Alter Bridge: One Day Remains

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Following the break-up of Creed, the niche of “mainstream rockers� was open, and some of the former members of Creed moved forward to retain their position with a band, Alter Bridge. With hopeful lyrics and driving guitar support, Scott Phillips, Mark Tremonti and Brian Marshall (an earlier Creed My big question approaching their album, One Day Remains, was, will the struggles with faith and hope continue without their former lead vocalist, Scott Stapp? bassist) joined up with vocalist Myles Kennedy to give another shot at stardom in rock ‘n roll.

Alter Bridge kicks off their album with “Find The Real,� remembering the times when faith could be taken for granted, before their adult doubts overtook their childlike faith. The singer proclaims that he hungers for more, because “all I’m left with/Is a crown of thorns/And I’m helpless,� an allusion to a dying Christ on the cross—prior to resurrection. The song’s chorus calls for loving and feeling through the real, and the singer pledges to “kill what hurts with something pure/I will be redeemed so I can breathe again.� Already we’re hearing a juxtaposition of faith and doubt, despair and hope, and pain and joy. With the passion possessed within the song, I believe I’m already starting to see the journey of Creed continued there in the work of Alter Bridge.

“One Day Remains� encourages us to not give up when things are difficult but to have faith in yourself and to know what it means to be alive. Less hope is evident in “Open Your Eyes,� where the singer reflects that he finds it “Hard to trust and can’t believe/Lost the faith and lost the love.� At one point, he understood that faith and love worked together but now he hopes that someday ‘they’ will realize that we are all one because presently he walks in darkness, depressed. The loss of faith and desire for future unity points to a discouragement in organized religion and its separations of theology and denomination.

The darkness threatens to overcome the singer in “Burn It Down,� as drinking and depression are cyclical events, until the singer feels that he has no right to pray. Alter Bridge bounces back momentarily in “Metalingus� with the declaration that he “Dropped to my knees when hope ran out/The time has come to change my ways.� Who has not felt like they have broken all trust in a relationship with another human being or God beyond the point of repair? How far do we have to fall until all we can see is the light above us? Regret, bitter places and broken dreams are left behind with the new vow, as the midpoint of the song comes with the request “Let me breathe, could you set me free,� made to an anonymous ‘other.’ The band is moving upward slowly, but the carnage of those who are run over by life grips them in “Broken Wings.� The singer implores those listening to give of themselves to help others, to staunch the flow of life out from their souls, even as admits to believing in only what he can see (versus things you must have faith in to believe.)

“In Loving Memory� and “Down To My Last� are tribute songs: the first to a dead loved one and the second to the ‘world.’ The singer alludes to the journey on which the band goes in “Last,� noting those who have been on their side and those who have stood against them. They toast those who have stood by them and turn their backs on those who doubted. To those who taught them love, “You were always the only (one)/To help me see that to love is to shine/In your world, blind� sings Alter Bridge. The implication is that love has been taught but that their existence blinds them to the positive effects it could have. Once again, experience gets in the way of embracing the heartfelt knowledge in which they once had faith.

The images of light and darkness rise again in “Watch Your Words,� as the chorus says that you must have faith to see and that we should pray to see the end’s saving grace. A curious phrase in the chorus, “Oh the righteous they can’t wait,� implies that those who often speak for Christ have hurt the singer in the past and possibly the present. To be righteous is not a compliment in this setting because Alter Bridge repeatedly yearns for peace and redemption, but constantly feel dragged down by their own shortcomings, setting them apart from those who see themselves as pure. So righteous equates with self-righteous here—how could a Christian, through self-examination, recognize their judgmental expressions and change for the better, kinder example?

"Shed My Skin� deals with the regrets of past faults through expressing them openly, as a form of cleansing confession, and turning away from a time when they were kept hidden. With confession comes a release from shame and guilt that has Biblical precedent—either through forgiveness from another individual or from God. In closing, “The End Is Here� is a postlude for One Day Remains and a prelude to whatever album follows it. Alter Bridge proclaims “For the rest of my life/I will find the answers/That were always here/I will find the meaning this time.� The journey in the rearview mirror has been reflected upon but it is now the future that they concern themselves with in examining. Too often, it seems that the members of the band have skimmed the surface of true faith without jumping in, and now they want to find real fulfillment there.

Alter Bridge may have picked up a new vocalist but the imploring, questioning, struggling relationship with life and God continues. The fact that the band does not feel the need to hide their transgressions but admit their fallacies and ask for forgiveness marks their debut album as an honest initiative. While X-Files never seemed to resolve what truth was out there, I hope that in the end, Alter Bridge finds that God does not endorse judgmental religion but heartfelt faith. As their career progresses and the journey continues, hopefully we will see a development of mature faith expressed in song and the band will find the peace it seeks at the end of the road.
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