Alter Bridge
Walk The Sky

After 3 years since the release of the previous "The Last Hero", another triumphant tour (and the recording of a concert film at the Royal Albert Hall in London, complete with orchestra), and finally the now customary appointments with the band's side projects (his majesty Slash, the respective solo careers of Kennedy and Tremonti), at last, the renowned duo Myles Kennedy/Mark Tremonti reunites with the goal of producing yet another musical hit for Alter Bridge. With the faithful Brian Marshall on bass and Scott Phillips on drums, in just a few months (despite just returning from intensive tours of other musical projects), the Orlando quartet has put together what will surely be a new commercial success, titled "Walk The Sky."

Already from the "winning" name and the bright cover that pays homage to the relentless flight of the "blackbirds," the album presents itself as the definitive consecration of a band that, after a truly long and initially difficult journey (especially in shedding the cumbersome shadow of Creed, Tremonti's former band), has established itself as one of the main pillars of alternative metal worldwide. Our band has definitively reached the pinnacle of success in their genre: they are a consolidated and well-known musical reality, thanks to a style that, while fitting within the mainstream, is fully personal, technically high-level, and above all, immediately recognizable.

Being a band that has accustomed our ears all too well, previously producing practically perfect albums, thanks especially to the prolific compositional vein of the two geniuses Kennedy and Tremonti (different yet complementary), it goes without saying that expectations for this Walk The Sky were particularly high. There was great anticipation to see if they would surpass themselves once again, as they have (almost) always done. How did it go? Unfortunately, not very well.

Let’s get it straight: this album is certainly not below average. Alter Bridge is so good at writing this type of music that they couldn't make a truly awful album even if they tried. But precisely having accustomed listeners too well makes one frown toward something that doesn't meet what was expected. In what sense? Simple, Alter Bridge has finished their artistic growth here. They have nothing more to say.

But let’s take a step back. After the first two beautiful works (that "One Day Remains" reminiscent of Creed and the more mature and somber "Blackbird"), Alter Bridge underwent a semi-artistic shift starting from the controversial ABIII (not fully successful), from which their style was born-less "post-grunge" and more "alternative metal," which was consolidated with the subsequent Fortress (where they reached their compositional peak) and then with the debatable "The Last Hero" (where things began to wobble). Here things wobble a lot: Walk The Sky is simply, unfortunately, the repetitive, redundant, at times unbearable reproposition of the typical Alter Bridge sound solutions of the last decade, from the "shift" of ABIII onwards.

The first thing that makes one frown upon listening is the production, simply abominable. An over-compressed sound, with unnecessary multi-layered sounds, that literally makes one's head spin when listening to the album for the first time, so much so that it makes one miss the decidedly cleaner production of works from a few years ago (ABIII and Fortress). This sense of excessive dirtiness in the production "masks" the sounds, making it more difficult to appreciate the work of the instruments.

From the various tracks emerges all the compositional fatigue of these 4 musicians who practically, between frenetic tours and side projects, have never stopped since 2004. In general, the songs are more direct and less elaborate than in the past, and unfortunately tend to resemble each other, witnessing the compositional exhaustion taking place in the band. Certain drum breaks, certain warbles by the good Myles, certain guitar passages are now practically predictable: just know a little about the group to understand where that song is going to go. If this album in the band's intentions was supposed to sound different (as Tremonti had announced before its release), it does so in a predominantly negative way. In short, the ideas are beginning to be scarce, better to reshuffle what's already there.

Everything feels déjà vu, and it hurts to admit it, since not many years ago an Alter Bridge album literally amazed on the first listen. It's strange to listen to one of their albums and see more than half the album slip away without lingering particularly on almost any piece. Certainly, some new solutions such as keyboards and electronic sounds are not enough to refresh a sound that is beginning to be decidedly stale.

The lack of inspiration is evident. The reason is probably that the best ideas from the group's two songwriters, Kennedy and Tremonti, have mainly flowed into the parallel projects (just look at other decidedly more interesting works, like the latest album by Slash feat. Kennedy or the latest album by Tremonti). They are two artists who have enriched and evolved each other since their meeting, but over time are progressively taking different paths, so much so that perhaps now the parallel project is precisely Alter Bridge (artistically speaking). Already with the previous The Last Hero (which still took up the "progressive" coordinates of the excellent Fortress), the decline in quality was beginning to show, but here it becomes concerning.

But maybe there is another reason, called "commercialization": the decline started 3 years ago, precisely coinciding with the switch to the more prestigious label Napalm Records. The producers' influence has homogenized, at least in part, the band's sound to that of the myriad of other alternative bands out there (especially in the invasive production and repetitiveness).

Even the pre-release singles hinted that things weren't going as usual, after all, tracks like "In The Deep," "Take The Crown," or "Pay No Mind" are rather insignificant compared to pieces like "Come To Life," "Coming Home," or "Blackbird," just to name a few. After a pointless intro ("One Life"), and this "Wouldn't You Rather" that wants to be the new stadium hit (but with half the explosiveness of some past hits), follows a series of tracks that in previous albums would have served as fillers, just to drag things out. The sound is more "cheerful" and less somber than a while ago, perhaps more designed for concert choruses than anything else. The most interesting pieces that can come close to the old splendours are Walking On The Sky, Dying Light, and Forever Falling (sung by Tremonti, testifying to his now-profound desire for protagonism).

This album isn't bad in an absolute sense, but it is for a band of Alter Bridge's caliber, and it makes one very nostalgic for the good old days. It makes one nostalgic for the old atmospheres, the truly spot-on guitar solos (and not mere ornament), the high notes not overused but used at the right moment, the epicness, and the emotions that have built the band's trademark. In short, there's nostalgia for Alter Bridge's good old days. Rating 6/10.