Review TREMONTI ‘Marching in Time’

Mark Tremonti certainly needs no introduction. The guitarist and singer has developed over the years as a force in alternative rock and metal. With Alter Bridge and throughout his solo career, Tremonti can built on a steadily growing fan base and the new solo album ‘Marching in Time’ will increase the reach even more.

‘Marching in Time’ is Tremonti’s fifth solo album and on twelve songs the American guitarist proves once again why he belongs to the big league. Although not completely different from the mothership Alter Bridge, Tremonti offers an expanded framework for songs, sound and music. The fact that Mark Tremonti also sings on the solo releases shows on the one hand the versatility of the musician. In addition, the focus is not completely on the guitar sound. Rather, Tremonti has to focus on guitar and vocals, which results in ingenious vocal lines and the guitars are sounding more focussed and raw.

To pick out individual songs is difficult. Too consistent is the quality level of these twelve tracks. Therefore, here are a few tracks that I personally enjoyed.

‘Now and Forever’ is a track that unites many things the album stands for. Hefty guitar outbursts and smooth melodies, both of which combined in a very good way on this track. I would also like to mention ‘Thrown Further’. Driven by a strong beat, the song has been given a modern expression. What stands out is that ‘Marching in Time’ is not as gloomy as ‘A Dying Machine’. The so-called rock’n’roll spirit comes more to the fore and ‘Thrown Further’ is a good example of this.

In order not to let the whole record become too soft, ‘Let That Be Us’ follows as the next smashing highlight, which builds on a powerful and tremonti-ish riff. The more soulful moments are included in ‘Under the Sun’. A calm and emotional start gives the song depth. Slowly the track gains momentum and becomes a powerful blast that skillfully combines soft and heavy.

The final track of ‘Marching in Time’ is the title track, which can be described as very well done. Tremonti links all the elements of his signature sound and creates a seven-minute milestone that outlines the entire bandwidth.

‘Marching in Time’ is the anticipated great solo album. Tremonti belongs to the spearhead of contemporary metal and is among the masters of his craft, manifested by his new solo album.