0 Comments

Creed was one of my earliest memories of a mainstream rock band carrying a Christian message. I was slow to embracing modern rock in its entirety, having an attachment to metal that didn’t make radio play in my area. I didn’t trust rock of the 90s. Eventually, I tuned in to the local rock station and Creed was a staple in the lineup. As I took my faith more seriously, I turned away from hard music entirely until I found Christian Metal, which opened up a huge world to me.

Mark Tremonti, namesake for the band Tremonti, was the lead guitarist for Creed back in those grungy days. When Scott Stapp’s personal struggles came to the fore in the early 2000s, Creed broke up and the remaining band members formed the band Alter Bridge in 2004. As the years moved on with Alter Bridge, and even a brief Creed reunion stint, Mark’s solo album idea started to form around 2010. The project would be for metal material that did not fit in with his bands Creed or Alter Bridge. What was intended as a solo project eventually led to a full blown band, Tremonti, that showcases not only the lead guitar work that Mark Tremonti is known for, but also his singing which is surprisingly good.

“The End Will Show Us How” is the band’s sixth outing and my first taste of Tremonti. The first word that comes to mind is heavy. It is heavier than his other bands and shows some nice episodes of heavy metal, but it isn’t a purebred metal album with plenty of grungy melody driven with melancholic chord progressions on dirty guitars. It pits itself lyrically against the evils of the age with a healthy dose of introspection. To sum up, it sounds like an album done by Creed‘s guitarist who has a love for metal. But there are some surprises.

For an acclaimed lead guitarist, Mark has some great vocal chops. He sings exclusively clean without any semblance of a ragged edge which is great in delivering the opening earwig “The Mother, The Earth, and I.” The melodies often are jazz-inspired and yet still he nails the intonation perfectly which is not easy. Actually, his vocal timbre can imitate Frank Sinatra perfectly like the bridge in “I’ll Take My Chances” and the opening of “All The Wicked Things.” To this end, I have mentally called their style “Rat Pack Metal.”

The best songs on the album are more post-grunge. “Nails” opens with muddied heavy riffing but then lands into this gothic graveyard of a verse with edgy vocals. The bridge features one of the best metal riffs on the album unsullied by the production choices (more on that below). “It’s Not Over” is my favorite track on the album with its strong heart-felt emotion and nocturnal atmosphere that leads into a great buildup song. The lyrics are beautiful and shows the gentler side of Tremonti. The title track opens with an inventive guitar riff that forms the melodic material for the song. There is more jazzy tones and subtlety that make the song captivating, showcasing more of Mark’s Sinatra style. “Tomorrow We Will Fail” is more straightforward grunge, but the extra harmonic color in the chords makes it worth listening to again and again.

The lyrics have a spiritual quality, but are not dogmatic. There is much lament of the state of the world as well as a longing for healing and restoration. I was picking up on a fixation on the flow of time: burying the past, living in the present, and looking forward to something better.

The only blemish on this record is muddiness in the otherwise great heavy metal episodes. The bass end is heavy in the mix making it a jumbled mess when guitars and drums get going, such as the opening on “One More Time” and “Live in Fear.” But when the riffs are driven by the guitar, it works pretty good like the triple meter chugging chords in “I’ll Take My Chances.”

This one took me several spins to really get it. In the end, I can’t help but like it. Aside from the poor choices on the low end frequencies, it is an oddly infectious album that gets better with each listen. I have a string of tracks in the middle of the album that are my favorites, but there is goodness throughout. It is a great study in musical colors with grungy, bordering on metal, brush strokes that will be nostalgic to those who grew up around the turn of the century, while still being relevant.

Rating: 8.5/10

Written by Sean Bailey

Tracklist
1 – The Mother, The Earth, And I
2 – One More Time
3 – Just Too Much
4 – Nails
5 – It’s Not Over
6 – The End Will Show Us How
7 – Tomorrow We Will Fail
8 – I’ll Take My Chances
9 – The Bottom
10 – Live In Fear
11 – Now That I’ve Made It
12 – All The Wicked Things

Tremonti is:
Mark Tremonti – lead vocals and lead guitar
Eric Friedman – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, and keyboards
Ryan Bennett – drums
Tanner Keegan – bass, backing vocals

Release Date: January 10, 2025

Record Label: Napalm Records

Discography:
2012: All I Was [review]
2015: Cauterize [review]
2016: Dust [review]
2018: A Dying Machine
2021: Marching in Time
2025: The End Will Show Us How

Social Media: Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify | Bandcamp

Video for The End Will Show Us How

Video for Just To Much

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts