Review by Paul Monkhouse for MPM
One of the nicest guys in the business, Mark Tremonti is also one of its busiest. Never content to rest on his laurels, the guitarist has seen the revival of the massively successful Creed take up much of his time but manages to juggle this with metal behemoths Alter Bridge, his Sings Sinatra project and his always fertile solo career.
It’s under the latter’s titular outfit that his latest release comes and it builds on the previous five albums they’ve unleashed, each one jammed full of metallic anthems, ‘The End Will Show Us How’ continuing the tradition in fine style.
Adapt at arena filling and city block destroying riffs, the dozen tracks that make up this outing have a brutality that neither Alter Bridge nor Creed push as far, the numbers amongst the heaviest he’s ever done.
With his finely tuned writing, Tremonti never falls into the trap of trying to purely bludgeon the listener and the melodies and hooks that live here are certainly key to his success. In addition, just as his AB brother in arms Myles Kennedy is lauded for his fretwork, the guitarist also has a very fine voice and handles the vocals with a grit and nuance that fits hand in glove with all that’s here.
Kicking things off, the huge and heroic ‘The Mother, The Earth and I’ sounds tailor made to soundtrack a Hollywood action blockbuster, the whole an almost overwhelming barrage that dips and soars.
Other such stadium fillers come thick and fast with ‘Just Too Much’ and ‘Nails’ prime examples of thrilling metallic power and when the foot comes off the gas slightly for ‘It’s Not Over’ it’s Tremonti’s voice that comes to the fore, the performance here hugely impressive.
Whilst the main man certainly leads from the front, the committed contributions from Eric Friedman on guitar and the rhythm section of drummer Ryan Bennett and bass player Tanner Keegan ensure that Tremonti is very much a band and not solely just the vehicle for the Floridian six stringer.
As each passing album comes, the outfit’s closeness and shared drive is deepened, something that anyone who caught the combo on their last tour can testify and with fresh dates this year, this eight-legged rock machine will doubtless be giving their all onstage.
The production here may be big and polished to give it that huge sound but it’s never far from the beating heart of the beast and there’s a naturalness and warmth that blends perfectly with the titanic electric shock that is so central to their strength.
Truly blistering, the earth-shaking ‘The End Will Show Us How’ hits the album’s halfway point and there’s no drop in either pace or quality moving forward. Nice touches in the song structures abound with the urgent ‘I’ll Take My Chances’ featuring a knock-out bridge, ‘Live In Fear’ relentless yet the melody the calm in the eye of the storm and ‘Now That I’ve Made It’ aching with longing.
Saving the biggest to last, ‘All The Wicked Things’ brings things to a close in monumental fashion, grinding any last shreds of resistance into the dust.
The most rounded, visceral and accomplished of Tremonti’s albums so far, ‘The End Will Show Us How’ stakes its early claim as the metal album of the year and it’s certainly going to be very hard to beat. Buy it, turn it up, feel the rush of adrenaline and lose yourself in a world where music lifts you, heart, soul and body.
Pre-Order The End Will Show Us How HERE:
The End Will Show Us How tracklisting:
- The Mother, The Earth and I
- One More Time
- Just Too Much
- Nails
- It’s Not Over
- The End Will Show Us How
- Tomorrow We Will Fail
- I’ll Take My Chances
- The Bottom
- Live In Fear
- Now That I’ve Made It
- All The Wicked Things
