ALTER BRIDGE PAWNS & KINGS

By Ross Macdonald of Rockfiend

There can’t be many bands that get this deep into their catalogue with an unchanged line-up? Alter Bridge are that rare beast though and the near two-decade long journey from ‘One Day Remains’ to this new offering is proof that change is not always for the better. Seven albums in and whilst the names Kennedy and Tremonti rightly gush from the lips and pens of reviewers worldwide the rhythm section of Marshall and Phillips are still perhaps the best kept secret in the industry. At this stage such is the connection between one’s kick drum and the others bass line I’m pretty sure they’re the new industry standard for setting all time. We can do away with GMT, Zulu, EST and all the rest and just all set our watches to the ‘Bridge’ as it never alters.

Kennedy, for me, writes with a vision and ethos that it’s better to journey in hope than simply arrive at it and that vision is played out perfectly across these ten songs. Dark and deep as Tremonti can play; and at this stage I’m now convinced he’s the ring tone for the Balrog of Khazad-dûm, there’s no darkness he can fire sonically from those six strings that Kennedy cannot bring to the light with his voice. Together they have the ability to write songs that deliver brutal truths in beautiful ways and give answers to the questions we weren’t brave enough to ask ourselves and that is the rarest of gifts.

The ten songs in question this time around are intricately carved from the very finest of musical building blocks. By now you’ll have heard the opening four-gun single salvo of Pawns & Kings, Silver Tongue, Sin After Sin and This is War. Two of them bookmark the album and this is a collection of songs that should absolutely be listened to in the intended order so leave the shuffle button alone! This is an album that you don’t just listen to, you journey with and if you let it, it will take you on a hour’s escapism of audio adventures and sonic sightseeing. Dead Among the Living is a bombastic tale of getting back up whilst ‘Stay’ sees the vocal duties passed to Tremonti for what is sure to be a feel-good fan favourite. Not quite lighters in the air material but they’ll be a lot of closed eyed swaying from the crowd if this makes the live set. ‘Holiday’ romps through a groove laden cautionary tale of there being more to life than birth, work and death. ‘Fable of the Silent Son’ has certainly gained column inches for being over eight minutes long, I’ll leave you to discover it for yourself but put simply it’s a three movement magnus opus. ‘Season of Promise’ just hits my musical sweet spot. Harmonious and melodious in equal measure with some of my favourite ever Alter Bridge lyrics, it’ll make you feel ten feet tall. That leaves us with; ironically enough, ‘Last Man Standing’. A brooding dark account of the selling of souls. The lyric geek in me gives this one bonus points for using a word I’ve never seen in song before.

When you put all of that together Pawns & Kings really is a musical tour de force and will rightly feature in a lot of people’s album of the year lists (mine included). Most if not all of these ten new songs will go over huge in the live arena so the only real troubled water I see for the upcoming tour is what you drop from an already hit heavy set-list. I’ll be there in December to find out…you should be too.