Full Circle

Creed are together again… finally

A band’s collapse is a common thing in the music world. Even a very successful and popular ensemble may once face the moment when the musicians feel no desire to be together, to play on the same stage and write new material. It is because there are too many factors that influence the establishment and maintenance of healthy and creative atmosphere within a band. The reasons why Creed ceased existing early in this decade remained unknown to many. It all happened very quickly and unexpectedly even for the band’s most faithful fans. To say good bye, these rockers released their worst effort, Weathered, as if proving the meaninglessness of their further activities. The reunion of Creed was not an unprecedented event, but, in fact, was anticipated. Those concerned with the fate of this group were mostly interested in how poorly or well the band would get accommodated in the surroundings of the music world that had significantly changed for almost ten years since the musicians appeared on the stage for the last time. And the answer was given by Creed’s fourth album, Full Circle, released in the autumn of 2009.

Keeping the track of time

Conventionally, Creed’s new album may be divided into two nearly equal parts. The first group of songs looks like an attempt taken by the musicians to make up for the missed time and experiment with the heavier side of their sounding. You can easily reckon it listening to such tracks as Bread of Shame, Suddenly or Fear. Here the solo-parts are more complex and the atmosphere is much gloomier that that of the band’s early works. No matter how emotional these songs might seem, they have least chances to get through to most prestigious radio stations. This is the priority of the compositions from group number two, the tracks reminding us of the best moments from Creed’s multiplatinum albums. First of all, it could be Away In Silence, On My Sleeve, and The Song You Sing. In the midst of this punk- and hard-rock madness, you will catch a bright acoustic piece named Rain. One should enjoy the job done by Creed’s vocalist and ideological leader, Scott Stapp. His voice can hardly be named among the best voices on the nowadays rock stage, but you will like him for using every bit of his skills. Stapp also deserves a kind word for writing his lyrics simple, free of the unnecessary pseudo-wise stuff that has become popular among many of his colleagues who don’t know what they really sing about. Of all the instrumentalists, you will distinguish Mark Tremonti who has broadened the range of his guitar tricks since the times of the previous album’s recording.

What’s next?

There are bands that get together again after all the feuds and conflicts to use their long gone fame and harvest the money of their loyal and sometimes naive supporters. There are also bands that start a new life after death because they feel they haven’t said and done all they could and wanted to. Seems like Creed refers to the latter division. Raising a stir late in the nineties, these musicians vanished off the stage leaving their fans in confusion. A strong and interesting band like this one should not leave racetrack having as few as three albums in their collection. Having overcome all the differences and other difficulties, the musicians once again amassed under the colors of Creed to gain the positions they once had. History remembers many a case when a band should not have returned to music life as the only result of this step was making fun out of themselves and wasting time. Fortunately, Creed evaded this lot. Full Circle is an interesting work, due and modern as if the musicians have never parted their ways, but have been slaving all this time dropping CD after CD. It is now interesting to watch the progress of this rock formation. Was just a spark of enthusiasm from the musicians who got tired of doing nothing, or is a beginning of a new and eventful life? We will hope for the best. Full Circle will be of great help to us in it.