There's baggage and then there's Three Days Grace (3DG). 3DG frontman Adam Gontier either has a lot of issues he's worked/working through or a very vivid (if not very fertile) imagination.
While their self-titled debut dealt with, among other things, Adam's anger toward his father,
One X drags us into self destruction, drug abuse, crumbling relationships, and other dark topics. The scope of the album is a little limited, with several songs on the topic of women fucking you over and how you've moved on, and several others about being a misfit.
I wanted to love this album. These guys grew up just down the road from me and I remember hearing of them in the "Groundswell" days. I really wanted to love this album.
In my initial draft of this review I really felt that I couldn't love this album.
Angry disenfranchised teens would eat this stuff up. When I was 16 I would have loved this and felt like Adam was talking directly to me. I've been to the dirty underbelly and come out the other side, 3DG isn't really telling me anything I don't know.
But......
Just yesterday I realized that every time I get in my car I put it on. What's that mean? I guess, what it may lack in substance and breadth it makes up for with some great hooks and solid riffs.
The production values of
One X are much improved over those of their first release. This time the guitars don't sound like they were played through a Peavey Backstage Plus with a Boss Metal Zone and recorded on a Fostex 4 Track. The vocals are also higher in the mix and overall the sound is less muddy.
High points:
Animal I Have Become
On My Own
Get Out Alive