Alter Bridge: The Last Hero - 13 Tracks Reviewed & Ranked

11. The Other Side

We tend not to think of any given song's placement on an album as factoring into how we 'take in' a body of music, but The Other Side is almost like a companion piece or followup to Words Darker Than Their Wings. The third track in, it follows The Writing on the Wall, providing the perfect negative emotion-tinged primer for the upbeat and sky-punching, My Champion.

Back to this song though, and both The Other Side and Words Darker deal with the inevitability of passing away ("reaching the other side"), yet where the latter was mostly positive and explored the dual nature of Myles and Mark's view on the afterlife, The Other Side is easily one of the heaviest pieces on the record, giving the track a requisite heft reminiscent of Tremonti's solo stomper, Flying Monkeys.

Lyrically it's a far more affronting take on the nature of religion or egotistical behaviour, seeing Myles verbalise some thoughts he's perhaps had since recording Words Darker Than Their Wings in 2010, labelling those who "believe [theirs] is the only way" as "fools", before a crushing descending pattern ebbs in for the final third.

Overall it's an incredibly powerful and conceptual piece of music, one that establishes a supremely forthright tone with a message to boot.

Listen out for: The creepy as hell effects given to a handful of notes around 3:35.