It’s weird that I’ve only just added this album to the library because overall it’s probably my favourite Alter Bridge album. Some of my favourite songs are on the first two records, but as a complete package, this crowns them all.

It was also around the release of this album that I really started getting into the band properly. I’d heard odds and sods from the first two albums, but for some reason they never really gripped me. It was admittedly Myles Kennedy’s guest appearances on Slash’s first solo album that really made me fall in love with the dude’s voice. A more thorough examination of Alter Bridge soon followed as a result.

As is often the case with me, it was the prospect of seeing the band live that really made me delve into their music. If memory serves it was the tour in support of this album where I first saw Alter Bridge and it was a hell of a gig. But then it always is with the Floridian four-piece. It’s funny because I don’t listen to them a lot at home, and it’s usually a friend who suggests going to see them whenever they’re touring, as they’re not really on my radar. I always forget just how fantastic they are live.

This album especially takes me back to that first time seeing them. The atmosphere of Slip To The Void kicking things off, my personal highlight from this album; Breathe Again, and Myles’ acoustic one-two of Wonderful Life and Watch Over You (the latter from the previous record of course). There really is some phenomenal music on here.

I do love the fact that the band are getting increasingly epic and proggy with each album (last year’s The Last Hero especially) but ABIII is undoubtedly my most played entry in their catalogue.