Creed
Full Circle

Reunion of Creed?! Gosh, let's hope not... And yet… 2009, Creed is back on the scene, tour + new album. Who expected that? No one. But WindUp was hoping for it, which, after making some money with a useless Greatest Hits 7 years ago, has now managed to bring back together all 4 original musicians... The originals mean 1996… Another millennium… The die-hard fans that went crazy for Creed back then now have families (like the musicians themselves, after all). So what was the reason to bring this thing back together? Well… who knows… Probably between "a lot of money" and "proving to the world that we are still cool and make great music," the truth lies somewhere in between... So it happens that Stapp (vocals) and Tremonti (guitar), the heart of Creed, after past disagreements and divergent musical projects, are back in action and even present us with a new album: Full Circle. And how is it? Decent.

I was thinking of a more appropriate, sharper adjective, but I'd say we can be happy that the result is not indecent, shameless, just an excuse for a tour and some money brought home. We can grant them "decent"... The style moves a bit away from the "prepackaged," "polished" previous work ("Weathered," 2001), allowing Tremonti to play some solos, and Philipps to hit the drums a bit. But they don't go too far. The structure of all the tracks is classic, Stapp's voice is the same, flat, and Marshall on bass certainly doesn't improvise any acrobatics.

Twelve tracks, an hour of rock that alternates harder moments ("Fear," "Bread of Shame," "Overcome") with sugary ones ("Away in Silence" or "Rain", the latter so commercial it's sickening...). Then there are those little songs that have very little to say, like "Suddendly" or "Good Fight", which you'd expect from a band of twenty-somethings filling up a CD, not from seasoned almost forty-somethings with 15 years of career (or maybe that's exactly what has drained them a bit?).

The success they had 10 years ago was mainly due to the hormones of 15-year-olds in the 90s for Stapp's swagger and arrogance, and for the straightforward, effective mix of Tremonti's powerful riffs and lighter-worthy choruses. Full Circle didn't manage to recreate that “magic”. Could it be that the current 15-year-olds are crawling after Tokio Hotel and similar aberrations? But it can't be just that...

However, it would be unfair not to acknowledge two nice surprises from the new Creed: the first is "On My Sleeve", a simple, straightforward rock ballad with a catchy chorus, with a 90s epic aftertaste, accompanied by strings (fake, well)… But the highlight is "Time": definitely the best on the album. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but a song like this could have been written by Zeppelin 20 years ago. Tremonti in the interlude offers us one of the best arpeggios of his career, Stapp gives an intense lyric and vocal lines that stick to your skin. A mature, anguished, piercing, dark song, full of emotion. I still can't explain why Tremonti didn't insert one of his solos, which would have made the piece a true gem, one of those you’d put in “best rock ballads ever” compilations. A really wasted chance for a song that won't be appreciated enough...

So, Creed is back, they say they’re “here to stay”… Honestly, no one had asked them to... But for now, they're not doing too badly… Hopefully, if they must continue, they'll try to innovate a bit more, dare, and thoroughly take care of the tracks. A decent album is okay, but two would become a bore...