Cauterize [Only @ Best Buy] [CD]

after hearing it this cd, you'll want to see him live.

Buy Cauterize June 9th & their 1st album All I Was

Make no mistake, Tremonti's newest album, "Cauterize," is very solid in my opinion. The first three tracks on the album particularly have great momentum, including "Flying Monkeys," which has an altered tempo that works for me before slamming into a final drive of guitar & percussion. "Another Heart" is the first single that was a known winner for me with Mark's signature vocals on top of great instrumentation. Garrett Whitlock's drumming is upbeat & explosive throughout the album. My reason for giving this only 4 stars would be that the middle & latter part of the album seemed a little bit redundant to me - I was having a more difficult time differentiating clearly between the songs. That being said, I also thought that the bar had been set extremely high by "All I Was," the group's first album released about three years ago. In a nutshell, the vocals, guitar work (of course!) and all other instrumentation are very strong - the bonus live tracks from four of the first album's songs was a nice blast from the recent past.

I am a fan of AlterBridge, but had not followed Tremonti's solo work until this album. Although a few of the songs had an "AlterBridge" feel, overall the sound is harder and heavier, and I loved it. "Flying Monkeys" is a favorite, but the whole album rocks. The bonus live songs are from the first album are good, but the recording volume was set much lower than the rest of this album

Mark Tremonti and company return with a stellar follow-up to "All I Was", and in my opinion, even better. "Cauterize" is heavier than "All I Was", but definitely doesn't suffer on the melodies as a result. Dark Trip and Fall Again are the album's ballads and hold their own. My favorites are: Cauterize, Arm Yourself, Sympathy, and Providence. This is 10 of the 20 songs that were recorded. The other 10, not to be thought of as B-sides, should be released later this year on an album titled, "Dust".

Okay so I bought this cd for two reasons... 1) I love Mark. He is brilliant in anything he touches. and 2) Because of Wolfgang Van Halen. I have always been a van halen fan. And even though it is cool Wolf gets to play with his dad in VH, lets be honest, he has HUGE shoes to fill (Michael Anthony). This cd I believe has truly given him a chance to be his own man. He really shines on it. As soon as the cd starts you can FEEL that bass. GOOD NIGHT! Perfect cd. Marks playing is fantastic as always.

Anyone who is familiar with the name Tremonti knows exactly how brilliant of a guitarist he is. If you listened to the first album released under this moniker then you also know he has a great voice and writes heartfelt lyrics. This album is another step in the growth of the project. I highly recommend purchasing this album.

I have to admit I am a Creed fan and I do miss them. I also like Alter Bridge, probably a tick below Creed. But one constant is Mr. Tremonti. He had one sound for Creed, a slightly harder sound with Alter Bridge and IMHO pulls out all the stops with his solo efforts. Good old school heavy rock. An absolute must for lovers of great guitar.