Oh Lordy, a Nu-Metal album to review.
Three Days Grace sound like all the other Nu-Metal bands to these admittedly blinkered ears. It’s as if my auditory nerve ends have set up a road block with the words “NO ANSGT RIDDLED OVERPRODUCED NORTH AMERICAN METAL ONCE AGAIN RAKING OVER THE 10 YEAR OLD COALS OF NIRVANA BEYOND THIS POINT”.
This is a re-release for the Canadian power trio but it may as well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in a genre that is becoming so static in its sense of direction it should just ditch its pretensions and become what it really is: Heavy Metal with studio knobs on.
There’s plenty of energy and vim but I’m really struggling to find anything new, let alone Nu. The band blow whatever load they may have had on the first couple of tracks. Opener ‘Burn’ is one of those showcase songs that encapsulates all the dynamics of the genre in one take, so much so you wonder why they need another 11 tracks to repeat the same process. ‘Just Like You’ is the radio-friendly song that carries the strident but predictable melodies of Nickelback. From here on it’s a grim and turgid quagmire of melodramatic over-statement , even taking account of the odd creative flourish that occasionally works its way into the vacuum of ideas. No matter what studio tricks Three Days Grace may weave into the verse all roads eventually lead to the banal stop/start power riffing of the chorus. Lyrically, it makes sixth form poetry worthy of poet laureate recognition. I mean do we really need yet another song with a chorus of “I Hate Everything About You”? And why is it that those with nothing to say about anything make the loudest noise?
|
Brief respite is provided by ‘Scared’ a song that raises the bar to average by virtue of having a more direct approach. But it’s short-lived as ‘Let You Down’ and ‘Now or Never’ just plod and plod and plod along, the latter causing excessive irritation by the introduction of another Nu-Metal cliché: the chorus that has one word shouted louder than the other words. ‘Wake Up’ is the acoustic number that goes heavy – wondered when that one would turn up – and then it’s all over except for honourable mention for the last track ‘Overrated’ that includes a succinct but brilliant piece of unintentional irony with the chorus : “You made it / You played it / Your shit is overrated / Your shit is over”.
Quod erat demonstratum indeed.
|
