by Sharon Mawer

After the demise of Creed, Mark Tremonti, Scott Phillips, and Brian Marshall obviously had unfinished business and hired singer/songwriter Myles Kennedy, who quickly formed a writing partnership with Tremonti, and the new band Alter Bridge brought out their debut album One Day Remains in 2004. Three years later in October 2007, the second album, Blackbird, was released and with new man Kennedy fully integrated into the lineup, Creed fans weren't disappointed although the overall sound had changed and had become both heavier and more mature without the bickering of Scott Stapp hindering the band's music. Right from track one, "Ties That Bind," there was an aggressive vocal and thundering guitar riff that hardly relented throughout the entire album. Tremonti was freed to play lead guitar as Eddie Van Halen would have done, which is shown to good effect on the track "Come to Life," but the overall heavy thunder effect of the guitar throughout denied him more chances to show off this skill. There were the more mellow tracks, however, "Brand New Start," "Buried Alive," "Watch Over You," and "Wayward One" all begin as acoustic songs and show the softer side of Alter Bridge. It was on the title track with eight minutes of powerful emotions at work that the band really shone, the song alternating between a hard rock guitar riff-heavy number and an acoustic ballad about the loss of a loved one.