Alter Bridge

Seeing as how the first and now this second album from a cadre of erstwhile Creed bandmates has served up music for MLB games and the WWE, you might want to reach for Blackbird the next time you are either working out or hitting someone over the head with a folding chair. Alter Bridge play up-to-the-minute modern rock (big guitars, big choruses) with all the riffage and melody of Creed but less halftime-show-ready ballads. Myles Kennedy sings his lines with a full chest of hair, and Mark Tremonti transforms the arena-metal sound Creed was known for into a streamlined, leaner attack.