ALBUM REVIEW: The End Will Show Us How – Tremonti
After a stratospheric year with CREED, Mark Tremonti sets his sights on further world domination with the monstrous sixth album from TREMONTI: The End Will Show Us How.
Following 2021’s Marching In Time would seem a tall order to many. However the nature of vocalist/guitarist Mark Tremonti’s career has always been in the path of the underdog. TREMONTI seek to continue their trajectory with opening The Mother, The Earth and I, a murky and grunge tinged soundscape building on its predecessor’s ethos of living in peace. Tanner Keegan’s dense bass tones perfectly set the scene for Tremonti’s squealing guitars. The instrumental itself flawlessly mirrors the circle of life with its cyclical nature paying homage to the “Mother of life and decay”. The dulcet tones of Tremonti’s voice deliver a sleeper cell of an opening track, deploying the heaviness of One More Time to decimate any preconceived notions about where this album will go next. Staccato guitars are threaded together with Ryan Bennett’s percussion. “The day is coming” with the ominous ticking of the pre chorus and Tremonti once again takes the role of the Pied Piper relaying the tale of our doom. Minimal verses collide with belting choruses. Hypnotic interludes juxtapose expertly precise guitar solos. Just two tracks in, the parasitic nature of this album embeds itself in the cerebral cortex.
For those filled with concern that TREMONTI is about to become a CREED spin-off, unhand those pearls. While Just Too Much is dominated by low and slow guitar which slithers through the mind’s eye, the pummelling beat soon drives the slowworm away. This comes at the cost of the vocal track which becomes lost in the sonic quagmire at times. The catchy nature of the vocal hook saves it relatively quickly allowing for the short and spicy solo toward the end to be fully appreciated. Low and slow is the soup du jour for Camp TREMONTI as Nails writhes into the fore. Undulating riffs bump against the lower register of Tremonti’s vocals. It draws the ear. Piques the curiosity. It’s here TREMONTI bears its teeth with graphic lyrics of how we “waste away in this rotting shell” as a result of a torturous world. Nails is wonderfully bleak yet tinged with the ember of TREMONTI-branded determination to persevere. Ember becomes flame, ignited by the speed metal slathered solo which extinguishes as quickly as it burst into existence.
There’s a lot to be said about the enchanting nature of a TREMONTI ballad. They could be lazily compared to CREED and ALTER BRIDGE but the harsh reality is there is no comparison. The two aforementioned bands crack the soul and bleed it dry but as It’s Not Over and the title track go to show, a TREMONTI ballad will render someone a ghost in the shell. They are both examples of Tremonti at the pinnacle of his composition game. It’s Not Over’s seedling intro of guitar and vocal blooms into a bountiful tale of how a person has “been broken before but I’m healing”. Layered instrumentals become vivid petals of a nightshade where less is more. There is no monumental swell or escalation, it all happens organically. The beseechment of “teach us all what it takes to be here” becomes obsolete as the student becomes the teacher. This carries into the title track. Standing at just under six minutes, it simmers in its gestation. Branded as a “passage to the cynic in me”, this “tale of hope that’s never died” has the TREMONTI brood take the role of beacon of hope shepherding the lost through the darkness. Bolstered by a blossoming instrumental, slivers of a solo permeate the track before finally flourishing.
As parts of our psyche flourish, others will atrophy which is the subject of Tomorrow We Will Fail. What we are confronted with though are elements of psych rock with bending notes and stifled drums. Echoed vocals call through muted guitars. Paired with the bass led verse of I’ll Take My Chances, this tandem breathes wonderful new possibilities into TREMONTI. A testament to the band’s willingness to push their boundaries. “Fears rise as shadows fall” nestles against rippling riffs which swell into a monologue suited for spouting atop a horse before The War Of The Ring.
It’s expected of speed metal fan Mark Tremonti to pull a scathing solo from his bag of tricks so it’s a welcome surprise when I’ll Take My Chances expands and gives its crowning moment room to breathe. This is capitalised on when The Bottom is brought into the mix. Another track drawing from elements of psych and grunge, it is also fused with the usual speed and thrash metal influences. On paper (or screen) it seems as if it shouldn’t work but it does. Faster vocals drive the song forward. Usher the protagonist to scrape themselves from the rock bottom in which they reside. Push the listener to “take the boundaries and erase them all”. The targeted subject matter is meant to be the boundaries that hold us back in our lives but that can (and should) also be applied to music.
TREMONTI soon return to the harshness they have been praised for with Live In Fear. Ominous tones and squealing guitars fuel the paranoia. Spine stiffening vocals urge “the consequence is near” while a scathing solo scuttles into the cerebral cortex and burrows into the impulse for repeat plays. Now That I’ve Made It’s atmospheric opening balances the harshness and perhaps the hubris Live In Fear breeds. “Pride will only break you” is haunting. Tremonti’s vocals improve with each release and this time is no different as it takes the helm of the brain and bathes the pilot of our bones in a much needed reality check.
The soul-stirring jaunt concludes with All The Wicked Things. The six minute closing probes the senses with electronic pulses and a subtle swell of synth. The evocative proclamation of “it takes the end to show us where we start” sends chills through the nervous system. “Humanity’s gone” is punctuated with a sucker punch of a riff from Eric Friedman. From there the duo of Tremonti and Friedman plunge us into a thick and sludgy instrumental which feels disgusting in the best way. The accoutrement of the solo creates the proving ground for scorching aggression in “all I see is red” and the final dive into anger driven depravity with a faster, much higher guitar solo before it explodes and suffocates within the electronics that birthed the track.
At the top of the review, we claimed The End Will Show Us How is a monstrous effort. We also demonstrated there is more than one facet to that word. TREMONTI doesn’t burst in to clock everyone and their Nan with a baseball bat. This album is far more insidious. Slithers into cerebral assassin territory. The End Will Show Us How is thoroughly captivating from beginning to end. The title track may ask “could there be another life that calls to me?” but TREMONTI shows they are right where they should be; at the top of their game.
Rating: 9/10
The End Will Show Us How is set for release on January 10th via Napalm Records.
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