Alter Bridge ‘Walk The Sky’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Napalm Records/Hard Rock
Since their formation, Alter Bridge have become one of the pillars of modern hard rock, seminal albums such as ‘One Day Remains’, ‘Blackbird’ and ‘ABIII’ cemented Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti as a vocalist and guitarist to be reckoned with. Yet, with their previous albums ‘Fortress’ and ‘The Last Hero’, the band had reached something or a creative plateau with the band struggling to reach the initial spark that catapulted the band to stardom. In between various side-projects and other bands, Alter Bridge have once again found the time to release their latest studio album ‘Walk The Sky’.
Much like the band’s previous efforts, ‘Walk The Sky’ continues to walk the plateau already alluded to. This does mean that the latest Alter Bridge album is certainly not bad, but it does also mean that it isn’t great either; it doesn’t have the same bite as ‘One Day Remains’ or the creative spark that runs throughout ‘Blackbird’. However, what ‘Walk The Sky’ has is accessibility; this is an album which is easy to listen to, it is easy to like and therefore it will get endless plays upon rock radio stations and television. This is almost entirely down to the albums production, once again, this production is sleek and polished, one deserved of an album destined to sell thousands. But conversely, this makes ‘Walk The Sky’ feel stuffy and overfilled and when combined with a formulaic writing style designed to deliver hit records, it leaves this album feeling overproduced and a tad too long, taking away from the overall effort which is sadly, actually pretty good, particularly with tracks such as ‘Wouldn’t You Rather’, ‘Indoctrination’ and the excellent ‘Tear Us Apart’ which really does give a reminder just how good Kennedy and Tremonti can actually be.
‘Walk The Sky’ continues the Alter Bridge trend of an album which is just better than average, it’s a long way from where they began and it won’t set the world alight, but it is certainly not unlistenable. It is a mature album and maybe a cautious album, one that guarantees a step forward rather than a giant leap befitting of a successful band, but it is predictable, at times a little boring and that is disappointing because deep down, we know that Alter Bridge can do better, much better.
Rating : 70/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
