ALTER BRIDGE will release their new album, Fortress, tomorrow (October 8th) in North America. In a new interview with Guitar International's Robert Cavuoto, Mark Tremonti discusses the new album. The following is an excerpt:

Q: I’m intrigued by the title track, 'Fortress', and the CD artwork. Is there a special meaning behind it all?

A: "'Fortress' is a play on words, as people thought we were going to have a big castle on the cover. The real meaning is all these things in life that you feel are eternal and are never going to go away. Everything is vulnerable, and everything ends at some point. My funny example is Santa Claus. As a kid Santa Claus will live forever, but he’s not real. Or Rome, it was the most powerful force in the world, and sooner or later everything comes and goes."

Q: My two favorite songs are 'Cry Of Achilles', and 'All Ends Well'. I think because of the melody. Can you tell me a little bit about each of their backgrounds?

A: "For 'Cry Of Achilles' I was sitting down with Myles and he picked up an acoustic and started playing that intro part. I said to him, 'Man, we’ve got to really work on that and put that into the song'. Most of that song came together when we were in pre-production, eighty percent of it came up on the spot there in the studio. That song was like catching lightning in a bottle. 'All Ends Well' is a song that was the very last song we put together. We really wanted to put something dynamic on the album. Most of the records seemed to be heavy and aggressive, and we knew we had a portion of our fanbase that liked that kind of uplifting, melodic finger-picked kind of song. We decided to put that one together."

Read the full interview at this location.

Alter Bridge has teamed up with Artist Direct to premiere a behind-the-scenes video of the recording of 'Waters Rising'. On this track, guitarist Mark Tremonti makes his full vocal debut. He sang on parts of AB songs before, but this is the first time he took the vocal reigns.

Artist Direct also provides an in-studio look at 'Calm The Fire', as well as the title track, 'Fortress' Find out what went into the recording and how the tracks came to be.

Fortress features 12 songs:

'Cry Of Achilles'

'Addicted To Pain'

'Bleed It Dry'

'Lover'

'The Uninvited'

'Peace Is Broken'

'Calm The Fire'

'Waters Rising'

'Farther Than The Sun'

'Cry A River'

'All Ends Well'

'Fortress'

The album is streaming below for a limited time:

'Addicted To Pain' video:

Catch Alter Bridge live:

October

16 - Nottingham, UK - Arena
17 - Birmingham, UK - NIA
18 - London, UK - Wembley Arena
20 - Cardiff, UK - Arena
21 - Glasgow, UK - Hydro
22 - Manchester, UK - Arena
24 - Paris, France - Zenith
25 - Brussels, Belgium - AB
27 - Berlin, Germany - Huxleys
28 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
29 - Stockholm, Sweden - Arenan

November

3 - Amsterdam, Holland - Heineken Music Hall
4 - Dusseldorf, Germany - Mitsbishi Electric Halle
5 - Wiesbaden, Germany - Schlachthof
7 - Vienna, Austria - Gasometer
8 - Munich, Germany - Zenith
9 - Zurich, Switzerland - Hallenstadion
11 - Rome, Italy - Atlantico
12 - Milan, Italy - Mediolanum
14 - Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz 2
15 - Madrid, Spain - Arena
16 - Lisbon, Portugal - Coliseum