Author: Jernej Vene
Artist: Creed
Label: EMI Records
Release: 2009
Length: 50:47
Rating: 3.3/5
The end of the last decade and the start of this one were hugely successful for the members of this Florida rock band. The foursome, a group of friends, racked up three mega-successful albums and a good dozen high-charting songs. Their mix of post-grunge and hard rock with a dash of alternative was a winning formula, but it only lasted until 2004. Both before the hiatus and today, Creed are vocalist Scott Stapp, guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips. After the split, Stapp tried a far less successful solo career, while the other three formed the rather interesting and well-regarded Alter Bridge. Since they didn’t part in anger, they patched things up last year, and the reunion record Full Circle dropped recently. Punchy and at times dark songs are cleverly balanced out by ballads, and the lyrical common thread is easy to spot in the tracks where they wrestle with their own demons. Florida has always been known for rock bands that cultivated so-called southern rock. Creed aren’t immune to those influences, which you can hear mostly in some of the melodic parts of the songs. But the band’s roots show even more in Scott Stapp’s vocal performance, which is manly, robust and just southern enough in its diction to win over their rock-loving countrymen. Overcome is the album’s opener, and in it the guys, despite the inner battles they’ve weathered and a total indifference to any criticism whatsoever, are ready for new blows. Considering everything they took after the band was put on ice, they’ll shrug off the new ones easily. Mark Tremonti’s dirty, rumbling guitar shows up in all its glory here. Tremonti is one of the few masters of the younger generation from so-called nu metal or post-grunge who knows when to solo and how much. That detail always serves the message of the song and how the listener takes in the material. In A Thousand Faces, for example, he talks about people whose hidden characters are so rotten that they easily fool even their own conscience.
Vocalist Scott Stapp occasionally phrases like James Hetfield of Metallica or Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. Still, he manages to keep an approach that gives the band its integrity and recognizability, since he carries the whole burden of identifying their work. Compared to the first albums, the Creed magic fades a little on the faster songs. It’s as if the gentlemen can’t find the musical inspiration that would earn them a place among decently capable comeback acts. The ballads, of course, work out perfectly for them. It’s hard to tell whether the main songwriters Tremonti and Stapp arrived at their musical message spontaneously and from the heart, or whether it’s a game of winning over new listeners and convincing old ones with the aim of filling bank accounts. To me, the lyrics seem the more important part of what they do, mostly anguish and whining about lost loves, days gone forever and regret over mistakes, which they fit into various musical forms: when they’re furious, they dress them up in punchy, fast, wrecking-ball riffs, and when they surrender to fate and hope for sunshine, they tuck them into ballads like Rain or Away In Silence. All the noise around their reunion hasn’t died down yet, of course, since they’ve toured heavily across their home continent and are planning a live album for early next year. How long the multi-platinum band will stay together, I don’t know. The main songwriters Stapp and Tremonti also stand to gain the most from it. With music sales numbers way down from the height of their fame, they’re throwing themselves into live shows, where the rhythm section members can profit too. A bit more depth will be needed, especially in the parts where they run out of vision. That’s how Creed will close the circle and return to the orbit of their old glory, but with just the title and, say, two thirds of the record, that won’t happen, and it’s nowhere near enough. They can only thank their loyal crowds, who apparently gild everything that rolls off their table.
Given that people are only a little more or less talented at any given thing or activity, it’s clear that some of us are below the stage and some on it. But even those up there have to work their hearts out to stay there for more than three minutes. These days the fight is tough, and people are hungry for something new, since the pace is incredibly fast.
Lineup
Scott Stapp – vocals
Mark Tremonti – guitar
Brian Marshall – bass
Scott Phillips – drums
Production
Howard Benson
Tracklist
1.Overcome 3:47
2.Bread of Shame 3:56
3.A Thousand Faces 4:54
4.Suddenly 3:31
5.Rain 3:27
6.Away in Silence 4:40
7.Fear 4:05
8.On My Sleeve 4:14
9.Full Circle 4:08
10.Time 5:55
11.Good Fight 3:55
12.The Song You Sing 4:08
