10 Perfect Rock Music Songs Of The 2010s

Now on their 19th year in business, Alter Bridge have gone from strength to strength in a career that still somehow leaves them as underrated and unobserved today (as least in terms of the grand halls of rock royalty) as they were when their third album, ABIII (2010), hit shelves.

Having gradually shucked off the 'Creed with a new singer' image from their 2004 album One Day Remains (something not helped by lead guitarist Mark Tremonti writing almost all of the music and lyrics) with Blackbird (2007), the band were left with the unenviable task of following up a second album that defined them as a hard rock juggernaut and spawned their award-winning song of the same name.

Nonetheless, follow it up they did! ABIII bore a more progressive sound and darker themes, marking it to this day as a unique curiosity amongst their albums. While the record spawned five singles, the masterwork of the whole affair is not one of them. Album closer Words Darker Than Their Wings operates as the spiritual heir to Blackbird, matching its bombast and intensity, and packing some neat new surprises.

As one of the few tracks from Alter Bridge's discography that shares vocal duties between Tremonti and singer/rhythm guitarist Myles Kennedy, Words shows us precisely what the two leading men can do. The pair trade vocals through melodic verses before synching up, octaves apart, on big, bold choruses, while surprising everyone by skipping the solo entirely. And the song is no less than perfect.