Tremonti - A Dying Machine

Released - June 8th

Track listing

1. Bringer Of War
2. From The Sky
3. A Dying Machine
4. Trust
5. Throw Them To The Lions
6. Make It Hurt
7. Traipse
8. The First The Last
9. A Lot Like Sin
10. The Day When Legions Burned
11. As The Silence Becomes Me
12. Take You With Me
13. Desolation
14. Found

Mark Tremonti is a guitarist I've followed since the end of Creed (wasn't a massive fan of that). His work with Alter Bridge and his previous solo albums though have all been worthy of well more than a passing listen. His skills on the guitar improve with every release and in the case of the Tremonti albums, so have his vocals. After a slightly disappointing release from his Alter Bridge colleague earlier in the year I was quietly confident that the next Tremonti release (this one) would not let me down. Largely I'd say it hasn't. The steady increase in quality from his previous 3 albums reaching what appears to be peak Tremonti with 'Dust' may have lead me to slightly high expectations. For any criticism i have for this album I want it to be known that is a VERY good album. At best, on par with 'Dust'. At worst, only slightly worse.

At 14 tracks it can't be said that you haven't got value for money. 13 if you dont count the sound effects of the outro track. The first 3 tracks feel like what I believe most Metallica fans wish Metallica sounded like now. Thrash riffs and tight breakdowns are the main course throughout the beginning of the album. There are some lighter and darker moments in the middle bulk of tracks with a more mid tempo feel. The single 'Take you with me' is a very Foo Fighters sounding track not really representative of the rest of the album but a good track none the less. I'm not going to do a song by song breakdown because a lot of it is the same. Not to the point of being boring. I'm talking more in the sense of Motorhead / AC/DC / Slayer. You know what you're getting and if you don't like it then that's unfortunate because that's it. Fortunate for me though, I love it.

Overall it hits the spot for me. Technical, heavy and at the same time melodical throughout. Definitely a contender for the best album of the year or at the very least, top 5.

Rating - 8.5 / 10

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