Scott Stapp Album IV HIGHER POWER

[Devil Inside You]

Thinking about it a little more. If they want to do more variety of songs, I’d rather more Deep Cuts in Creed’s catalogue like To Whom It May Concern, Is This The End, or On My Sleeve. But a one off Creed-AlterBridge-Solo would be cool.

I agree. Rather focus on rare tracks like Young Grow Old, Bound and Tied and Who's Got My Back?

[nagpo]

Very good interview. Having a mega stapp/tremonti/alterbridge tour would be epic.

[maximzub]

3) Creed tour may feature Scott and Mark solo works as well

Uh...wow. That's unexpected.

[Devil Inside You]

Wow it got an 8/10 on Blabbermouth. Never saw that coming

https://blabbermouth.net/reviews/higher-power

[chtimixeur]

Pretty much every album gets an 8/10 or more on Blabbermouth.

[number1]

The early reviews seems to indicate a couple of songs going almost full acoustic and even a country/folksie.

[Shortman45]

I just happened to be still up at 12am in Australia and it was released on YouTube Music already.

Really interesting to hear Quicksand - as I remember hearing that as a preview in about 2008 or 2011.

If These Walls Could Talk sounds really good too. Definitely something different for him.

I’ve gotta say his voice is sounded great lately. Makes me want a new Creed album or even some MTV stripped acoustic shows or something.

I’ll give it a bit more of a listen tomorrow.

[George]

I've heard the album and I think it's his best solo album so far. Really strong.

When Love is Not Enough, If These Walls Could Talk and Quicksand are great. Yiannis sounds great on this album. Love it.

[George]

Really interesting to hear Quicksand - as I remember hearing that as a preview in about 2008 or 2011.

Yeah, it is one of those. I think he called it Waiting to Love by the time.

[Devil Inside You]

Someone said Deadman's Trigger is a reworked version of Original Sin/El Diablo but I haven't listened yet to see if its true. Interesting if Quicksand is one of the songs off that forgotten double album. Crazy that he still is putting out material from that long ago.

Yiannis gave an interview lately about his role in Stapp's band, and apparently he was the one that pushed Stapp to go in the heavier direction this album took. I'm sure I'll love Higher Power but I really really hope for his next album Stapp just makes it with Yiannis and the boys. Just write a ton of songs and narrow it down to an album from there. The songwriters he still uses are fine but I want something as organic as Creed was.

[number1]

Scott sounds good on the rest of the album. My favourite is Quicksand. It has that big hook that Scott is known for. Man that double album never seen the light of day but glad that materials still came out of it. Songs on there are solid. If these walls could talk is decent. I imagine it doing well in a country chart. Dancing in the rain could easily be a country song. Overall it's a decent album. I still consider The Space Between the Shadow as his best solo album so far

[Dolo]

A very solid album. Enjoyed it as much as the previous one. Not sure why he gets so much bad rep for his solo career.

[fudish123]

I didn't realize the new album has a thread, so I'll post my first thoughts on it here

My first impressions: the album sounds better mixed and produced than the TSBTS. I've shared my disappointment towards Deadman's Trigger meh chorus and Black Butterfly weird vocal mixing (and the song overall wasn't appealing to me).

Higher Power is my favorite song and Scott nailed at choosing it for the lead single.

When Love Is Not Enough has this eerie and weird eastern drone in the background, kinda feels like something that could have made into the prior album.

If These Walls Could Talk rocks, Dorothy's voice fit just right in the song. I was very well surprised by Quicksand, cuz it's from Scott's Lust and Love Vault, formerly known as Waiting For Love.

You're Not Alone reminds of some famous rock ballads I can't quite remember right now, beautiful acoustic guitar work here.

Dancing in The Rain felt like Changed Man but more uh... Queen like? Even Eagles, I guess the guitar solo gave me that feeling. If you like those poppy and happy but bittersweet ballads, that's a treat for you.

Weight of the World = kind of a mix of Crash and Wake Up Call but with no heavy synth.

I feel like this album could have at least 11 songs, 10 felt quite short IMO.

Yannis did a freaking superb job with solos here. Really. The album sounds more crystal clear and less overproduced than the last 2, especially POL. I think it's fair to say it's overall, at the same level of TSBTS, but this is just my first listen.

[alterbridge86]

Video for "If These Walls Could Talk" is out now!

[nagpo]

Honestly, it has a some decent songs but I'm not overly interested in about half of the them. That's kind of like all of his solo records tho. a few songs im keen too but overall it's a shrug. His voice is really good but some of the vocal melody hooks don't work. I think the album is overly produced. I want to hear the instruments more but stapps voice is overbearing.

I think my favorite songs are

1. Higher Power
2. Deadman’s Trigger
5. If These Walls Could Talk
6. Black Butterfly
8. You’re Not Alone
9. Dancing in the Rain

I really wish we had something like Red Clouds tho

[fudish123]

Honestly, it has a some decent songs but I'm not overly interested in about half of the them. That's kind of like all of his solo records tho. a few songs im keen too but overall it's a shrug. His voice is really good but some of the vocal melody hooks don't work. I think the album is overly produced. I want to hear the instruments more but stapps voice is overbearing.

I think my favorite songs are

1. Higher Power
2. Deadman’s Trigger
5. If These Walls Could Talk
6. Black Butterfly
8. You’re Not Alone
9. Dancing in the Rain

I really wish we had something like Red Clouds tho

I kinda feel the same. Scott really had potential to make a killer album, but he falls in the same mistakes from the first album: almost half or even half sound like fillers. I listened to all of his albums today and not only some songs sound like fillers, some instrumentals are mediocre, like TGD drumming for instance.

Then we got overly produced albums ever since POL, but it doesn't sound that over produced compared to TSBTS and HP.

Hell, at least some 3-4 songs on each album could use some extra work to sound better or getting scrapped and I really don't like to say stuff like that of an artist I love so much

[chtimixeur]

For me, that's his worst solo album yet.
It's overproduced, and the content of the lyrics is predictable and boring.
The instrumentations are as bland as you can get, especially the guitar intros.
Yannis can play extremely well technically, but I'm not a fan of what he writes. His solos sound like they come from the 80's, and they just don't fit with Stapp's style of music.
The drums are also overpowering, even on the ballads. I guess that Dango played on the album. I don't mind him live, but I wish Stapp had used more subtle players (as Myles did with his old pal from the Mayfield Four on his solo albums)
Lastly, none of the songs grab my attention, whereas I genuinely oved at least 3 or 4 ones on each of his previous albums.

The Space Between the Shadows was awesome, and I still think it's his best work outside of Creed.
Higher Power sounds like a very uninspired follow-up. It sounds like it was written for Active Rock radio, and I'm not a fan of that formulaic style of music.
So, needless to say it's a major letdown for me.

[nagpo]

I agree, his lyrical content is tired. He's still singing about stuff that happened YEARS ago that he's written songs about already. Even books. It's become boring. And Yannis doesn't really impress me because while he may write his solos, the actual musical writing is likely done by stapps producers. The sound on the record is radio rock. It has nothing original to it.

[fudish123]

What do you guys make of this review? I'm very prone to agree with it

https://cultfollowing.co.uk/2024/03/16/ ... er-review/

[chtimixeur]

Even then, these are the generic flutters of a man possessed by positivity. Dancing in the Rain should be clearer proof of that despite the weather warning in place. Float through the poor times and reap the rewards of a life well lived. Something like that. Stapp is just filling in time before another Creed reunion. Higher Power is inoffensive and light, and neither word should apply to an album where its creator has found inspiration from the divine. Instead, it feels very stock and standard, with empty Aerosmith-like riffs towards the end to show a change in tone which has affected Stapp’s life. Good on him. But his surplus to already excessive requirements makes it difficult to show much faith.

Nice adjectives to describe the album.
This is weird, because the previous album done by the same team was probably my favourite album of 2019.
I don't know what went wrong this time. Even the vocals aren't as impressive as the ones from 5 years ago. There are a couple of very rough spots here and there.
Maybe it's just a lack of inspiration after all. It happens to almost every artist, so why would Stapp be an exception?