The fifth full-length album to spring from the cinders of Creed’s original disbandment crackles with boffo guitars, whooping harmonies and savvy arrangements topped by ‘80s-style power vocals. Ultimately, Alter Bridge's The Last Hero is a record that remains stuck between two polar vertexes—although weighed down by dour seriousness, it also lacks the raw brutality presented by their heavy metal contemporaries. Despite that paradoxical handicap, redemption is found via expert layering, durable choruses and some of the slipperiest, most transcendent axe bridges this side of Sunset Boulevard.
Score: 6 out of 10
Alter Bridge
The Last Hero
Caroline Records
Producer: Michael "Elvis" Baskette
