Stapp's second coming

Admit it: at one point, you loved Creed. In fact, you still own "Human Clay," even though it is by far their worst album. And even though this love eventually dissolved into condemnation and cries of "Creed sucks!," we must remember why we loved Creed in the first place. They were the only guitar-driven answer to Top 40's wallowing in boy band noxiousness, aside from BBMak. Vocalist Scott Stapp and his boys reinvigorated grunge, mixed with the finer elements of hard rock and a touch of religion (which we were willing to overlook). A reincarnated Eddie Vedder serenaded the world with a soaring baritone we prayed would never go away. Though it was to be short-lived, by 2002, a decent rock revival seemed to be in the works (Nickelback, Default, Puddle of Mudd) and for a while, a Stapp sound-alike contest emerged (Lifehouse, the Calling).

Alas, even I must admit that the glory days of Creed are gone. When the band broke up in 2004, Stapp separated from his original bandmates to pursue new projects. The latter emerged with an alternate group, Alter Bridge, but their work lacked the familiar voice that had trademarked Creed's sound. And now, with Stapp finally releasing his first solo effort, "The Great Divide," it is evident that without the intricate and lengthy guitar lines composed by Creed's Mark Tremonti, his performance suffers as well — mostly from a lack of musical sophistication.

The cover art of "The Great Divide" shows Stapp, back to the audience (à la Eric Cartman's famous line about Christian rock groups whose cover photo can't have the group looking at the camera), in slick leather pants and holding a 1950's crooner microphone. The confluence of bygone decades seems to prove a point the critics' point: Scott Stapp is over.

Rather than opting for a different style, as frontmen-turned-solo-artists are apt to do, Stapp chose to stick with Creed's not-so-unique blend of post-grunge and hard rock. Though most of his tunes are enjoyable, featuring power ballads, big soaring choruses and heavy guitar riffs that release with perfect timing, there is a lot missing. Such as Mark Tremonti. While many of the songs open with some lead guitar work, as opposed to big power chords, the licks are not innovative or inspiring. The same could be said about the album in general: it brings nothing new to the table, just the same stale rock recycled time and again.

The philosophizing and self-critique that characterized Stapp's earlier work have evolved into meaningless and self-indulgent quasi-religious excuses for words that act as filler to the music. This self-centeredness is exemplified most humorously by a verse in "Sublime": "Hush now child .../I'm trying to sing a song about heaven on earth ..." (Shut up kid, can't you see he's trying to be pious?)

To his credit, Stapp sticks to his formula and doesn't venture into the alternative rock experiments that characterized the mostly unlistenable beginning of Creed's last album, "Weathered."

Putting aside the album's general mediocrity, actual negative points are few and far between. "Fight Song," an antagonistic dismissal of his former band and ex-wife (who, in a moment of sincere ironic humor, he "thanks" in the liner notes, writing "without you all, I never would have come to the place to create this album"), has a booming chorus with a quality hook, but falters in its pre-chorus when Stapp seems to be racing the guitars to see who can finish the verse first. "Surround Me," one of the album's unnecessarily numerous ballads, almost reaches the point of an actual musical achievement, but it quickly slips into repetitive emptiness. The biggest mistake of the album comes at its close, with the inclusion of a gospel choir in "Broken" in an effort to prove Stapp's religiosity. Needless to say, it doesn't work.

Nevertheless, there are many solid areas. The middle part of the album is replete with big bang choruses and heavy riffs that help you indulge your inner headbanging desires. Other high points come in the Metallica-esque solo of "Reach Out" and the mandolin-evoking guitars of "Follow You." The highlight of the album is "Justify," which begins with an unadorned guitar lick that entices the listener with promises of more to come. Stapp, with slight distortion, speaks captivatingly in quite poetic terms and quick rhyming succession about life and love as he builds up to the payoff chorus.

If you are a Creed fan suffering from extreme withdrawal ever since the band's demise, or someone looking for new music worthy of a mosh pit, this album is definitely not a letdown. Otherwise, if you're looking for Christian-turned-mainstream rock with both creativity and musical pioneering, you'd be better off buying some Evanescence.