Tremonti
Cauterize

When we talk about the guitarist Mark Tremonti, one cannot help but reflect on his now lengthy artistic career (about twenty years) and the remarkable musical evolution that has characterized it. Probably, not many years ago, no one would have imagined that the creator of melodic arpeggios such as those in One Last Breath and in Wide Arms Wide Open, from the golden era of Creed, would later indulge in metal-like riffs and adrenaline-filled rhythms.

In his life, Tremonti founded as many as three bands: first Creed, darlings of 90s post-grunge with over 40 million albums sold, then Alter Bridge, born from the providential meeting between Mark Tremonti and the other compositional genius Myles Kennedy, and finally the Tremonti Solo Project, or simply called Tremonti, the eponymous solo band. In all this, it's evident the progressive hardening process of the sound that brought from Creed up to now. All of this happened in an absolutely coherent way, a gradual evolution that led Tremonti to full compositional maturity.

And if in 2012 the Orlando guitarist had recruited Eric Friedman (guitar), Garrett Whitlock (drums), and the son of art Wolfgang Van Halen (bass) to debut with his first solo album, All I Was, certainly one of the best albums of his career, three years later he decided to repeat by putting together the same team, shaping an even harder and more mature album than its predecessor: Cauterize.

At a superficial listening, Cauterize seems simply like a nice album, with some tracks more fitting than others, and nothing more. But those who know Tremonti's artistic journey well will have no difficulty seeing in it the Sum of his entire musical career. It contains everything he has done, a perfectly balanced mix of post-grunge, hard rock, heavy metal, thrash metal, anger, and a lot of melody.

The album is closely linked to his more recent career, both with the previous All I Was and with Alter Bridge's works, yet at the same time distancing itself to find its own identity: far from saying, therefore, that the album is a hodgepodge of the main band's leftovers. Tremonti certainly doesn't need to recycle old ideas, given his inexhaustible compositional vein (despite having written dozens, hundreds of songs). Darker and more obscure than its predecessor, enriched by the significant improvements in Mark's vocals, the album features pounding double bass, sharp riffs, always perfect solos, heaviness, and melody that find a perfect balance.

The album begins with Radical Change, a punch on the gums that surprises us with its speed. The metal riffs and Whitlock's rapid drumming sustain a frantic ride that ends in the usual final solo.

It continues with Flying Monkeys, slow and heavy, not bad but perhaps a more down the tracklist position would have enhanced it better. The general slowness penalizes the rhythm section, which is almost reduced to the bone. The least convincing track, very "experimental" and not very successful.

The title track is another wild ride that opens with a massive main riff, then progresses towards more melodic shores without losing considerable speed. One of the best tracks. Next is Arm Yourself, the hardest track on the album, where the influences of 80s thrash metal become more evident: definitely spot on.

At some point, one needs to slow down and catch a breath: it's time for Dark Trip, an interesting semi-ballad in which Tremonti takes us on a dark and winding journey. Despite being much slower and more melodic, it makes us forget for its compositional beauty the previous four tracks.

Another Heart is the launch single, blatantly radio-friendly. The rocky main riff and the granite central groove fail to save a track that winks too much at commerciality, resulting in being too predictable. Much better is the following Fall Again, one of the two ballads on the album, in which the beauty of Tremonti's warm voice emerges. Tie The Noose is the classic "Mark Tremonti-style" track, nice and gritty but doesn't add anything that hasn't been heard before.

Sympathy is the second ballad on the album, a wonderful, airy, and emotional piece: the best of the album. It goes head-to-head with Alter Bridge's ballads. Providence is the "Blackbird" of the Tremonti Solo Project, which with its epicness beautifully closes an almost perfect album.

The only flaw of the album is that Mark Tremonti and co. have accustomed us to such a high musical level that some tracks (even if remarkable themselves) go somewhat unnoticed. Going even further is increasingly difficult, but this artist doesn't seem afraid of failing. Well-deserved 4 stars.