Alter Bridge resurrects the sound of Creed

After breaking up with good friend and musical collaborator Scott Stapp, the former singer of Creed, guitarist Mark Tremonti was depressed, but his jam sessions with Creed drummer Scott Phillips seem to have perked him up and given him hope, which has turned into Alter Bridge. Its new album, One Day Remains, marks the return of the majority of Creed -- minus Stapp. After reuniting with bassist Brian Marshall, who left after Human Clayw and uniting with former 1998 tourmate Myles Kennedy after his band Mayfield Four also broke up, Tremonti became the frontman that Jerry Cantrell was for Alice in Chains. \nAlter Bridge is almost Tremonti's solo career, as he is credited with writing the vast majority of the music and lyrics. He continues his high-quality backup singing and guitar playing, but lacks a bit with his songwriting skills, as he continues his slide that started with songs like "Stand Here With Me" from Creed's third album Weathered.\nThough most of the material is good, Alter Bridge pretty much has two speeds -- straight-forward hard rock 'n' roll and power ballads. The hard rock sounds better, having more crunch than clunk, though the power ballads have about equal amounts of sweetness and sappyness. \nLike former bandmate Scott Stapp and Black Sabbath's bassist Geezer Butler, through his lyrics, Tremonti expresses the view of moderate Christianity. While this is not praise-and-worship music, it is heavy metal that steers far from Satanism. Overall, this album is basically for Creed fans.