1. Cry of Achilles
As if they were acutely aware of how much the word epic gets bandied about these days online, Cry opens with a complex fingerpicked pattern that segues into a driving rhythm, powering the song through a sublimely delivered chorus and ending on sequential solos from Myles and Mark. It serves as one bookend to the album, clocking in at around the six minute mark, and is a perfect staple for how far the band has come. Layered throughout with multiple guitar lines and harmonised vocals, when Myles solo breaks in its a showcase of spotlight-shining vibrato, only for Tremontis outro to enter with a smattering of bent notes and scorched progressions. Its nothing short of one of the best songs the band have ever done, and with Tremonti laying down one of the most sonically satisfying runs Ive ever heard to close the track, Alter Bridge are less hitting the ground running as disappearing into the horizon with a trail of dropped jaws in their wake.
2. Bleed It Dry
Keeping the pace up and ensuring you remain a dot in their rear-view, Bleed It Dry is a stampeding bison of a tune, slamming home a somewhat unconventional riff that finds its groove thanks to Flips infectious playing. Myles echoes the apocalyptic thoughts he once had throughout AB IIIs recording, angrily questioning an unknown entity in the chorus that seems to resemble any governing body or overarching power figure: Bleed it dry, leave us here with nothing, Justify all that you consume, Bleed it dry, what is this becoming, All your lies serve no one but you. Myles has always had the ability to invoke the entire gamut of human emotion in his delivery, and his anger throughout this track is palpable, serving a perfect lead-in to a career-defining fingerpicked solo from Mark Tremonti. Clearly Tremonti has not only been practicing his ability to surgically extract the face of any within listening distance, but has also evolved immeasurably as an identifiable player through his vibrato, note selection and technicality. His execution here remains one of the standout moments on the entire album, and one that proves Tremonti can infuse just as much raw emotion and personality into his playing as Myles does. Outstanding.
3. Addicted to Pain
Onto the lead single, and the first taste the public got of what was to come back in August. Whilst I would actually say this is the weakest track on the album lyrically, it is saved by Tremontis psychotically fast run that ends the solo. Whereas on upcoming tracks Lover and Cry a River the band challenge expectances by having much darker lyricisms than their namesakes would connote. Not the case on Addicted though, as although the chorus line is still brilliantly bouncy and sung with conviction, Youre addicted to pain/ Too blind to see youre lost in the shadows isnt up to par with the (admittedly high) Alter Bridge standard. It doesnt drag the album down being that the band are still firing on all cylinders, instead it rounds off an opening three-track salvo that leads into the first more subdued track on the album.