Although Mark Tremonti and his band can’t seem to help but stack up one radio-friendly anthem after another as this album ascends to the very grand finale that is Providence, Cauterize, much like 2012’s All I Was, goes a long way to disproving the idea that Tremonti is this century’s Neal Schon; an expert balladeer who couldn’t find his way around a fuzz pedal.
Tremonti have the zeal of a garage band, plus the skills to easily transpose that fervour to fill stadiums. Though that probably isn’t the point, the opening four songs feel like a punch to the kidneys – even if the title track can’t resist breaking into a melody that will have you reaching for a lighter to wave around – it’s the visceral thrill of the thing that counts.
Flying Monkeys and Arm Yourself are a pair of brawlers taking on all comers and even when the band do scale it back for the magnificent-sounding Dark Trip, it’s still a bleaker and bloodier proposition than Tremonti – the man or his band – have revealed before./o:p
