*The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I thought this was necessary... put all "Full Circle" album reviews here!

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

The Good:

• Overcome
  - A solid hard rock tune. Great opening track.
• Bread of Shame
  - The guitars are tuned way too low, but the chunky grooves make up for it. Definitely one of the strangest Creed songs, almost like a guilty pleasure.
• A Thousand Faces
  - Classic Creed. Nothing more to say. Tremonti's backing vocals are a highlight here.
• Suddenly
  - It was funny. As I first listened to it, I thought, "Well it suddenly goes from awesome to average, then suddenly back to awesome. Whatever. Overall it's pretty good.
• Fear
  - Nice, heavy riffage here. Some cool vocals too. LET GO! LET GO!
• The Song You Sing
  - More of that classic Creed sound. Cool little solo towards the end. Also, some nice, old-school vocal melodies from Scott. This album would be better with more of them.

The Mediocre:

• Full Circle
  - A groovy yet muddled mess. Kinda feels like a work in progress. In the end though, a good back beat makes this one listenable.
• Time
  - Some elegant guitar work and some cool lyrics, you'd think it's a sure thing. Not quite. Something about it just doesn't reach out and grab me. Parts of it feel somewhat sterile. It's not bad though, just average.
• Good Fight
  - A plodding and boring chorus drags this song down. A song about fighting the good fight should inspire me, not make me want to skip to an earlier track. The vocals at the end of the song made me laugh. Stop trying so hard Scott.

The Bad:

• Rain
• Away In Silence
• On My Sleeve
  - "Don't give up on us." Sorry Scott, I'm definitely giving up on these songs. Poppy filler with cheesy, cliché-laden lyrics.

Final Verdict:

Good, but not great. It's a little better than I expected, which was nice. Scott's aggressive new vocal style works on the heavier songs but not so much on the lighter stuff.

Occasionally, there is a glimpse of those old vocal melodies that defined Creed's early sound. Those, combined with Tremonti's masterful guitar work, gave Creed a full, robust sound that is lacking on this record. Thankfully, Tremonti continues to explore and experiment with his craft; it pays off and gives us some sounds that we have never heard out of Creed.

By no means is this a retread of their past work. If anything, some of their past work would have helped to embolden this record.

3 out of 5 stars.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

My review (excluding Overcome/Rain)

Bread of Shame: Awesome choice as the second track, amazing riff & when this song get's rolling it kicks you right in the face! My jaw dropped when first listening to it... of course when I heard this song live I have to admit I just couldn't get into it much, but the studio track is an amazing HEAVY Rock song & this shows that Mark & Scott are so talented they can even write melodically in G# which isn't the easiest thing to do. Flip's drumming on this song is also incredible!

A Thousand Faces: What else can you say about this song... it's another Creed EPIC. The only problem I had with it was Mark's vocal could have been a little louder & there was maybe a little overuse of auto-tune but overall we all know this is a special song with single potential.

Suddenly: Catchy riffs, kind of reminds me of Dream Theater...I don't know why lol great melodies & lyrics (amazing chorus) & in the bridge Scott freakin' owns, love the screams.

Away In Silence: Another Creed EPIC imo. love the Guitar part Mark chose from his instructional dvd, beautiful fingerpicking. Lyrics are incredible, I give a lot of credit to Scott because I'm pretty sure it's his song lyrically... plus his vocal is top notch... (also the bridge with Mark singing was a nice surprise.) anyway this is one of my favorites on the album.

Fear: Another one of my favorites & another incredible HEAVY riff with awesome drumming from Flip... the chorus is extremely catchy. The bridge of this song is almost the best part of it though, the breakdown riff Mark uses is very creative... also Scott SCREAMS his heart out! incredible stuff.

On My Sleeve: A great ballad (awesome lyrics), mainly acoustically driven with orchestral strings to back it... but when the chorus hits it goes from good to great! imo. another EPIC.

Full Circle: Like everyone else has said it's way out of left field for a Creed song but it's freakin' catchy... Brian really shines on this song with creative bass lines. It took awhile to grow on me but I'm lovin' it now.

Time: No joke it's some of Mark's best guitar work... the Blackbird comparison is a bit off though, it's not that dark (except maybe the bridge) & they're completely different musically imo. saying that it's a beautiful song with great lyrics.

Good Fight: This song took awhile to grow on me but the verses are very solid melodically & when the chorus hits it's very powerful... in the bridge Scott really shines with his vocal screams again. Also really liked Mark's solo in this song, nothing really technical but great stuff.

The Song You Sing: More great fingerpicking from Mark & another potential single, very catchy. Love the bridge...might be my favorite part of the song, it gave me goosebumps. Mark's solo at the end... is incredibly uplifting, it might be my favorite solo on the album.

Anyway those are a few thoughts...this album imo. is one of the best of 09 bar none and it blew me away from the first track to the last...saying that there we're a few gripes with overuse of auto-tune in spots but it didn't take away from any of the songs & I gotta give credit to Howard Benson for the production, it's very IN YOUR FACE & mixed well for the most part.

Welcome back CREED!

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Full Circle is the child of Blackbird and The Great Divide.
That's how I feel. They have evolved and grown up and this cannot be compered to "old school Creed" (till 2002 before the split and solo/side projects popped up).
Overall, still quite good. There are some good melodies and rhythm progressions. Songs like - 1000 faces, Away in Silence, Fear, Suddenly, Time, Overcome, Song you Sing, Rain, On my sleeve - are well over average.
Fear has an amazing bridge.
Full Circle is a very strange song.
the ending of Good Fight is infantile (btw. since his solo efforts Stapp is trying to show off his rapping skills (evident in other songs as well, f.e. overcome, full circle etc.).
Bread of Shame is the only real disappointment.
Final verdict - 7 out of 10 cigars.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

This is BS. I still haven't heard all of the songs.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

:D

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I dont see anything on You Tube.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Yup. All these people illegally downloaded the songs. I'll have my review sometime after tuesday. I pre-ordered this on itunes to get a bonus song.. titled "Silent Teacher."

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I'll have to wait at least 5 days after it comes out. I'm sure it'll be worth it. I'm just happy Creed has new material.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Away in Silence & On my sleeve are beautiful songs. Well done boys.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I'm with you Nagpo, just pre-ordered today

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Based on the 30 second previews alone i'm psyched about the album.

Luckily i work at best buy, so w00t employee discount.

Curious to hear this "rapping" everyone is talking about.

I think its sort of naive to expect the same sound out of a band on every album, especially on their 4th undertaking. No band worth their salt has done that.

Personally i respect a band more that DOESNT sound the same Cd to Cd. It's why i love pearl jam so much.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I've pre ordered it... can't wait.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Wow.

First of all, let me say that I am a huge Creed fan. Secondly, I pre-ordered Full Circle last week. To me, Creed is the best band of all time. You might call that extreme, but everyone is entitled to have a favorite band, and mine is Creed. Creed is the only band for me whose albums I can listen to over and over year after year and it never gets old. So draw your own conclusions about the bias of my review.

There is no filler in this album. As for the comment that current albums are never as good as previous albums, not always true with Creed. In my opinion, Human Clay has been the best album so far. Today, I would go as far as to say that Full Circle competes with Human Clay for the top spot for me. I think this album has potential to also go diamond.

Track by track:

1. Overcome: 10/10 (This one has already spoken for itself.)

2. Bread of Shame: 10/10 (Brilliant composition.)

3. A Thousand Faces: 10/10 (Both meaningful and killer composition. Yes! Awesome Tremonti vocals!)

4. Suddenly: 10/10 (Wow, Lightning-fingers Tremonti. This will be the most under-rated song on the album.)

5. Rain: 9/10 (Nice change, but somewhat un-Creed-like, as you know.)

6. Away in Silence: 10/10 (Showing the incredible rock-dynamics of Creed.)

7. Fear: 10/10 (Featuring rock-god, Mark Tremonti. Holy frik...)

8. On My Sleeve: 10/10 (Nickleback feel - don't care for Nickleback, but good stuff thanks to Stapp's vocals and rich Tremonti riffs.)

9. Full Circle: 11/10 (Wow, usually title tracks suck for me, but this is probably the best track on the album. Has it all - lyrics, vocals, riffs, his highness Tremonti.)

10. Time: 9/10 (AB Blackbird feel, but could have used more Tremonti solo. Good track, but had greater potential.)

11. Good Fight: 9/10 (Good riffs, but probably my least favorite on the album.)

12. The Song You Sing: 10/10 (Good choice for the final track. Good all around Creed. Nice melody. *Bow* to Tremonti, as usual.)

I LOVE THIS ALBUM! Can't wait to receive my own copy (with bonus DVD, of course!)

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Amazing album. Period. Doesn't have the vibe of Human Clay, but it has a lot of Creed's sound and some growth (Stapp Solo with a little Alter Bridge flavor). I think I will need to listen to it 3 or 4 more times to fully take it in. Regardless, I will be buying 4 or 5 copies for Christmas presents!:smokin:

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I'm not going to take the time to sum up every song in detail.
I can sum it up in one word; ....HOLY ****

Anyway, the album is the best they've done, as far as I'm concerned.
They have never released an album that I could listen to from start to finish without skipping a track or two, here and there.
I can listen to this one all the way through a thousand times,
and it probably won't get old. The only real complaints I have about the album, are as follows.

1. Fear - A very, very, very good song.......
If you listen carefully to Stapp's voice after the second chorus, you will hear his voice strain for a couple of seconds. Sounds like he needed to clear his throat before he continued. I could almost bet my life that it was a mistake to let that part in on the album. Maybe there was no time left to fix it, I don't know. But after the part where he whispers "change", listen carefully....you will probably hear it. I picked it up on my first listen through, and I wasn't trying to spot anything. His voice has been that way a lot of times during acoustic radio performances.

2. Scott - Scott did an absolutely amazing job with
the vocals for this album.
He still lacks compared to days of old....some, not so old......but, the guy sounds fantastic.
He definately poured his heart and soul into these vocals.
I am satisfied. Great job Stapp.

My one gripe about his vocals, excluding the one mentioned in Fear, is when he sounds kind of like a ticked off Jack Russel Terrier at the end of "Good Fight". "Fight on!" It was a little much. Could have been great if it wasn't so sharp and forced.

3. A Thousand Faces - Epic song. If Tremonti's background vox was as loud as they were live, it'd be even better.

4. Full Circle - Great song. Just kind of sounded better live, musically. The beat is a bit louder live.
Also, when Stapp sings, "second chances bring another impression", he throws an 'h' in the word chances.

5. Production - Howard Benson did do a great job with this album. However, I am not a fan of the way he and Chris Lord-Alge use compression. They do pretty much the same thing with each album they work on. Yeah, it's in your face......but it kills alot of dynamics in the music. Sometimes, it even blends all the guitars into one big unrecognizeable mess.
Sure....there's some guitars in there...somewhere....

Too much compression is a bad thing. Especially if you can notice compression on the vocals, audibly turning them up and down dramatically.

I will not go so far as to say that I wish they had picked someone else, because it is a FANTASTIC work of art, but I hope they return to Kurzweg one day.

Everything they did with Kurzweg had the perfect clean rock sound, with heavy driven guitars, and lighter compression. It was the perfect "creed" sound. Kurzweg reminded me of Bob Rock in some ways.

All that being said, I honestly think it is their best all around album to date. Away In Silence is an amazing song....if that song doesn't move you, I don't know what will.

Stapp really wrote some of the best lyrics he has ever penned in his life, on this album. The boys have really created a masterpiece this time.

It was worth the wait.
Welcome back, Creed.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I am rather disapointed with this album. After Overcome and rain came out I was really excited for the album. This really does almost sound like an alter bridge album (Fear, Suddenly, A Thousand Faces). If this was a bands debut album that came out this year. It would be beyond amaing. But it's not, it's a Creed album. I find most if it to be rather cut and paste aswell. Where are the "Wash Away Those Years", "Wrong Way" and "Faceless Man" of this album? Also, I have been on here defending Scott Stapp against all the haters, but holy jesus he is not very good anymore. The album is good, but it was wayyyyy too rushed and Howard Benson is not a good producer, why they didn't go with John is a mystery. Most of the songs are good. but only 2 are great, and its a Creed album so 12 should have been great, plus 5 great Bsides.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

My least favorite song from the album has to be "Fear". I'm sure I'll end up liking it over time, it will just take awhile...

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Listening to it at the moment and loving it! Doesn't sound much like previous Creed albums but a bands sound changes over time.

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And as for Fear..... it's an awesome song!

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I downloaded it and tried to play it, but it wouldn't work. It said that Windows Media Player won't play a "rar" file.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I went to youtube and decided to cheat a little. I heard "Bread of Shame" and "Fear".

...This is mostly just a first impression of the song(s), since i've only heard them twice and youtube isnt the greatest quality: These two songs are kinda weak. I like Fear the least. Bread of shame is all right, it sounds to much like overcome(vocally). But then again, I didint like Rain at first either, now I do.

Both of those songs really needed solos instead of stapp singing over the guitar. I was dissapointed in that the most. The songs didint really go anywhere.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Here is my review. Same as the review I did on the other board.

So I finally found a way to hear the album. No downloading or anything like that. I must say I absolutely it.

I listened to Time, Away In Silence and On My Sleeve al in a row and was practically in tears. Such emotional songs, so beautiful.

Time- This is such a beautiful song. I knew I was going to love it the moment I heard the 30 second preview. The lyrics really move me. The song is heart-breaking and I love it. Really great guitar work too.

Away In Silence- Really a beautiful song. Diferent from the Creed of past, since it is a love song. Mark's backing vocals were a nice touch.

On My Sleeve- "It only hurts to breath" awww beautiful. I love the music in this song. The violins are a really nice touch.

Full Circle- I know some people say it has a country feel. I personally think it is more bluesy. I like it. A nice change for Creed.

1000 Faces- What can I say that has not already been said. Great song. I knew I would love it because I heard the live version.

Bread Of Shame- This song has great rythem. The lyrics are interesting to say the least. "Just promise fame, I'll survive on this bread of shame." Great song.

Good Fight- I really like this song. Much better than the 30 second preview.

Fear- Awesome song. I love the music. Really nice guitar riffs here too.

Song You Sing- Inspirational and deep lyrics. Great song. I am certain that the words that the guys write will keep calling throughout the years, I love them.

Suddenly- More awesome guitar riffs. I wonder where the inspiration for the lyrics came from. Great song.

All in all I loved the album. There is not one song that I do not like. My favorites are Time, Away In Silence and On My Sleeve. I love all of them though. I think that Scott sounded great throughout. I love his voice. Mark, Brian, Flip and Erock are also incredible. The music is literally just as enjoyable as the lyrics. Great job Creed. I cannot wait to buy my own copies.

I have loved Creed and AB. I do not see how anyone could not like this abum. It is truely incredible.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

^Erock is not on the album. He is just a touring member.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

So, you're against them evolving? One of the reason why Creed has been a laughing stock in the past is because their singles were considered cheesey and musically mediocre. In my opinion, they now sound like a band with something to prove.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Oh ok. I thought I had read something about him coming into the studio with the band. Maybe not. Thanks for the correction.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Totally agree.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

The new Creed album is sick!!! I heard it on YouTube and I will definitely buy the new CD on Monday.

The best songs are: Time, On My Sleeve, Away In Silence and Fear

The rest of the songs are very good too. Great job, Creed!

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

How did you hear it on Youtube?

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Dark knight is my hero!

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

people uploaded them on to the site.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I haven't been able to find them though. Can you provide a link? Or are we not allowed to do that since the album isn't out yet?

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

I'd advise NOT to post any links... Steve has already given us a warning.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

LOL

*facepalm*

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

download "bitzipper" its free and it will modify your files to a listening format...

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

LOL

If you're serious...
Zip Genius is a great free program.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

Sorry, I don't spend all my time illegally downloading music.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

.rar files have nothing to do with illegal activity. Damn noobs.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

yeah, but .rar files are a pain in the ass. there just annoying.

Re: *The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*
 

The songs are great. But something feels like Stapp played nice, sucked up to Mark and said to Mark, "I'll let you have riffage, just let me have my fame and fortune back". I don't know, something feels "put on". Also, could Stapp not sing over EVERY solo Mark has? That get's annoying. It's like they're competing for time. Overall, the songs are great. Creed is back, for sure. But, in some weird way, it's like you know Stapp hasn't changed and this will only last one album and tour. In my opinion.