MattA75's Full Review: My Own Prison by Creed (1~Post-Grunge)
It's hard to believe that it's already been three years since Florida hard rockers Creed broke through into the mainstream. Oddly enough, I now am not half the Creed fan I was only two years ago. Personally, I think they and their act have become pretentious and laughable, with lead singer Scott Stapp striking Jesus like poses in their videos and on stage, and their music sounding more contrived and derivative than ever. But I cannot take away the fact that My Own Prison is a very good debut album, made stronger by the fact that the pretentiousness of their follow up CD, Human Clay, is nowhere to be found here.
Four songs on this disc went to #1 on the modern rock radio charts, a first for that format (and possibly ANY format?). The lead single and title track is a melodic and harrowing journey into Stapp's soul, as he purges all his sins. Particularly strong is the guitar solo of Mark Tremonti, which creates an uplifting tone for the song at the bridge.
To me, Torn is the weakest song on the disc. The riff sounds positively recycled, Stapp is trying much much too hard to sound like someone he's obviously not, and the lyrics are mediocre at best.
But that gets saved by the final two tracks on the disc, the amazing What's This Life For? and what is unarguably one of the best rock songs of the 1990s, One. What's This Life For? deals with the suicide of one of Stapp's friends. It's positively powerful and uplifting, but in a depressing sort of way. Two years ago that song spoke very powerfully to me. But thanks to radio overplay, the song no longer speaks to me much at all, unfortunately.
And then there's the melodic call for unity from Stapp, the previously mentioned One. Personally, I feel this is Stapp's best songwriting effort ever, the lines flowing smoothly through the simple riffs and basic drumbeat. And with songs like that, I myself can overlook some of the poorer efforts on here (i.e. Illusion and Torn) and give this album an enthusiastic thumbs up, despite what I now feel to be a band that is possibly the most pretentious band in music today.
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