3 Doors Down

3 Doors Down

Written by: AP on 06/09/2008 13:54:25

If I mention the name 3 Doors Down, people typically associate it with the disastrous "Seventeen Days", and more specifically the boyish, overly melodramatic "Here Without You" from "Away From The Sun", and depending on who the person in question is, the response is one of two extremes. Most people with ear for things that play outside the airwaves can't stomach it, and those who live their lives listening to singles and form judgment of a band on them love it to pieces. What neither of the two realize is that the band's history dates fourteen years back, and this is in fact their second self-titled album. Obviously, with "The Better Life" and "Away From The Sun" having sold multi-platinum, the band cannot, and does not try to hide the fact that their music is more mainstream than some of the fans like to admit. But so what?

"The Better Life" is without dispute one of the releases of the millennium, and I take no shame in admitting that it's essentially the album that introduced me to rock music, and "Kryptonite" remains one of my all-time favorite rock songs to this date. The band's latest self-titled album sees them return to the Southern-influenced post-grunge sound from eight years ago, and features, I'm tempted to say, the finest song the band has written to date: "Citizen/Soldier". Its interplay between the soft, yet complex clean parts and the subsequent heavier chorus is like a time capsule from "The Better Life", not to mention that lyrically and vocally Brad doesn't get much better than this. Admittedly it's challenging to transition from covering and listening to deathcore to 3 Doors Down, but Chris and Matt's guitar play still leaves little to be desired. It's clean, soulful and, to the extent that it can be, technical. Unfortunately the clean-to-distorted variation loses its intrigue quicker than staring at stones - structurally the songs are too elementary to inspire much awe.

It's not that the songs are bad as such. On the contrary. If you can stomach the bittersweet lyrical themes that rarely vary from personal demons and more often than not, love, most of the songs here whiz by quite pleasantly. It's easy listening. In fact, bring home a less musically conscious girl and slip this in as compromise, and you're likely to get lucky. Grading such a release, however, is more difficult than it would seem. The songs are all good, but the album's lasting effect is virtually non-existent, and with the exception of "Citizen/Soldier", it's unlikely that they'll find their way to my playlist without the occasional shuffle.

6

Download: Citizen/Soldier, It's Not My Time, Pages
For the fans of: 12 Stones, Alter Bridge
Listen: Myspace

Release date 30.06.2008
Universal

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