Review: Full Cricle by Creed

Creed has finally returned! But are they any good these days? Can they at least be as good as they once were, or are they even better? The answers lie within.

Alter Bridge takes a break as Creed steps back to the plate, and what we get is an album that absolutely delivers. Here's the song by song breakdown.

Overcome- The album starts of very strong with this track. Right away you get the message that Creed ain't screwing around here. This song is much heavier than their old stuff. It's kinda like Alter Creed. Or Creed Bridge. Something like that. It was the album's first single released a while back and I can see why. Right from the get go, you know Creed's got a new sound but they're still Creed. Awesome solo at the end. The only thing that seems "off" is that Scott almost raps some of the lyrics in the last verse. Strange, but I got used to it. It takes nothing away from this very awesome song.

Bread of Shame- Definitely the hardest song on the CD. The riff in the background and the chorus verge on metal. Not a bad song at all, though. I think the heaviness makes it memorable.

A Thousand Faces- My favorite song on this initial play-through. Mark Tremonti provides beautiful backing vocals on this song and you wonder why they don't do that sort of thing more. It's a lot more tame than the last two, but probably still a bit more than Creed used to do. Another Alter Bride-y guitar solo. Guitar intro reminds me of old Creed. Actually, there's quite a few tracks like that. And here I was worried we'd lose those awesome guitar intros forever.

Suddenly- Another quite hard track from the start. But when the chorus hits, you know it's Creed. It's not bad, but not particularly memorable either.

Rain- The album takes a break from heavy for this track. The acoustical sound makes it light and airy, but it's not quite what Creed used to do. I suppose it's in part due to it not being extraordinarily slow. It somehow reminds me of "Rise Today."

Away in Silence- Another nice guitar intro to start off. It's odd because it's a love song. Creed doesn't do love songs. But, somehow, they pull it off and they make it good. It almost reminds me of their older stuff more than the previous tracks.

Fear- Just when you thought the album was getting soft, this song comes along to wake you back up. It's like light metal. Pretty good song.

On My Sleeve- And to sharply contrast that last song is this one. It's got strings! This track is a mix of heavy and light, but comes away surprisingly powerful.

Full Circle- The album's title track has an odd Southern twang to it. That all goes away in the chorus, though. It's a pretty good song, and I understand why the album was called Full Circle, but I almost wish they had picked a better title track.

Time- Starts off with yet another nice guitar intro. This song, like Suddenly, is not bad but also not very memorable. Actually, it almost reminds me of Daughtry. Almost. It also happens to be the longest song on the disk.

Good Fight- Nice intro. This song also has a nice solo in it. The music is good, but the lyrics are kind of meh. The ending is just silly, but overall it's not a bad song.

The Song You Sing- It starts off and sounds somewhat cheesy. Like a loop pre-packaged with Garage Band. It's also got a bit of twang to it, which kind of bothers me because I absolutely cannot stand country music. The song has a nice message and, while it's not bad, it's probably the weakest on the CD. Not the way I would have ended the disk, but by the time you get to the end of the song the cheesiness fades away and you can see why they would have chosen it.

Overall, Full Circle is a very strong album. While some of the songs are meh, none of them are downright bad. I am extremely pleased that Creed is back and even more pleased that they don't suck. Their new sound is similar, but different enough to set them apart from their old self. It's an obvious evolution of the band taking into account all that the members have learned in their time apart. The Alter Bridge influence is there, but this is most certainly still Creed. Creed fans, pick it up. Alter Bridge fans, give it a try. Everyone else, check it out and judge for yourself. For me, this CD was money well spent.