2. Cry Of Achilles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5h9Tqe69GM Last year, before Alter Bridge's newest effort dropped all eyes were on them to see which route they were going to go down. Would it be the more introspective and lyrically-progressive dynamics of AB III, or the stadium-sized anthems of Blackbird? To be honest we'd of been ecstatic either way, but the AB Bus suitably took off down Stadium Slaying Avenue and proceeded to unleash a full album's worth of absolute bangers that would take them all the way to being guest support for Aerosmith at this year's Download Festival (Spoilers: They nailed it). What's great is even before the album was over, we knew we were in some special territory when the first song ended with Myles doing some of his signature string-bending to sandwich in a chorus that had Tremonti's ending run as the other half. It's a piece that saw the return of a frenetically-picked double-string technique Mark has mastered over the years, cranked up to 11 with the dial turned all the way past 'shred' and up to 'psychotic', dropping jaws and widening eyes with reckless abandon regardless of if it's on-record or played live. Yes, guitar solos can be judged on their placement outside the context of their respective songs, but regardless of whether you take that approach or not with this ending progression it's an absolute powerhouse of guitar playing through and through, encapsulating Tremonti's phenomenal sense of melody and solo-construction with some techniques that'll take years of studying to catch up to.