The 4th Album - FORTRESS - Discuss The Album Here!

[Macca]

The new album will be progressive, heavier with more instrumental sections. I started writing it last week.

Any blast beat drum sections?

Myles has stopped singing altogether and will talk the entire album. He said he wanted it to be just like a live show

hahahahahaha

[AlterBlade]

Less formulaic?

Basically, you want Alter Bridge to become RUSH.

[Macca]

Yeah cos there's no middle ground between prog and formulaic is there?

[Circles]

Yeah cos there's no middle ground between prog and formulaic is there?

nae

[phatnonphatness]

Less formulaic?

Basically, you want Alter Bridge to become RUSH.

No, I never said that.

[Benji]

The best thing they can do is get rid of Elvis.

[JaredWard]

The best thing they can do is get rid of Elvis.

[abw1987]

Man!! So much hate towards Elvis!!!

I'm a bit torn on that matter. The guys see him as a huge help in writing/arranging songs and filtering ideas, and he's obviously had a huge impact on the band's fundamental songwriting. On the other hand, I get what people are saying about the "wall of sound" and everything being too compressed. I'm not sure that's his fault though; it's just the nature of modern radio rock.

If I had it my way, I'd tell them to stick with Elvis, but cut the next album to analog tape.

[AB23]

less metal, more melodic, acoustic based sort of songs

[psycosquirrel789]

The next record should ABSOLUTELY be analog. Elvis might be good if he lays off the post-effects. Things need to be compressed because 99% of us listen via headphones and the like. But AB III is embarrassingly overdone. I still don't understand how a professional could have listened back to Slip and not fixed the terrible compression.

First song I heard off of Blackbird was Come to Life. That vocal filter on Myles first note was the moment I hated Elvis. Even though that one is subtle and works well for that particular song... it was a precursor to the rest of his shenanigans.

[Crumbso]

I don't really see how recording to analogue will help. CD's are digital which means that it gets transferred to it during mastering. This is where I'm lead to believe most clipping occurs. All analogue would do, aside from making things be done in fewer takes is make the sound a bit warmer. You can still compress a signal going into and out of an analogue mixer. There might not be clipping before mastering but you can still make an analogue signal distort by pushing it too hard. It's just a bit fashionable to say "It's analogue".

Blacbird had definite clipping issues and also included some very compressed sounding bass and drums. ABIII seems to sound a lot less flat and more "colourful", for want of a better term. It's still compressed (I.E. most audible when hearing the transition from "quiet" to "loud" after the inro on Slip. It's very similar volume.) but there really aren't any clipping issues I can hear when listening straight from the CD. Most people's issue seems to be the post recording effects. Just too much delay and weird filters/phasers/etc.

I would like to see a return to a different producer but mainly so that they can structure their own songs in a more interesting ways. ABIII is great but didn't really seem to take off as it could have done. Aside from being too long, a problem Blackbird had as an album, the songs never had any space. These guys can play so let them play. A bit of imrpov here and there. Lengthier solos and more daring quiet parts maybe.

Myles also needs to stop double tracking his vocals. It doesn't suit him and ODR didn't really do it. He sounding amazing and earthy in ODR, lots of gritty lows to go with the highs. He also pushed his chest voice from time to time on ODR and it sounded amazing. Remember the end note to Find The Real? Why does it sound super awesome? Chest voice. Oh and in FTR there's that "All I've taken I hunger for more bit"? It sounds fucking awesome. I don't even care if he doesn't do them live, it provided a bit of grit and variety on the track. I don't mean it should happen all the time, just every now and again when it suits the song.

These things are just what I want to see, not a list of demands but just imagine.

[chtimixeur]

AB is not metal, but they think they are and are only trying too hard to prove it... Mark should stick to writing good songs and melodies like he used to... Simple or not, Mark had his own unique style of writing which I haven't really heard from him since after one day remains...

More musical breadth, more groove, more room for Myles to breathe.

stick with the uplifting, workout type songs imo

Moar ballads and slow songs. I'd enjoy that.

A new producer
Different song structures
Less big boomy choruses
Less songs... I think quality control has gone out the window with AB, more killer less filler.

B Marsh's bass has to be heard a lil bit more, he's playing on the records but his instrument ain't there properly.

Amen to all of that

I would also say :
- more clean guitar intros
- a huge guitar tone like in the Creed/ODR days
- longer songs (but don't turn into progressive BS !). Also, don't try to write Blackbird part 2.
- 11 songs at most. Get rid of the fillers
- take some time and don't start writing in early 2013. Let the songs grow naturally and don't force things
- write SONGS instead of parts. Myles should come with his bunch of songs, and so should Mark. This way, the record would be more dynamic and less predictable
- let Mark handle some lyrics. Myles' lyrics are full of clichés we've heard a million times
- no autotune ! no filters on Myles' voice ! no echo !
- you've got a great singer. Please showcase his amazing vocal abilities for once
- record analog, with the band playing live together
- no clipping please
- try to differentiate yourselves a bit more from the modern rock scene (sonically, intrumentally, lyrically)

[NytestrykerZ]

- record analog, with the band playing live together
- try to differentiate yourselves a bit more from the modern rock scene (sonically, intrumentally, lyrically)

Two really good ones here. ODR stood on it's own ground where AB III & BB sounds like they're trying to fit into this whole modern rock/alt. metal formula that's been the same for the last 6 years (Obviously a few songs are exceptions). Having the band play live and analog would be a welcome change as well (Just making sure Flip plays with a metronome/click to keep the tempos down).

[Benji]

To chtimixeur's point - there's no point trying so hard to differentiate yourself from the rest of the modern rock scene. If you set out to be different to everyone else then your music will be different to what it would if you just set out to make the best music possible.

With the Elvis point - listen to STTV intro. That should really slap you in the face when it kicks in. But, it's soft as hell when it does and makes it worse.

I'd LOVE Myles to stop using those bloody overlays constantly like in BNS, WO, etc. Same tone every time, almost seems as if it's thrown in there just so it's something easy for Myles to play on guitar to add another layer whilst he's singing.

[Dolo]

Lol, for those who said that AB is shit at metal - you have to throw Ties That Bind, Come to Life, White Knuckies, Isolation, Still Remains etc. to the rubbish. These are an amazing songs, because they have a blend of rock and metal, indicating heavier structures. That's the reason why it's nearly impossible to label AB to only one genre - they are something between rock and metal, and it's awesome.
As for things that I'd like to see on AB4: more Myles blues guitar and Mark's voice, because he creates the great background for lead vocals parts, and the thing that would hurt some of you: less childish ballads like Wonderful Life and Watch Over You. Myles should really move this kind of stuff to his solo record.

[abw1987]

Lol, for those who said that AB is shit at metal - you have to throw Ties That Bind, Come to Life, White Knuckies, Isolation, Still Remains etc. to the rubbish. These are an amazing songs, because they have a blend of rock and metal, indicating heavier structures. That's the reason why it's nearly impossible to label AB to only one genre - they are something between rock and metal, and it's awesome.

EXACTLY. I love Alter Bridge's more soulful songs like "Burn It Down", but I don't think I'd be nearly as big of a fan without the harder songs as well. They maintain a good mix, which I like. I can't imagine Blackbird without "Buried Alive", or AB III without "Isolation".

[Electricladyland]

Less of "the formula" - the verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus thing is getting a bit too samey, especially with their more uplifting work.

If anything, let Slip To The Void and All Hope Is Gone be a blueprint of how future AB songs should be written. Progressive, fun, and rockin'.

[AB23]

Less of "the formula" - the verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus thing is getting a bit too samey, especially with their more uplifting work.

If anything, let Slip To The Void and All Hope Is Gone be a blueprint of how future AB songs should be written. Progressive, fun, and rockin'.

So THATS what a bridge is... Carry on

[Jim]

Fans, not record producers. Remember that.

[TenaciousBe]

Fans, not record producers. Remember that.

Agree, SO much. I personally walk kind of a fine line with this whole topic whenever it comes up -- one one hand, there are obviously things that some of us like and dislike, and we all have things that we'd like to hear, things that we're hoping to hear out of them. And we all have that right. But at the same time, I'd hate for AB, or any artist, to take the fans' opinions so far into consideration that it completely colors and affects who they are as artists, and what they bring to the table. What they've written in the past, and what they've done as artists, is what brought us all here to this point of being an AB fan in some way or another. I say it's up to the guys to create what they create, be who they are, write the album that THEY want to write, and we're all free to like it or not like it. That's what being an artist is, it's your expression of who you are and the message that you want to get across to your listener.

In essence, and this is oversimplifying it, to me it's more important for them to be AB than it is for any of us individually to be AB fans. That sounds horrible when I look back at it, but it's kind of how I feel. It's more important to me that they put out the album that they want to make, rather than making the album that they think the fans want to hear. That's the kind of thing that got Nickelback into the place they're in. Not that I could see AB writing songs about sex and partying in 10 years, but it's the same general idea of writing to sell records rather than writing to show who you are.

AAAAANYway. That aside, we do all still have the right to like and dislike what we've heard from each album (though there's not much to dislike about ODR). And if I had my way, I agree about recording to analog and maybe finding a new producer, or at least co-producer to help filter Elvis' ideas. I think he does do a good job in making them sound big and bombastic, but agree that the over-compression and clipping and "loudness" is a big detriment to my enjoyment of the music.