*The Official "Full Circle" Reviews Thread*

[Dark_Knight]

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

[Chris98GT]

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.

[Dark_Knight]

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!

[Evil_wizzzard]

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.

[WHATSTHISLIFE4]

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

[King Oropher]

Quote: (Originally Posted by WHATSTHISLIFE4)

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

[My Sacrifice]

Quote: (Originally Posted by WHATSTHISLIFE4)

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

I dont see anything on You Tube.

[nagpo]

Quote: (Originally Posted by WHATSTHISLIFE4)

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

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."

[Mr. Prophet Man]

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.

[King Oropher]

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

[TheGreatDivide]

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

[Icedmofo]

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.

[Trinity]

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

[00iceman]

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!)

[maccamer]

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!