Three Days Grace

Human

Written by: PP on 26/09/2015 23:21:45

"Human" is the 5th album by what surely now can be called post-grunge veterans Three Days Grace. Back in 2003, their self-titled debut album made waves in the wake of the nu-metal collapse with its liberal blend of the grunge genre together with heavier riffs and ideas from the hard rock scene. Still, it was basic mainstream modern rock for the American radio stations then and that's largely what it is also today on "Human", despite replacing original vocalist Adam Gontier with Matt Walst on this album.

Take "Painkiller", for instance. The ominous verse sections are catchy in their own right, but the heavier-hitting chorus is classic post-grunge by the book, as it is on display on many a record by bands like Seether and Smile Empty Soul to name but a few like-minded peers. It's fairly formulaic in its nature: straight forward, arena-sized riffs with crunchy distortion enabled just at the right moments, crisp production that nonetheless avoids sounding too grandiose, and scratchy, yet perfectly melodic singing that ensures the radio rock crowds will be singing along to every single chorus on the record. And to be fair, Three Days Grace have always been fairly good at writing catchy choruses, even if they are standard fare alternative/mainstream rock. They're a far cry from the best bands in the genre like Taproot, Chevelle and others like them, as a simplistic track like "Landmine" showcases. My god their drummer must be boring himself to death playing such a mindless pattern throughout the song.

Overall though, "Human" isn't too bad. It's exactly as you'd expect a modern post-grunge / mainstream rock / radio rock record to sound like. Maybe a tad bit heavier than the usual release in the genre, but really it's no different from the previous Seether or Red release. What's more interesting to note is that there isn't much of a difference between Walst and old vocalist Gontier, so fans should have nothing to worry about. Critically speaking not much interesting going on here other than simple melodies, but that's sometimes enough.

7

Download: Painkiller, I Am Machine, Fallen Angel
For the fans of: Seether, Smile Empty Soul, Taproot, Red
Listen: Facebook

Release date 31.03.2015
RCA

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