October 2023 Feature Release - The Gateway Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month's feature release for The Gateway, nominated by Saxy, is the 2013 4th album by Orlando-based hard rock/alt-metal band Alter Bridge, Fortress. I've seen this band getting mentioned several times, and I've been quite curious to check this band out but somehow never got the chance. Now that one of their albums is this month's Gateway feature release, I shall seize that opportunity! Saxy, I'd be interested in hearing your backstory behind nominating this album, if you'd like to share.

https://metal.academy/releases/3455

Alter Bridge is my number one post-grunge band ATM, but this album, despite being good fun, felt more standard.  It gave me everything I wanted out of an Alter Bridge album, but I don't feel that they improved or fleshed anything out as well as they could've.

I've done my review, here's its summary:

Alter Bridge is known very well as a side-project-turned-full-time-band by guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall, and drummer Scott Philips, all coming from the more famous Scott Stapp-led band Creed. Together with frontman Myles Kennedy, Alter Bridge had proved themselves to be the creative songwriting force alt-metal needs! After 3 albums of hard rock/post-grunge in a similar vein to a few of my brother's favorite bands like Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, and Skillet, Alter Bridge decided to boost up their creativity intensely with their 4th album Fortress. It's a test of magic as they added more diverse arrangements and time signature variations for a more progressive style, though closer in sound to Karnivool rather than TOOL. And who's manning the production? Michael "Elvis" Baskette has entered that building. Throughout this adventure, there are shorter melodic songs suited for radios, and a few longer epics that showcase their progressive side. One moment you hear blazing riffing and melodic choruses, and the next you hear different varying textures and time changes. And that's what makes Alter Bridge's so unique. The melodic rock elements the band has taken from more popular bands has been merged with superb technicality for their own style of prog-ish alt-rock/metal. Fortress is an epic journey for the genre, and it seems like my interest in this band is at a rapid beginning!

5/5 (Thanks, Saxy!)