TREMONTI

During the late-1990s and early-2000s, CREED's Mark Tremonti was recognized as a powerful guitarist. It was an interesting time in rock music, with post-grunge reigning supreme and hair metal still being shunned, but Tremonti was able to make the guitar solo cool again and helped usher in a new era of guitar-centric post-grunge popular hard rock music that wasn't afraid to get fancy.

Years after playing lead guitar in CREED and the subsequent band ALTER BRIDGE, Tremonti decided to try his hand at lead vocals in his own band, TREMONTI. While making the leap from guitarist and backing vocalist to lead vocalist is a big one, it's a challenge that Tremonti took seriously and hasn't shied away from. TREMONTI released their first studio album in 2012, "All I Was", and now they're on their sixth studio album with this year's "The End Will Show Us How".

With each solo album, Tremonti seems to be more and more comfortable in his role fronting the band. By the time he released 2021's "Marching in Time", it was apparent that he was much more accustomed to singing leads, and on "The End Will Show Us How", that trend continues.

The new album sets off with the fiery "The Mother, The Earth and I", which should please ALTER BRIDGE fans with its heavy guitars, grooving rhythms and Tremonti's strong, confident vocals. Over 5 minutes long, Tremonti makes a statement with this first track. Many of the songs on here are on the longer side, and it's a welcome change to hear some instrumental passages on a modern rock record.

The album's debut single, "One More Time", is a guttural hard rock anthem, with sharp, noisy guitars, Tremonti's soaring singing and the choppy style of instrumentals makes this a catchy number. At around the 3-minute mark, Tremonti rips into a guitar solo that's imaginative and lightning fast — the song's highlight.

That hard rock style runs through the entire record, and some of the songs really sound like they could have appeared on ALTER BRIDGE or CREED albums. "Nails" certainly falls into that category, with it's minor-key emphasis and Tremonti's vocals, which linger over the heavy guitar backing. "I'll Take My Chances", "Live in Fear" and "The Bottom" all follow suit with that combination of heavy instrumentals and Tremonti's emotive vocals.

It's not all rage on here, though. "It's Not Over" is a stripped-down, acoustic rock ballad that sounds very '80s. Part of the song's charm is that it almost sounds like a live cut and really captures the emotion of Tremonti's voice.

Tremonti doesn't do much experimentation on "The End Will Show Us How", and this record solidly fits into that CREED and ALTER BRIDGE lane, but that's a beautiful thing for fans who are craving new music from those bands. Of course, Tremonti also puts his own, unique stamp on it, which makes his music with his solo band just different enough to be unique and exciting.