[Mulletman]

I's dun stolinz me a copy of The Great Divide and basically, don't get your hopes up too much.

When I first heard how bad his voice got, I never thought it would be a problem. I figured the sound engineer would make him sound as if he were brand new, straight out of the box. Well, that was not the case, his voice is not bad, just not brand new in box. Think more along the lines of factory refurbished. Stapp's voice has two distinct qualities, one being he can actually sing and two he can be grungie without sound like, well - a bitch. When he sings at a normal pace and pitch his voice sounds nice, like the Weathered Tour. When he raises his voice, its starts to get a little raspie, like when he goes for the grungie parts. Its when he actually goes for the grungie parts that you start to feel a little uncomfortable. Kind of like when you turn the ignition key... after the car has been turned on. On a positive note, he doesn't attempt to force his [grungie-ness] voice a lot throughout the album. Its about a minimal 5 - 10% of the album that has some forced "grungie-ness" to it. With that being said, the problem that this causes is that the very first song, Reach Out, makes up the bulk majority of that 5 - 10%. Which is good in a way, but its bad because it is the very first song on the album. To most people that first track makes or breaks the album(present company included). The song Reach Out does one hell of a job expressing his anger, but it sounds as hes been yelling at everyone, individually since the band broke up.

If you have made it this far, congrats. Unlike the Alter Bridge fans that stopped reading after I said boobies. Now that I got negative apsect of out of the way, Its time that I speak of the positive. Unfortunately I am not good at reviewing music, so I'll be brief. The music is great and the songs are wonderful, it has Scott Stapp's signature and style written all over it. The one thing everyone got right is that the CD has the Creed-esque radio friendly feel to it. But in a smart way, not in the way that you feel as if you're listening to the same crap, with a new coat of paint. The accompanying band does a great job staying faithful to the music and making it thier own without hijacking. Imagine a mutial respectful artist taking over the job of a band they respect and admired as opposed to a band that is getting the break of thier lives actually getting to do what they aspired to be.

If you were, like me, looking for something to bitch smack Alter Bridge with, this is not it. Its more of a swift Tonya Harding blow to the knee caps. Something not powerful enough to end a career, but powerful enough get both parties thinking about thier next move.

In my opinion (because that all that [my narcisism says] matters), it was well worth stealing. This album is no Relearn Love and The Great Divide, like Open Your Eyes was, is the most Creed sounding song on the album. Personally I loved the album, Justify being my favorite song out of the whole album. To me it was well worth the wait. I strongly recommend the album to everyone. It is a hell of a lot better than anyone of us was giving him credit. Atleast give the whole thing a listen before you pass judgement. The reason I said not to get your hopes up too high is because that first song will kill you. It took me a good while to be able to sit down a listen to it again without passing judgement. You will know what I am talking about when you hear the song. The first thing that will go through you head is "great, the rest is going to be just like this." Predujices and skepticism aside, I promise you will like the album. If you are a Creed or Stapp fan, will love it. If Alter Bridge has you by the balls, will if anything enjoy it. If you're a self ritieous, holier-than-thou cynic that believes Tool and Pearl Jam are God's gift to this world keep looking.... you're an annoying bastard that nobody likes and you make baby Jesus cry.

Now discuss amonst yourself.