Mark Tremonti has quietly served as the anchor to both Creed and Alter Bridge for the past decade and more. Now, he’s stepping out on his own, proving what a triple-threat he really is in singer, songwriter and guitarist form.

His new solo project, aptly dubbed ‘Tremonti’ will release their debut disc on July 12 called ‘All I Was’ with the first single being ‘You Waste Your Time.’ Joining him on his solo venture are Eric Friedman on guitar, Brian Marshall on bass and Garrett Whitlock on drums.

Tremonti’s skillful guitar playing comes as no real shock but the biggest surprise about ‘You Waste Your Time’ is what a formidable frontman Tremonti really is. The song kicks off with a heavy riff clearly calling out Tremonti’s love for speed metal before settling into a more melodic verse.

Able to tune down the vocals to perfectly suit his lower range, Tremonti’s voice is commanding as he rips into the song, “You should have seen more faces from the start / Beholden to the hate within your heart / You cast the world aside / Hiding from your burden one more time. / But it could it be your efforts were in vain? / Could it be your life is full of shame? / You threw it all away / You let it fall to pieces here today.” While Tremonti likely feels most at home playing guitar, his voice serves the song well and he was definitely mindful about writing to his strengths.

The chorus leads into some of the most impressive guitar work on the song. Towards the end Tremonti digs into his bag of tricks delivering a punishing solo that sounds like it’s been kept prisoner for quite some time, begging to be set free, serving up the heaviest part of the tune. As a whole the song’s balance teeters between speed and melody but somehow it works, finding the perfect mix of both – no small feat.

If this song is any indication of what fans can expect on the rest of the disc, bring it on! It may have taken some time but Mark Tremonti finally found his voice both figuratively and literally on ‘All I Was,’ and hopefully this is only the beginning.

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Listen to Tremonti, ‘You Waste Your Time’

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