Full Circle [Digipak] by Creed (Post Grunge) (CD, Oct-2009, Wind-Up Records)

3 stars outta 5. I was excited to hear that Creed was releasing a new cd, especially when I noticed it's title was "Full Circle". Now with hopeful thinking in my mind, I was wishing that the title meant that the re-united band was going to release something along the same feel as their first work (and only one which I thought every song was excellent) "My Own Prison". Boy was I wrong! This is a new direction, and it sounds like nothing they've done before, although it does have that trademark Creed feel to it. Unfortunately nothing really stands out, and I only really liked 3 songs enough to put them on my hard drive to load them on my MP3 player (out of 12 tracks thats a pretty poor showing for a new cd in my opinion). One of the things that bugs me the most about this new release is all the distortion effects that were produced into Mark Tremonti's guitar work. In my opinion, when you have a guitarist as good as he's proven to be, why muddle the sound like this? Scott's vocals are just as good as ever, but the lyrics really don't grab you like some of the previous material by the band, most of this cd is, well, average...and that's why its only a 3 star for me. I'm not saying don't buy it, but be careful, if your like me and was hoping for the old sound, then you may be disappointed too. If you like distorted guitar work then heck, you may actually really like this title...the only way to know for yourself is to check it out for yourself. Enjoy!