The album features 10 songs for 54 minutes and we've already heard the singles "This is War" (the opener, very good), "Silver Tongue", "Sin After sin" and especially the title track "Pawns & Kings," to me one of the best songs of their catalogue and by far the best of this album, with a strong imprinting by Myles Kennedy (what a performance, click on the lyric video at the bottom of the page). A thing that I like of the album is the variety: the singles are quite heavy, but we have slightly "happy" songs like "Season of promise" or "Holiday", mid-tempos, featuring Mark Tremonti on vocals, "Stay" and the long "Fable Of The Silent Son".
This time the band included only ten songs and I'm happy about it as I find their albums often too long and with too many tracks. A very good return, not at the same level as the first 4 albums, but immediately after those. A big step forward and a very good album and the usual great performance/production. Long live Alter bridge.
Rating 70/100
Top tracks: This Is War, Season Of Promise, Pawns & Kings.
1) This Is War
2) Dead Among The Living
3) Silver Tongue
4) Sin After Sin
5) Stay
6) Holiday
7) Fable Of The Silent Son
8) Season Of Promise
9) Last Man Standing
10) Pawns & Kings