Alter Bridge: Ranking Every Album From Worst To Best

6. The Last Hero

Look, something had to be last. And for as much as I love and appreciate how much lead songwriters Myles and Mark pushed the boat out; conceptualising a bunch of lengthy 6-8 minute tracks with so many riffs, tempo changes and breakdowns, The Last Hero also loses a sense of cohesion throughout, that ties the other albums together.

Somewhat indicative of the lifestyles each band member was living at the time; the album assembled on the road and then stitched together when Myles had downtime from touring with Slash, and Tremonti from his own solo effort, it results in something weighty, stuffed full of ideas, but lacking a throughline vision.

Poison in Your Veins is a stadium slammer with a lightning fast solo, Losing Patience's opening riff is the bounciest thing Alter Bridge have ever written. Tremonti's guitarwork is a continuation of AB III's more intricate and complex phrasing, leading to something like Island of Fools ending with an almost neo-classical feel, as he lays down some of the fastest picking ever committed to an Alter Bridge record.

The Other Side, Cradle to the Grave, This Side of Fate, The Last Hero itself - they're all big, grandiose compositions and I love getting lost in them. But if we're really crunching down on which of AB's albums are their very best overall, and for what they represent as a band, this just didn't hit home like everything else.