Alter Bridge are back with seventh album Pawns & Kings.
Opening track This Is War begins with melodies akin to those you would hear in an angelic choir before Myles’ stunning vocals come in.
It’s a call to arms to fight for your mind and believe in something.
Dead Among the Living is a track that calls for the listener to be so much more than they believe.
Stay changes tack with a more melodic feel in the instrumentation. It talks about making a last wish, love and staying together with no regret.
Holiday is the catchiest track so far and is probably very relatable to many people.
Fable of the Silent Son slows things right down with just acoustic guitars and layered vocals.
Season of Promise is a brilliant track too. It talks about bringing your own destiny and is an arena-ready anthem.
Closing track is the titular Pawns & Kings. It begins with a slow melody before kicking in to be a great closer. It’s angsty and a pick me up to not let anyone tear land apart or us down. It’s one of my favourites along with Season of Promise.
Pawns & Kings is an extremely positive album in its early lyrical themes and is extremely welcome particularly in this day and age. There are a lot of uplifting lyrics that are bound to influence listeners to live to their true potential, particularly in the opening two songs.
Each track is quite similar to its predecessor, however this is something Alter Bridge do well and it doesn’t lead to the monotony and boredom that it has done in other artist’s records because there are little bits that shake things up throughout.
Alter Bridge decided to scale their production back throughout the record in comparison to some of their more recent releases and it has absolutely no detrimental effect at all. In fact, it allows the true quality of the band’s songwriting, vocal and instrumental abilities to shine through.