From the official website:

"All I Was reveals another side of Mark Tremonti. The Grammy Award-winning guitarist's style remains instantly recognizable. It's nearly impossible to forget his riffs in multi-platinum rock juggernaut Creed or his scorching fretwork with the critically acclaimed, fan favorite Alter Bridge. Having sold over 40 million records worldwide, this is the man behind massive hits like "My Own Prison", "Higher", and "Isolation"?just to name a few. There are a myriad of reasons why Guitar World dubbed him "Guitarist of the Year" three consecutive years in a row, and he ranked as the "fourth greatest heavy metal guitarist ever" in Total Guitar. You might think you know him from all of that, but you haven't heard Tremonti unleashed like this.

Assuming both vocal and six-string duties on his long-awaited solo debut, he thrashes with a fierce intensity that's remarkably heavy and instantly infectious. Flanked by rhythm guitarist Eric Friedman and drummer Garrett Whitlock, Tremonti engages an incendiary metallic assault that's relentless from the first moment until the last, burning down all expectations in its path."

I've always thought that Mark Tremonti was the best part of both Creed and Alter Bridge. While I used to love Creed as a younger kid, I've found that I simply grew out of them.

Alter Bridge, while being the same musicians that made up Creed--albeit with a new singer, Myles Kennedy--was a far superior hard rock band (as opposed to Creed's post-grunge) due in part to Tremonti's talent and creativity being unleashed after the departure of Scott Stapp.

With his new solo album, Tremonti's talent has been able to shine yet again.

There are two things that I deem most significant about this album:
1. Where Creed was post-grunge, and Alter Bridge was Hard Rock, Tremonti has taken another step moving towards a heavier sound and created a heavy metal/hard rock album.
2. Alter Bridge's vocalist, Myles, may have been much better than Scott, but it seems as if though Mark Tremonti might have been a better singer than both of them all along.

Why he didn't do this solo project sooner, I may never know.

The songs are your standard structure. There's not going to be any progressive/experimental elements here, really. You could say that it's pretty standard metal, but done in a way that really hammers the proverbial nail right on top of its hard metal head, driving it all the way home.

Anyway, if you're a fan of Alter Bridge or Creed, you most definitely must check out Tremonti. Even if you're not a fan of the aforementioned groups, you may find Tremonti's much more metal edge is something you can actually get into.

Tremonti - Brains


Whether or not you become a fan, you should go vote for him in the suggestions to be added to Metal Storm if you think it's metal enough.

Surely, not speed metal

Perhaps not, but that's what I've seen everyone else label it as.

Even so. He is a great artist. His music is mainstream and very listenable. I like Alterbridge, and his other projects.

Written by Anthem on 09.01.2013 at 06:05

Even so. He is a great artist. His music is mainstream and very listenable. I like Alterbridge, and his other projects.

Same here. Nothing wrong with mainstream, its just that there is a bit of a correlation between that which is mainstream and that which is empty, insipid, and superficial. Tremonti and Alter Bridge are not that kind of mainstream.

I still don't understand why Alter Bridge shouldn't fit MS format. I mean, yes, they're post-grunge, but also heavy, alternative metal. A great lack. So, please vote HERE for Mark to be, as he totally deserves, in MS.

Written by JÄY on 31.12.2012 at 04:28

Surely, not speed metal

Maybe I'm using the label "speed metal" incorrectly, but if I'm correct, speed metal is much like normal heavy metal, albeit faster and more aggressive. If I'm not mistaken, it would basically be the genre between heavy metal and thrash metal, being faster than heavy but more melodic than thrash.

Have you heard the whole album? Perhaps it's not speed metal, but I'd at least call it hard rock with elements of heavy/speed metal. The song I posted isn't the most fast paced, it's just one of my favorites.

Try this one from about 2:18 to 3:00. If that doesn't sound like SOME kind of metal, I don't know what does. And it sounds much faster than most NWOBHM bands. Speed metal? Maybe not; maybe I don't know what I'm saying. But speed metal is the only label I can think of to fit that kind of sound.

Written by Jaeryd on 12.01.2013 at 22:04


Maybe I'm using the label "speed metal" incorrectly

I would call it alternative metal

Written by Jaeryd on 13.01.2013 at 02:48

Not only am I a bit inexperienced with genre labeling, but it seems that the ambiguity of the genre labels themselves makes a particular sound hard to categorize, on occasion.

Yeah, Genres can be silly

I've been listening to thrash metal for 15 years, and i think that many riffs in All I Was are thrash metal riffs.
There is a lot of metal in this solo album, then Tremonti has been able to make it freaking catchy, just 'cause he's a great artist/guitarist.
Plus I never imagined he could sing too!

Now he's been added to MS: Tremonti. Let's spread the voice, he deserves attention!

Tremonti is remarkable,journy startd with creed and nw his own solo career,his permnce is imprvng day by day

Why is Dust album not on metalstorm yet?
It went out on 29th of april...

Written by Jaeryd on 29.12.2012 at 12:12


There are two things that I deem most significant about this album:
1. Where Creed was post-grunge, and Alter Bridge was Hard Rock, Tremonti has taken another step moving towards a heavier sound and created a heavy metal/hard rock album.
2. Alter Bridge's vocalist, Myles, may have been much better than Scott, but it seems as if though Mark Tremonti might have been a better singer than both of them all along.

Nah, Myles Kennedy is definitely the best singer of the lot, though Tremonti is surprisingly good in that regard, and musically I like his solo project the best.

Written by Ganondox on 18.05.2016 at 03:39

Nah, Myles Kennedy is definitely the best singer of the lot, though Tremonti is surprisingly good in that regard, and musically I like his solo project the best.

I've changed my opinion since posting that last comment, I think I like Myles much better than Mark as a vocalist, even though Mark is indeed surprisingly good. I've actually not caught up on his other solo stuff, hearing nothing except for All I Was, but I actually liked Fortress much better than that album. Unless his other solo albums are much better, I might actually prefer Alter Bridge to Tremonti.

Written by Jaeryd on 18.05.2016 at 05:55

Written by Ganondox on 18.05.2016 at 03:39

Nah, Myles Kennedy is definitely the best singer of the lot, though Tremonti is surprisingly good in that regard, and musically I like his solo project the best.

I've changed my opinion since posting that last comment, I think I like Myles much better than Mark as a vocalist, even though Mark is indeed surprisingly good. I've actually not caught up on his other solo stuff, hearing nothing except for All I Was, but I actually liked Fortress much better than that album. Unless his other solo albums are much better, I might actually prefer Alter Bridge to Tremonti.

I'm personally not a big fan of hard rock, so Alter Bridge is probably the better band, but Tremonti just fits my taste more.

Very listenable indeed. I have not listened to speedy stuff since Running Wild 10 years ago.