September 28, 1999 - Human Clay

A week after my last release and two years since their debut "My Own Prison", Creed released their second album "Human Clay" on September 28, 1999. Creed continue to play the same style of post-grunge hard rock and this album actually went #1 in the charts. It launched Creed into international superstars and had several hit singles. Let's check out the latest from Creed!

The album fittingly kicks off with "Are You Ready?" and it's driven by a pretty solid guitar riff by Mark Tremonti. Scott Stapp comes in to sing the verse in his post-grunge voice and things sound pretty good. The chorus is still decently heavy and it's also pretty catchy. Tremonti switches to a new lighter riff after the next round and Stapp sings softly at first, but nicely switches to a loud yell when the music picks up. Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips provide a solid rhythm section and they jam out the chorus to close out this solid opener.  Up next is "What If" and each of these first two songs were singles, but as well as this one did on the charts, it was still the album's 3rd-best single commercially. Tremonti opens things with a nice light guitar riff but they segue very nicely from this intro into a nice heavy main riff with some cool guitar and Stapp sounding pretty good singing overtop. The chorus is a little more radio-friendly but still decent, but the verse is a nice headbanger! After the next round Tremonti plays a new guitar riff that sounds pretty epic and cool and even though Stapp is just yelling "what if, what if, what if, what if, what if I" he sounds pretty heavy and I really like what's going on here! After another chorus they finish the song with another round of that heavy part and especially for a single, this was a pretty good song! Track 3 is "Beautiful" and Stapp leads the way with a solid verse and Tremonti starts with a nice quieter riff, but shifts nicely into another pretty heavy and cool riff and the rest of the band follows Tremonti's lead by nicely switching back and forth between the quieter and louder parts. Tremonti delivers a quiet but pretty good little guitar solo and Stapp leads a nice new part with some pretty good vocals before they bring it back to the main riff to finish things off. The next track is "Say I" and they kick right into a solid riff led by some more heavy and cool guitar by Tremonti. He switches to some epic lighter guitar for the verse and Marshall plays some solid bass as well with Stapp singing a verse that matches the mood perfectly. The heavy opening turns out to be the chorus riff, and so it's a pretty solid headbanger of a chorus. Tremonti plays some very metal chugging guitars after the next round, but Stapp does some quiet singing and we hear several different voices in an odd choice for me that doesn't really fit. They close it out pretty nicely and most of the song was still good, just that one missed opportunity. Track 5 is "Wrong Way" and Tremonti leads the way with a quiet but cool guitar riff and Stapp sings softly to match the mood. After a couple verses we finally hit the loud chorus and Stapp sounds decent yelling "yeah, yeah" and Tremonti segues nicely from here until a cool new riff and they close it out with a nice final chorus. Up next is "Faceless Man" and Tremonti plays some epic light guitar to start us off. He switches to acoustic guitar for the chorus which is alright but it's very very light. After a couple minutes of lighter stuff things get louder and they jam out a rock version of the same riff and chorus. A couple minutes of this and then they set the stage for what seems like a solo, but Stapp just belts out some solid vocals the whole time, leading right into a final chorus to finish things off. Track 7 is "Never Die" and Phillip's plays a catchy drum beat to back a catchy and cool guitar riff by Tremonti and Marshall even mixes in some cool bass to make for a pretty cool main riff. Stapp sings nicely overtop and the chorus is a nice heavy, and catchy riff as well! They miss the opportunity for a killer solo and just jam out a very similar bridge riff, then it's back to the cool main riff to close us out. A good tune, but it could've been even better! The next track is "With Arms Wide Open" and it is the first of two songs off this album that would become mega famous. Tremonti plays a nice light guitar riff to lead the way and Stapp sings in his typical voice overtop and things have a very light and fluffy feel to them. The chorus is very similar to the main riff and it's easy to see why this is such an accessible song as it has a very light and happy feel to it (which is not what I want from Creed at all, but it's clearly what the masses want). Despite it being easily the least heavy song on the album, they do perform it very well and it gives me a very nostalgic feeling. Tremonti spices things up a bit midway through but it's mostly very predictable and radio-friendly. Track 9 is the other massively succesful single "Higher" and Tremonti leads a solid main riff with some catchy guitar whope Stapp sings a pretty smooth and solid verse. They build into the chorus nicely and Stapp sounds pretty good belting it out while Tremonti continues to play some cool guitar. They don't stray too far from the verse and chorus, but things sound very epic and solid the whole way through. Stapp holds some nice long notes in the final chorus and it's easy to see why this was such a successful single. Up next is "Wash Away Those Years" and Tremonti leads the way with a pretty slow guitar riff that sounds alright but it's fairly light. Stapp sounds solid singing overtop and the first chorus is similarly light and quiet. After the next verse the next chorus is louder with some more hard rock music that sounds better for sure and this leads into a solid new riff with Stapp belting out some nice lead vocals. At over six minutes, it's a little long for me with not enough going on, but if this is a weaker song, it shows that fairly high bar Creed have set on this album. Track 11 is "Inside Us All" and Tremonti plays a pretty smooth guitar riff to lead the way before Stapp enters to sing a slow verse to match the mood. The chorus is pretty heavy and solid and Stapp sounds solid in his low, grizzly voice. After another round Tremonti plays a short but decent solo and Stapp belts out a louder chorus before they return to the regular chorus. They jam out the chorus for several times to end it, but Stapp does some more nice yelling and Tremonti really shows off towards the end with easily some of his best guitar on the album; nice shredding! That's where the original version ends, but there's a bonus track on later versions that I have, so the final song is really "Young Grow Old". It's got a pretty cool main riff with some nice heavy guitar by Tremonti and Marshall's bass is solid as well. Stapp sounds good overtop and so things sound pretty good! The chorus is both heavy and catchy and it's pretty crazy that this didn't make the actual record, it's easily one of the better songs in my opinion! It's a great way to wrap up a pretty iconic album.

That is the end of "Human Clay" and I thought it was a pretty solid album the whole way through. Creed definitely settled into an accessible yet hard rock formula that turned them into superstars and there are a lot of catchy riffs and songs on this album. Even though no particular song blows you away, the quality of songs on the album is pretty high. I think it's better than their debut album, but "My Own Prison" is also a good album, this new one is just better. Where will Creed go with all this fame? I'll be here to find out!