| Written by Alex Mrkonjic TRACK LISTING Bringer Of War From The Sky A Dying Machine Trust Throw Them To The Lions Make It Hurt Traipse The First The last A Lot Like Sin The Day When Legions Burned As The Silence Becomes Me Take You With Me Desolation Found Release Date: June 8, 2018 Label: Napalm Records Website: www.marktremonti.com |  |
TREMONTI IS:
Mark Tremonti - Lead vocals & guitars Eric Friedman - Guitars & backing vocals Tanner Keegan - Bass
Garrett Whitlock - Drums & percussion
Mark Tremonti - Lead vocals & guitars Eric Friedman - Guitars & backing vocals Tanner Keegan - Bass
Garrett Whitlock - Drums & percussion
This long into a career, you would begin to think if guitar virtuoso Mark Tremonti has hit his creative peak with a Grammy Award win and 40 millions plus records sold between Alter Bridge, Creed and the eponymous Tremonti, but we would be wrong, as the Tremonti band comes out with A Dying Machine, the best record they've made to date. Since showing up in 2012 with his bandmates Garrett Whitlock (drums) and Eric Friedman (bass,guitar), they built a great foundation with their debut album All I Was and then further gathered a strong following with the follow-ups Cauterize and Dust. Pair that with headlining gigs and festivals ranging from Shiprocked and Rock On The Range and you are bound to have some success. "I've never done anything like this." he admits. "I had the vision in mind the entire time. Some songs directly relate to the narrative, while some of them are more ambiguous. Even with the concept, it's very personal. At it's core, this is a human story, but with a twist." When listening to the record from start to finish, I really understood what Tremonti meant when he said that, it is a very human story, but as a metal record, it kicks so much ass to the point that when it came out, I was listening to it for two weeks straight.
The albums starts off with the six-string assault "Bringer Of War" which is about a warmonger with no pitty who just wants to bring destruction. Being influenced by authors like George R.R. Martin to create this concept album, you can hear his nod to Game Of Thrones with the lyric “I am the breaker of chains, the only chance that remains, and I am gonna start a fire”, which refers to the character Daenerys Targaryen from the Game Of Thrones novels. A perfect way to start off the album and to prepare the listener for what is to come, and of course a killer solo by Tremonti and drummer Garrett Whitlock really shines on this track as well.
If you are a listener who just loves Tremonti for their thrashy heavy hitting songs, you will not be disappointed: “Throw Them To The Lions” and “The Day When Legions Burned” are both songs that are pit-ready and will appease the appetite for metal mayhem. You also have the aforementioned “Bringer Of War” and the more vocally aggressive “ A Lot Like Sin”. There are also however moments of muted instrumentation in “Make It Hurt” and “Trust” as well as adding some more somber bluesy-like moments with “As The Silence Becomes Me” and “Desolation”. On top of that, acoustic guitars do get their time in the spotlight throughout the album and the album does have its lighter moments as well with “The First The Last” and album's first radio single “Take You With Me”, which peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs. The former song I feel like could be a great single for the album if given the right opportunity, or as Tremonti says about the song: “Be proud of who you are. Be proud of whatever scars you have. Don't ever forget where you came from. Stand up for yourself, and I'll help you do it. You're smarter and stronger than you'll ever know. It's someone trying to raise somebody up.”
If there is any criticism about the album is that the shifts in the overall narrative can be hard to put together if you are trying to understand the story. Tremonti is also writing a novel to accompany the album, which i'm sure will help understand the story a little more, but in the meantime A Dying Machine will just have to do. It is without a doubt one of the best records they have ever produced musically and lyrically. Period.
Final Rating: 9/10
The albums starts off with the six-string assault "Bringer Of War" which is about a warmonger with no pitty who just wants to bring destruction. Being influenced by authors like George R.R. Martin to create this concept album, you can hear his nod to Game Of Thrones with the lyric “I am the breaker of chains, the only chance that remains, and I am gonna start a fire”, which refers to the character Daenerys Targaryen from the Game Of Thrones novels. A perfect way to start off the album and to prepare the listener for what is to come, and of course a killer solo by Tremonti and drummer Garrett Whitlock really shines on this track as well.
If you are a listener who just loves Tremonti for their thrashy heavy hitting songs, you will not be disappointed: “Throw Them To The Lions” and “The Day When Legions Burned” are both songs that are pit-ready and will appease the appetite for metal mayhem. You also have the aforementioned “Bringer Of War” and the more vocally aggressive “ A Lot Like Sin”. There are also however moments of muted instrumentation in “Make It Hurt” and “Trust” as well as adding some more somber bluesy-like moments with “As The Silence Becomes Me” and “Desolation”. On top of that, acoustic guitars do get their time in the spotlight throughout the album and the album does have its lighter moments as well with “The First The Last” and album's first radio single “Take You With Me”, which peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs. The former song I feel like could be a great single for the album if given the right opportunity, or as Tremonti says about the song: “Be proud of who you are. Be proud of whatever scars you have. Don't ever forget where you came from. Stand up for yourself, and I'll help you do it. You're smarter and stronger than you'll ever know. It's someone trying to raise somebody up.”
If there is any criticism about the album is that the shifts in the overall narrative can be hard to put together if you are trying to understand the story. Tremonti is also writing a novel to accompany the album, which i'm sure will help understand the story a little more, but in the meantime A Dying Machine will just have to do. It is without a doubt one of the best records they have ever produced musically and lyrically. Period.
Final Rating: 9/10
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