Posts Tagged: three days grace

2 stars / 2007 / fuel / reviews — No Comments
2
Mar 09

Angels and Devils (2007) by Fuel

Angels and Devils by Fuel

Fuel
Angels and Devils
2007, Sony Records
rock, post-grunge
2½

Fresh from their late 90s-early 2000 heyday with hit single “Hemmorage (In My Hands)”, the loss of lead singer Brett Scallions, rejection by American Idol fave Chris Daughtry, and a nationwide search for a new lead singer, Fuel returned in 2007 fronted by Toryn Green, who just happens to be a disturbingly nasal version of Brett Scallions (as if Scallions weren’t nasal enough). Was he a worthy choice for Fuel to make a ‘comeback’? Yes, and no.

Yes, because he is adequate for Fuel’s purposes. Fuel has never been a band of ingenuity or originality, and that is never clearer than it is in Angels and Devils. When required he can yell and mellow down with the best of them, and his voice is scratchy enough to give the band back its ‘rock cred.’

No, because he has added absolutely nothing new to this album or Fuel itself. I’d even go as far as accusing lead songwriter Carl Bell of lifting lyrics from previous Fuel albums if I could be bothered to search them. But this album is so beyond mediocre that I can’t even deem it a possible guilty pleasure. Not really worth a listen, and definitely not worth a buy.

“Again,” “Angels Take A Soul.”
myspace, last.fm
Three Days Grace’s One-X, Daughtry’s Daughtry

  • Share/Bookmark
2004 / 4 stars / reviews / three days grace — No Comments
2
Nov 08

Three Days Grace (2004) by Three Days Grace

Genre: alt rock, post-grunge
Rating:
Check Out: “Wake Up,” “Take Me Under,” “I Hate Everything About You,” and “Born Like This.”
last.fm

Like most Canadian acts that make it big in the U.S., Three Days Grace proved themselves to be as adept with catchy hooks as they were with plaintive teenage-angst lyrics in their self-titled debut. “I Hate Everything About You” should be up there with “Teen Spirit” for Songs That Capture A Teenager’s Anger.

I could go on ragging the album in that vein, but the truth is that much of it is a guilty pleasure, even so many years after its release. The album has a cohesive, maturing sound that captures you from beginning to the middle (when you start yawning at how similar the songs are) to the end (when “Wake Up” makes up everything).

Much of the appeal of this band lies with lead singer Adam Gontier. His voice is equally suitable for whispering and screaming. It’s so rare to find a rock act that has a vocalist with range, but Three Days Grace definitely has it. If Gontier were to follow in the footsteps of Dallas Green and release a solo acoustic album, I might be in heaven.

  • Share/Bookmark
2006 / 4 stars / reviews / three days grace — No Comments
16
Oct 07

One-X (2006) by Three Days Grace

Genre: alt metal/post-grunge/hard rock
Rating:
Check Out: “Never Too Late,” “Let It Die,” “One-X,” “Pain”
Official Site, Myspace

Unlike their self-titled debut, Three Days Grace’s One-X is a darker, more complex effort. The days of teenage angst and self-pity aren’t really gone, but the themes explored here are far more adult in nature. There is a melodic undertone that wasn’t present in their first album. Perhaps this is due to the increased production on each of the songs, but it never detracts from their sound.

Most of these lyrical changes are the direct result of Gontier’s fight with Oxycontin addiction, and subsequent rehabilitation. Yet, I have to wonder if there was some strain within the band itself, because “Let It Die” sounds as though it were the case.

These boys haven’t experimented as much as they could have on this album, but they have certainly grown in sound and writing. Here’s hoping that experimentation comes in their next one.

  • Share/Bookmark