Scott Stapp
's solo career got interrupted by the 2009
Creed
reunion, so it took him a full eight years to get around to following up 2005's
The Great Divide
. Perhaps that's why he feels the need to call this sophomore set
Proof of Life
: he's reiterating that he's still here, still raising a ruckus. Like
,
Stapp
is intent on keeping most of
operating on a gut level. It comes crashing in on a cascade of heavy guitars as
testifies "I'm not evil/No matter what you think/I'm just human/There's a part of you just like me," the first line on an album that could be read as a loose song cycle about losing faith then finding, well, "Proof of Life," then discovering there is a "New Day Coming" assisted by the help of god ("Jesus Was a Rockstar," before learning he was just "Dying to Live"). Along the way,
does occasionally buff the finish so the album doesn't seem entirely like a throwback to the glory days of new-millennial post-grunge -- the album's centerpiece power ballad, "Only One," has hints of electronic rhythms and a clean, metallic glint reminiscent of prime
3 Doors Down
; "Hit Me More" churns on syncopated rhythms that may (or may not) have a passing acquaintance with EDM -- but he's at home when he's allowed to bellow alongside massive walls of guitars. He does so throughout
, so it offers surface comforts even if, at its core, this is something of a travelogue of a dark night of the soul. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine