Alter Bridge - The Last Hero. Album Review

Twelve years on since their impressive debut, Alter Bridge have consistently embodied impeccable musicianship along with dynamic and labyrinthine refrains, rewarding them great respect amongst their Heavy Metal contemporaries as well as a hugely devoted fan base. 

Their fifth studio endeavour, The Last Hero maintains the band’s relentless bombastic and rhapsodic nature, extensively piecing together complex musical narratives and complementing the experience with the occasional delicate restraint. The 13-track album, released via Napalm Records, manifests Alter Bridge’s most arduous and visionary undertaking to date with a high scrutiny on soaring manicured metal riffs and a cadence on modern politics.

Opener and first single,Show me a leader, kick starts the album in towering form, galvanising Alter Bridge’s now seemingly defined sound: melodic and concordant merged with a dynamic Metal soul. Performed on seven stringed guitars and utilizing alternative tunings, the song unfurls Alter Bridge’s large than life sonority to the absolute max.

Second single My Champion; a soul-stirring ballad with a hint of One Day Remains-era Alter Bridge with its benevolent and mirthful nature, swells with passion and warmth, comprising rallying choruses and inspiriting lyrics. This effort in particular demonstrating the mastery and finesse of Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti’s writing collaboration.

Tender movements are a rarity on The Last Hero,as tracks Losing Patience and Island of Fools amp up the heaviness and distortion whilst The Other Side subtly channels Metallica’s genre-defining riffage. Writing on the Wall showcases further Heavy Metal signatures and dark compositions whilst This Side of Fate,commencing with a gorgeous fingerpicked intro, unfolds into a sheer Metal Fusion and technical exhibition.

Subject matters reconnoitred on The Last Hero such as modern-day politics are executed tastefully as well as the descant of heroism, adroitly achieved in You Will Be Remembered. An affectionate serenade to the sacrifices of the Armed Forces, the ninth track on the album is as sincere as it is decorous and in an age seemingly construed by ceaseless conflict, it feels as appropriate and as profound as any musical act addressing a melancholy zeitgeist.

With The Last Hero, Alter Bridge have fashioned a tenacious synergy and further imposed their musical identity uniquely and cohesively; you have to hand it to them, they categorically demur to rest on their laurels.As each studiously made album expedites the metamorphic of the band,The Last Hero prospers in paying homage to their past, pervading their present and crusading loud and vehement into the future.

Track List

1. Show Me a Leader

2. The Writing on the Wall

3. The Other Side

4. My Champion

5. Poison in Your Veins

6. Cradle to the Grave

7. Losing Patience

8. This Side of Fate

9. You Will Be Remembered

10. Crows on a Wire

11. Twilight 

12. Island of Fools

13. The Last Hero