A new Creed album, every critic's nightmare.  Or should I say every critic's delight, as most critics probably get a kick out of bashing these guys.  The band that everyone loves to hate is back after nearly a decade with Full Circle.  I, for one, never thought I'd see the day that this uber successful band from the late 90s would be putting out another album.  Especially after lead singer Scott Stapp's drunken stupor on stage at their live shows, the fighting between band members and even original bassist Brian Marshall's departure.  Well, they are back and have proclaimed they have come "full circle" as a band, hence the album title. 

I will be 100% honest here.  I used to be a big Creed fan.  When My Own Prison first came out, I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  The same thing with their sophomore effort, Human Clay.  I'm surprised I didn't wear out those cd's after listening to 'What's This Life For' and 'Higher' over and over and over again.  But that was in my youth.  By the time Weathered came around I was almost out of college and as much as I liked it at first, just because it was Creed, I couldn't help but see where my relationship with the band was headed.  It slowly faded away.  Then of course they broke up and probably like most everyone else, I forgot about them.    

Now that you have the backstory, I have to admit that I was slightly intrigued at how Creed would present themselves on this new record.  My first thought was, how are they possibly going to release anything new and exciting, especially since they have been pretty much copied by every nu-metal/post-grunge band that has released anything in the past 10 years.  It's kind of funny how Creed used to be labeled as ripoffs of bands like Pearl Jam, but now it seems like most of the popular acts getting a lot of rock radio airplay today are ripping off Creed.

Full Circle basically picks up where Creed left off.  Same old sound that any huge Creed fan will love.  First single and opening track 'Overcome' really surprised me the first time I heard it.  It's a little bit heavier than some of the stuff I'm used to from Creed.  Of course the band did have a few heavier songs on their old albums, but everyone is so used to those radio staple singles.  'Overcome' is probably the heaviest single the band has released and it does the job.  Hard rocking riffs, a sing along chorus, and a sick guitar solo make for quite a badass song, if you can believe that Creed can be badass.  The same thing happens with 'Bread of Shame'.  Another hard rock song that is again outside of normal Creed territory.  So here I am thinking, alright, they changed it up a little bit...this kind of rocks.  Then as we all figured would happen, most of the rest of the album falls into typical modern rock that only Creed could provide. 

Remember all those huge hits the band had back in the day?  Well here they come again.  'Rain', 'Away in Silence,' and 'On My Sleeve' are everything you expect from this band.  I will say this about 'Rain' though; I appreciate the jump into the acoustic sound on this song.  Actually there are a couple other tracks where they mix in the acoustic guitar a little bit and it's a nice change of pace, especially coming from these guys.  However, due to the lack of range in their music, a lot of their material sounds very similar and that drags the album down and at times becomes quite boring.

The highlight of Full Circle comes in the form of the most talented member of the band, guitarist Mark Tremonti.  This guy can just rip it up on the guitar.  His shredding on this album will melt your face off.  There are a lot more solos to be found here and we can probably thank the Alter Bridge days for that.  If Tremonti was in any other band, he would possibly be praised as one of the greatest guitar players in rock.  Unfortunately for him, he plays guitar for Creed so everyone automatically dismisses him. 

The biggest problem with this album outside of the same old sound is Scott Stapp.  This guy is just unlikable as it is as he always came off as an arrogant jerk and his drunken behavior on stage that caused fans to demand a refund for the show doesn't help his cause.  And with that already going against him, myself and many others have no real reason to invest time into this guy.  Thus, every time I hear his voice I imagine him on up on stage, one foot up on the speakers in front of him, holding his mic with both hands, belting out "Can you take me higher!"  Makes me cringe just thinking about it.  On Full Circle it's more of the same and this time he's even adding in some grunts and he's really reaching down deep in his vocal chords to get that rough sort of sound.  Thanks, but no thanks Scott.  I can actually feel him trying way too hard.

Take Full Circle for what it is.  It's Creed's big return to the limelight.  Whether or not this is going to interest fans is up in the air.  Mark Tremonti should be praised for his amazing guitar playing skills and Scott Stapp should stop trying so damn hard.  Serious Creed addicts will dig this and for them there is some decent stuff to be found here.  People like me who were fans at one point but forgot about the band long ago will give it a listen or two through and then forget about them all over again.  As for anyone else, don't expect Full Circle to be the album that generates many new fans for the band.   The biggest surprise to me is that Creed didn't sign an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart to sell this album.  After all, that is probably their target audience. 

Check these out: Overcome, Time, A Thousand Faces