

I hate to say it but SLash didnt expand his talents on that record at all.

Maybe it was different writer?  ;)

Open Your Eyes is another bland modern rock song, but I have to say, I was absolutely blown away by the solo.  It reminded me of Eddie Van Halen...I was like, "whoa, is that SHRED that I hear?"  Very cool to hear a guitar solo like that in a modern rock song.  Slash has a few good solos on Contraband, but nothing that really stuck out.  The album is more about songwriting than instrumental virtuosity, I thought.  That makes sense when you consider that it's really closer in sound to Stone Temple Pilots than Guns N' Roses, and STP as a grunge band weren't really into solos.

I dunno,
I miss longer solos on Contraband, but the ones he does rip are cool. Like the intro of the solo for you got no right, and the solo on Dirty Little Thing, Headspace's also got a cool solo in it, Fall To Pieces obviously, and a brilliant moving solo in Loving The Alien.

Come to think of it Slash has plenty of brilliant moments in Contraband. The thing is, he chose to say a lot more with fewer notes.

And believe me, that's a guy that can say more with one note than Creed-man, or Chicken-Man can with a whole shred-fest.

Agreed!  : ok:

People are forgetting, Slash doesn't play solo's for the sake of it...

I love all the guitar work on Contraband and have no problem with the shortness or simplicity of the solos.

Man, the second solo part on Big Machine has some superbly chosen notes.  It's ace.

As is all of it.

Man, people suck.

There's nothing wrong with someone not liking the album, I hate creed myself, but that's me..

Onto contraband itself, I agree with what More Black has to say..

I honestly think the album rocks, I love the solos, I can admitt they're not as big as his gnr days, but what can ever be like those? Also this is a band with a different lead singer, it's anew era for these guys, maybe they didn't want huge guitar parts.. It's possible, we know slash could have made eaxch solo a minute long, just listen to Aint' life grand, the guitar parts are awesome, but the band was SLASH'S...

I would like a few longer solos, fuck I'd even love a guitar album from slash one day.. We know he can play awesom on the guitar, he's always done great solos on guest spots. during the old gun's tour, etc..

It's a group effort and no one is really the center of attention, I know they have ftps, but it was something they all went through..

At the end of the day IU don't care about reviews, all that matters is if I like the album, and I love contraband..

Why couldnt it be? Afterall, the guys who made the solos for GNr are the guys in VR. I can see your point if your talking about another band that lacks solos and say, "yea they are not as big as gnr days, but when ever be like those"...that i can see...but if the guys that were in gnr are in the band, why cant they do work similar to that?

And it doesnt mean they have to push for the GNR sound. Why cant they have thier own sound and still go all out?

I think they're going all out, maybe it's different with a new lead singer? I can't give the answers, the talent is there.. Maybe they will upgrade with the new album, maybe they just wanted shorter rockers with good solos but not as long, I can't tell you.. I'm only guessing like most people do..

I personally love the album, it's got the hard rock songs, ballads, etc, that's the type of music I like..
I'll have to see when they make a new album.. Maybe contraband is exactly what THEY wanted.. To someone that loved gnr might seems this as less, to other it might seem very good..?

slash's solos and general guitar parts make me happy he's not working with Axl anymore... talentless piece of shit IMHO

Yeah he's talentless, just listen to gnr albums ::) You could be the biggest axl fan in the world, but those guns songs wouldn't sound the same without those guitar parts..

Voted best riff, scom : ok:

I think his work on CB was pretty good, compared to what he has done 1995-2003 (I didn't like his stuff post-GN'R). But IMO it's still very far to what he did/could do in his GN'R days. Honestly I think the guitar solos are what make CB pretty good, even though I'm not a big fan of the vocals/lyrics.

Slash's playing on Snakepit was phenomenal on some of the songs. The banda and the singers were a different story

"Somebody raped my tapeworm abortion
come on motherfuckers and deliver the cow"

How can you not love those lyrics? they're so off the wall and free. Much more edgy than any other rock band out there right now

my only problem on contraband is suckertrain blues, he couldve really did something amazing there but just kinda half assed it, i dont care which song of GNR's it was slash always made whatever solo he did awesome and stand out, i listen to STB and think, Cmon SLash!

Suckertrain Blues is my favourite off the album, great riff and cool solo

But again it's the song that matters, and the song rocks. As a whole, it didn't need a total shred solo. He's telling you something with all the bends and whammy bar stuff, very lyrical in fact. And it compliments the increasing tension in the track.
If you want Slash shred just put on Dirty Little Thing

 ???

I love that solo...it sounds like a bomb exploding.  I especially like how it begins during Scotts wailing.  Its a good example of Slash trying something relatively new and succeeding.

I love Contraband, but I do agree maybe Slash needs to just take a little more time. I think thats his main problem. The way he is, he just wants to make an album and put it out there and hope for the best. I believe he did say in some interviews that some of the solos were first takes, etc. He didn't spend time on them, in my opinion. If he did, and worked on how to make them sound better, and even make them longer...I think the album would be 10x better. Except for You Got No Right....i think that song is perfect the way it is  : ok:

im not sayin it isnt good but this is Slash guys!

that solo is better than any solo that most bands could do now but i hold Slash to a very high standard the same way some of u hate silk worms and oh my god

we know slash's ability and the solo's are good dont get me wrong but not the best slash can do, i guess thats because they went for more spontaneous stylings instead of polished and focused.

Prince compares a guitar solo or any kind of solo to making love, and he talks about  building it up to the climax, on contraband sometimes it builds but doesnt quite go that extra mile that we are use to slash goin.

I understand its a different style and a great solo isnt about how many notes u play etc etc but on suckertrain blues i guess im not hearin what u all are hearin to me the guitar isnt up high enough in the mix or something.

True/
I was under the assumption that it was the same writer for some reason... :-[

Rodney you dipstick

When I started this thread I should have mentioned that:
David Fricke reviewed Contraband in RS 951
Kirk Miller reviewed Alter bridge in RS 957

But don't read too much into who the reviewer is because to maintain credibility RollingStone mentions in every CD review section that Ratings are supervised by the editors of RollingStone

I dont want to make this an Axl vs Slash threads at all...but to get my point acroos Ill try to give you an example of Slashs guitar playing, in relation to Axl....

Ok, so many of you say, Slashs work is not as good as old GNr or what hes capable but then say hes a lot better than the crap thats out there.

Would you say the same for Axl? Would you say CD as an album or a particular song is not what we thought it would be{as good if not better than any old GNR classic} but its a lot better than the crap is out there and let him get away with that? GNR name or not, you would say what the hell, all this talk and hype and theres no bang.....and you would then proceed to all the Axl is washed up, he needs the old band, etc threads....

My point is we hold Axl and new gnr up to a certain standard and it seems as if VR gets a pass because "they are doing a simple record", they are a new band""give them time" etc....Even if it wasnt under the GNR name, I still would be expecting what Im expecting from CD....

And if VR want to do simple records...fine...thats their right and choice. Absolutely...but at the same time we dont need to hear them hype it up like they do or grant them praise simply because of what they ONCE did...

I think those lyrics are awesome. 

I think Contraband is great. But if you ask me the biggest thing missing is Slash. IMO Scott is the one who really makes the album work. The guys tried too hard not to sound like Guns or STP. I think next album they should just play what they feel and go more twards the hard rock, blues rock, classic rock thing and let Slash go nuts. The Snakepit albums could have been great if they had a singer like Scott.

yup, totally agree. they are a little out there, but not all lyrics should be "this is how i feel at this very moment and this is why".

Sorry, they're just not my cup of tea. I don't relate to them at all. This is just my opinion, to each his own! ;)

What song is that from?

Suckertrain Blues man!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree. I have 2 problems with Contraband: Slash's guitar work is not as good as it used to be (including the Snakepit albums) and the Contraband songs are too homogenic...I want to mean there isn't too much different styles of music, although the guys can play great 'hard rock, blues rock, classic rock' etc. I hope they'll show their real talent on the next album.

PS: IMO the Snakepit records's guitar work beats everything GN'R has ever done except of AFD.

Did you skip the Use Your Illusion albums?  ???

Maybe you don't like great guitar melodies such as the one that can found on Estranged?  :nervous:



/jarmo

I meant albums. UYI has some brilliant guitar work (my favourites are Estranged, NR, Locomotive, Bad Apples, Coma, Perfect Crime, Garden of Eden and The Garden), but in overall I prefer the guitars on the Snakepit albums. So they don't beat every songs, but IMO they beat UYI I and UYI II as a whole.

The only reason the guitar on Contraband isn't as good as his previous work is i think he rushed himself abit. But i love the guitar on contraband. Especially the YGNR solo..thats long as any of his previous stuff and it kicks ass.

i didn't say slash couldn't play. i just said he isn't playing all that in VR. he was better in GNr and snakepit. i rather play snakepit than VR. the solos are better and so are the riffs. and no need to argue he was the king in GN'R. everyone knows that. i just think he lost something with this band.

That's fine, but you had said this
slash's solos and general guitar parts make me happy he's not working with Axl anymore... talentless piece of shit IMHO

I think the guitar solo in Slither is the best I've heard since UYI.

The solo in slither is brilliant best ive heard slash play since serial killer on the snakepit anthem now thats a solo :hihi:

Yeah  :yes: And Back to the moment, Shine, Back and forth again, Neither can I and so on... Greatest guitarist ever!

some guy on belowempty.com was sayin Slash was all solo and no substance :rant:

But I set him straight. Fall to Pieces, that's all I needed to say, just listen to Fall To Pieces... There's your substance. : ok:

maybe he just wants Dean whatshisnuts to play guitar in VR :nervous:

Slash's solos are not as good as they were on Appetite and Illusions, but there are some great solos nevertheless.  Also, some of the riffs, like Fall to Pieces, Superhuman, and Loving the Alien are trademark Slash.  The solos in Spectacle, Slither, You Got No Right, and Fall to Pieces are great as well.  So, I think it's hard to criticize him for this album.

I love Slash's work on Contraband. I think anyone liek this jag-off from rolling stone who has a problem with them was just caught off guard by the fact that he is not constantly soloing like on alot of the gnr material. Slash would have 3 solo's on a song and they would all kick ass. The solo on YGNR is one of his best ever if u ask me and theres other cool ones on contraband. This loser from rolling stone is probably one fo the same people who composed that 100 greatest guitarists ever and didn't mention slash. What the fuck was up with that? Even the people who claim he is over rated have to admit seeing some of those people on the list and not Slash was pretty fuckin mind boggling.

I love Slash, but his solo on "YGNR" resembled Joe Perry's on "Livin on the Edge".
So if that is what you are talking about, then I hear you out.
 :o
MNR

Slash's guitar wasn't as good as it could've been no.

Slash isn't Velvet Revolver. THey are a band and it showed.

A great effort on COntraband.

NO problem at all.