Written: 15th March 2024
Best known for his work with Creed, vocalist Scott Stapp’s fourth solo album, Higher Power, is a dive into his deepest inner demons and an attempt to exorcise them once and for all.
In the past, Stapp has suffered from severe mental health problems and from the very first lyrics of the title track, which opens the album, he recalls the point at which life had reached its lowest ebb and he attempted suicide in 2006 by leaping from a balcony. Forty feet down falling head first off the edge / Without an angel / Waking up to the sound of the living dead / Alone with the devil. Released as a single from the album, it serves its purpose in capturing the attention, delivering an epic chorus and punching above its weight with thick, grooving riffs. Although also displaying Stapp’s renewed vitality for life, Higher Power draws on some well used formulae for the lyrics of the chorus. Now I’m alive / I walked through fire / I survived / I’m burning brighter / Standing on top of the world / I ain’t coming down. Cliched some of the lyrics may be but Higher Power is a pulsating, driving hard rock beginning to the album with Stapp displaying all the powerful vigour and vocal dexterity with which he is so associated.
Throughout the album there are as many musical nods to the early 2000s as there are to early 2024. Deadman’s Trigger could easily have been released twenty years ago and slotted neatly into the discography of any number of bands. Refusing to shy away from his past personal troubles, Deadman’s Trigger delves deeper into some of Stapp’s emotions, experienced in relation to his struggle with depression and bipolar disorder. I’m no fool / I’m no killer / You push I pull a dead man’s trigger / It’s not hate / The truth is bitter.
Three tracks (What I Deserve, Quicksand and Dancing In The Rain) are all elevated beyond the ordinary by admirable contributions from featured artist, Greek guitarist Yiannis Papadopoulos. In places, Quicksand (along with the lyrically transformative Black Butterfly) is the heaviest song on the album with some genuinely pounding percussion and crunching riffs. What I Deserve and Dancing In The Rain both take the tempo down a little with Papadopoulos’s solo soaring and vibrant on the former, and effective and moving on the latter.
Of different interest is the first duet of which Stapp has been a part. If These Walls Could Talk begins with Stapp’s signature but reflective vocals. As the first chorus fades, a new voice (that of Dorothy) enters and picks up the tale until the two combine during the second chorus. The pairing works extremely well, bringing together two iconic voices; Dorothy’s hauntingly ethereal tone providing the perfect counterbalance to Stapp’s grounded and resonant timbre. Their voices intertwine over acoustic guitars and tambourines, creating a rich sonic landscape. Lyrically, If These Walls Could Talk examines a private fall from grace, a journey of recovery and redemption, and the strength provided by those around who offer assistance, even in the darkest moments. Scott Stapp states, “Recording this album was cathartic for me while going through the kinds of life challenges we all experience. Dorothy arrives at the album’s turning point – that moment when you acknowledge how far you’ve come while recommitting to moving forward. Her performance is such a soulful contribution to the song that I’m grateful I didn’t do this one alone.”
While competently sung and lyrically more optimistic (I’ll carry the weight of the world / When it’s too heavy to hold / I want you to sleep with a smile on your face tonight / I’ll be your light in the dark), closer Weight of the World highlights the main issue that some listeners may feel limits Higher Power’s impact as a complete album: the album’s heavier, punchier moments are outweighed by the mid-tempo ballads. Taken individually, each of these six tracks (with If These Walls Could Talk and What I Deserve the pick of the bunch) are perfectly serviceable but are grouped into two runs of three tracks on the album, meaning the effect of the four rockier numbers is somewhat sparse across the album’s forty minutes.
Ultimately, Higher Power is an album Scott Stapp (whose voice remains rich and lustrous) needed to make. Solid without being outstanding and brutally honest in its intentions, it is unlikely to win any prizes for insightful poetry within the lyrics. Nevertheless, we should celebrate his personal triumphs because the fact that he is here and still making music to be enjoyed is a reward in itself.
Higher Power is out now.
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