Post by Erik Rupp on Feb 18, 2011 21:07:33 GMT -5
Album number three for Three Days Grace finds this Canadian band in full on schizophrenic mode.
On one hand there are some great heavy tracks like, "Bitter Taste," "Break," and, "The Good Life," while on the other are the kind of generic moody songs and heavy ballads like, "World So Cold," "Lost In You," and, "No More," that bands like Nickelback and others have made a living writing and recording over the last decade.
It's not so much that the moody songs and heavy ballads are bad - quite the contrary, they're actually pretty good for that kind of stuff - it's just that they sound like they could have come from any one of a couple dozen bands that have been active over the last ten years or so.
The heavier tracks, though? While still not having as much identity as you'd like the band to have they really find solid footing with this style. This is their forte - it's what they're best at. They bring something just a little different to the table - in particular, Black Sabbath influences. "The Good Life," prominently features a riff that sounds like it was inspired by Black Sabbath's Master of Reality album, while, "Bitter Taste," features a riff that sounds not unlike Born Again or Dehumanizer era Tony Iommi written riffs.
Now, Three Days Grace certainly isn't the first modern band to sport Sabbath influences (Godsmack has a ton of Black Sabbath influences, for example), but they do it very well and add a lot of melody to the mix which makes for a great listening experience.
Unfortunately, the heavier Sabbath influenced songs are in the minority on the album, so more often than not Life Starts Now ends up sounding like a faceless, nameless modern hard edged Rock band. That's a shame, because the album is well produced and the band plays with conviction, but if pressed to name who the band that plays these songs is most Rock fans likely couldn't correctly identify them.
3/5 (If less generic this album could have been a 4 pretty easily.)