Alter Bridge released AB III in North America on November 9, 2010, through Alter Bridge Recordings via EMI Label Services. Their third studio album put questions about faith and certainty at the center of the writing. Lead single “Isolation” paired that unease with the combination of heavy riffs and melodic hooks the band wanted to preserve.
Myles Kennedy told MusicRadar that the music gave him room to express doubts he’d been wrestling with about belief and life’s meaning. He also worried about revealing too much. That tension made the lyrics personal without requiring every song to offer reassurance. The singer described being happy with his family and his life while still questioning ideas he’d previously accepted as absolute.
Those ideas still had to survive a group writing process. Kennedy and Mark Tremonti generally built songs from collections of riffs and sections, testing those pieces together with the band. A favorite idea could be rejected if the others weren’t convinced. Kennedy explained that learning to let go was part of making the process work. Occasionally, a complete song arrived from one writer; “Wonderful Life,” which he wrote himself, was one of those exceptions.
The arrangements came together with less time for revision than on Blackbird. In a July 2010 MusicRadar interview, Kennedy said the shorter process encouraged spontaneity: “you don’t get bogged down with overthinking.” Producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette returned after working on the previous album, and the guitar sounds came together quickly. Kennedy largely used the equipment he played live, including his PRS 245, Diezel Herbert and Mesa/Boogie Mark IV.
One song needed considerably more persistence. Tremonti told CityBeat in 2011 that Kennedy’s introduction to “Slip to the Void” immediately inspired him to write a guitar riff behind it. About a year and a half passed before they returned to the piece, and finishing it proved difficult enough that it nearly missed the record. Even when the band was ready to record, the song wasn’t on the list. Tremonti argued for another attempt. The completed track opened AB III and, by the time of that interview, was also opening their live sets.
The heavier material changed Kennedy’s lead playing, too. He described reaching for a more technical approach because long, sustained blues phrases didn’t always suit the intensity of the songs. Texture remained a central part of his guitar role. He also resisted treating the previous album’s title track, “Blackbird,” as a challenge that every new record had to beat.
The original 14-song sequence ended with “Words Darker Than Their Wings,” which gave Kennedy and Tremonti shared lead vocals. Its discussion of faith placed two voices inside the subject that had driven so much of the album, extending that conversation into the closing song.
Commercial success followed a record the band said it hadn’t written around radio requirements. In January 2011, “Isolation” became Alter Bridge’s first No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. Speaking to Billboard about the breakthrough, Tremonti said earlier attempts to fit commercial radio had fallen short of the top spot. This time, the band had written the album without that target in mind.
