Mark Tremonti of Creed and Alter Bridge have released a new single titled “Just Too Much” from his alt-metal solo project Tremonti. Tremonti is a band that prominently features Mark himself, not only taking on guitar duties but vocal duties as well. But what does Tremonti offer that Alter Bridge and Creed do not?
Creed makes hard rock and post-grunge with a focus on radio play and, at least to some degree, Christian rock appeal. Alter Bridge is more of an extension of Creed, featuring everyone from that band minus vocalist Scott Stapp. They still work with a pop focus, but also have shown a greater willingness to take songwriting risks.
With Tremonti, if we’re being brutally honest here, we have a fresh new start. With this new single, you can easily tell that, unlike with his other two projects, Mark Tremonti is much less afraid to go into the metal direction. Tremonti’s sound is thicker, heavier, louder and more aggressive–a taste of what would happen if Creed had decided to head down the alternative metal rabbit-hole as opposed to pursuing the mainstream appeal of post-grunge’s heyday. While you can hear more of Tremonti’s Metallica’s influences on his previous projects, on “Just Too Much”, the post-grunge influences creep back up, with a sound that is not too dissimilar to Soundgarden’s “Black Rain” in terms of riff work.
“Just Too Much” is a good introduction to what Tremonti is fully capable of. This is a project that sees Mark fully expressing himself with the kind of music that he truly wants to make, and that would never have ended up on an Alter Bridge record, much less a Creed one.
