cbmartinez
07-08-2004, 06:07 PM
Artist: Alien Ant Farm
Album: truANT
Genre: Alt. Rock/Hard Rock
Label: Dreamworks
Dryden Vera Mitchell- Vocals/Backing Vocals
Terence Corso- Guitar
Tye Zamora- Bass
Mike Cosgrove- Drums
Review
Just when I had given up almost all hope for Alien Ant Farm, new of their new CD came flooding in. Well, I was psyched, being a big fan of Alien Ant Farm’s debut, ANThology. I remained true to AAF, trying to convince anyone who would listen that AAF was one of the most underrated bands out there. Well, I did some research and found that AAF had encountered a near fatal bus crash while touring in Europe. Anyway, I eagerly anticipated the album and when it came out, I immediately purchased it. I was greeted by a interesting album cover and when I opened the CD, I found the disc featured the same design as ANThology, except for a color change. Was this an ominous signal that the second CD was a repeat of the first? Luckily it wasn’t. The lyric booklet is amusing. Each page features the lyrics on loose-leaf paper, graded by a teacher. Whether this is AAF’s final opinion on their songs, I’m not sure. However, the album turned out to be a bit different from what I expected.
The high points on this album are plentiful. The CD starts out with the rocking STP influenced track, “1000 Days.” The intro gives a taste of softer, but still rockin’ Alien Ant Farm. The pre-chorus has a very interesting bass line, courtesy of Mr. Tye Zamora. This is a great album opener, but I was interested to get a taste of the harder AAF. The next song met my needs, the crunching “Drifting Apart.” “Drifting Apart” is built on a low, crunching riff and shifts to a warbling guitar line during the pre-chorus. The chorus gets a bit mellower and this becomes one of the best songs on the album. “Quiet” slows down a bit, starting with a two chord verse accompanied by a killer bass line. Dryden really starts to expose his vocal ability on this song. Alien Ant Farm seemed to go for a softer feel with this album, and though I’m a fan of harder music, I can’t help but love these songs. The chorus is a loud, mellow piece filled with harmonic backing vocals. Ah, “Glow,” the second single from the album. “Glow” is one of my favorite tracks on the album. An acoustic song, Dryden sings about cheating and sex. The chorus lyrics are fun and clever and I find myself bouncing around to this song every time I hear it. The guitar solo is pretty impressive also. The good tracks keep coming. The next track is “These Days,” the first single from the album, featured on Madden 2004. “These Days” is a powerful, poppy song that hooked me the first couple of times. I kind of grew tired of it because of relentless play on Madden, but I think it might have gotten AAF some fans. Check the hilarious music video, which features AAF performing at the BET music awards (though I’m not sure if it’s real). “Sarah Wynn” is an alright song, in which Dryden seems to speak of a friend’s drug addiction. “Why the hell were you shootin’ up? Now your comin’ down, Sarah!” is one of the many lines that seem to point to some kind of addiction.
The next song, “Never Meant,” is another slow song that starts out with a ska like guitar beat, followed by a spacy bass line. This is truly a beautiful song filled great lyrics, melody and even trumpet. One of the highlights of the album. “Goodbye” is a loud, driving song with interesting bass and great guitar and drumming. You’ll be rocking out by the time Dryden shouts, “Goodbye!” during the chorus. Here’s an interesting song. “Tia Lupé” is a latin song filled with crazy bass, latin percussion, piano and slide guitar. The lyrics are very interesting also, Dryden compares his relationship to a moth attracted to the light. When, the next song “Rubber Mallet” starts with its eerie guitar chords and somewhat chaotic verse, you know it’s going to be a powerful song. One of the hardest songs on the album, during the chorus Dryden sings, “Someone’s makin’ me love and I don’t think it’s you!” and during the second verse, “Indecision, breaks my vision, and I don’t give a damn!” I was intrigued by the title of the next track, “S.S. Recognize.” The song starts off with a eerie set of chords and is followed by a fast progression. The verse slows down and at the pre-chorus the music stops, just to explode in again two seconds later. The bridge is a chaotic mess as Dryden sings in SOAD-like voice over and over until he’s almost screaming. The darkest song on the album and one of my favorites. The album ender “Hope” is an interesting song. Primarily acoustic, Dryden is singing about coming home after a long trip and finding his wife has married a new man. I don’t know if he talks from personal experience, but the lyrics are powerful and my favorite on the album. Dryden painfully croons, “Someone I thought was a friend to me, has ripped a hole in my life. Someone I thought was a friend to me, has gone and married my wife.” A brilliant song.
I had planned on doing two paragraphs, the high and low points of the album, but listening to the album, I find there are no low points. This is truly a fantastic sophomore release from AAF and it exceeded my expectations. Though the first few times I listened to it I hated it, the album seems to have grown on me and now gets better with every listen. The members of AAF still know how to play their instruments well and Dryden’s vocals seem to have improved, and he doesn’t scream at all on this CD. Alien Ant Farm seemed to have opened up with this album and taken down any boundaries they set with the first CD. With their debut, they were a bit more focused on testing the hard rock scene, but with truANT, they have explored new styles and truly found and perfected what they would like to do. truANT is an excellent CD and I would recommend it to any fan of alternative rock. If your looking for more of a mix between crunching metal and softer rock, check out ANThology.
The Good: Every track good, mix of styles, instruments played well.
The Bad: Lyrics can get cliché at times.
Score: 4.3 out of 5
-Chris Baranowski
Album: truANT
Genre: Alt. Rock/Hard Rock
Label: Dreamworks
Dryden Vera Mitchell- Vocals/Backing Vocals
Terence Corso- Guitar
Tye Zamora- Bass
Mike Cosgrove- Drums
Review
Just when I had given up almost all hope for Alien Ant Farm, new of their new CD came flooding in. Well, I was psyched, being a big fan of Alien Ant Farm’s debut, ANThology. I remained true to AAF, trying to convince anyone who would listen that AAF was one of the most underrated bands out there. Well, I did some research and found that AAF had encountered a near fatal bus crash while touring in Europe. Anyway, I eagerly anticipated the album and when it came out, I immediately purchased it. I was greeted by a interesting album cover and when I opened the CD, I found the disc featured the same design as ANThology, except for a color change. Was this an ominous signal that the second CD was a repeat of the first? Luckily it wasn’t. The lyric booklet is amusing. Each page features the lyrics on loose-leaf paper, graded by a teacher. Whether this is AAF’s final opinion on their songs, I’m not sure. However, the album turned out to be a bit different from what I expected.
The high points on this album are plentiful. The CD starts out with the rocking STP influenced track, “1000 Days.” The intro gives a taste of softer, but still rockin’ Alien Ant Farm. The pre-chorus has a very interesting bass line, courtesy of Mr. Tye Zamora. This is a great album opener, but I was interested to get a taste of the harder AAF. The next song met my needs, the crunching “Drifting Apart.” “Drifting Apart” is built on a low, crunching riff and shifts to a warbling guitar line during the pre-chorus. The chorus gets a bit mellower and this becomes one of the best songs on the album. “Quiet” slows down a bit, starting with a two chord verse accompanied by a killer bass line. Dryden really starts to expose his vocal ability on this song. Alien Ant Farm seemed to go for a softer feel with this album, and though I’m a fan of harder music, I can’t help but love these songs. The chorus is a loud, mellow piece filled with harmonic backing vocals. Ah, “Glow,” the second single from the album. “Glow” is one of my favorite tracks on the album. An acoustic song, Dryden sings about cheating and sex. The chorus lyrics are fun and clever and I find myself bouncing around to this song every time I hear it. The guitar solo is pretty impressive also. The good tracks keep coming. The next track is “These Days,” the first single from the album, featured on Madden 2004. “These Days” is a powerful, poppy song that hooked me the first couple of times. I kind of grew tired of it because of relentless play on Madden, but I think it might have gotten AAF some fans. Check the hilarious music video, which features AAF performing at the BET music awards (though I’m not sure if it’s real). “Sarah Wynn” is an alright song, in which Dryden seems to speak of a friend’s drug addiction. “Why the hell were you shootin’ up? Now your comin’ down, Sarah!” is one of the many lines that seem to point to some kind of addiction.
The next song, “Never Meant,” is another slow song that starts out with a ska like guitar beat, followed by a spacy bass line. This is truly a beautiful song filled great lyrics, melody and even trumpet. One of the highlights of the album. “Goodbye” is a loud, driving song with interesting bass and great guitar and drumming. You’ll be rocking out by the time Dryden shouts, “Goodbye!” during the chorus. Here’s an interesting song. “Tia Lupé” is a latin song filled with crazy bass, latin percussion, piano and slide guitar. The lyrics are very interesting also, Dryden compares his relationship to a moth attracted to the light. When, the next song “Rubber Mallet” starts with its eerie guitar chords and somewhat chaotic verse, you know it’s going to be a powerful song. One of the hardest songs on the album, during the chorus Dryden sings, “Someone’s makin’ me love and I don’t think it’s you!” and during the second verse, “Indecision, breaks my vision, and I don’t give a damn!” I was intrigued by the title of the next track, “S.S. Recognize.” The song starts off with a eerie set of chords and is followed by a fast progression. The verse slows down and at the pre-chorus the music stops, just to explode in again two seconds later. The bridge is a chaotic mess as Dryden sings in SOAD-like voice over and over until he’s almost screaming. The darkest song on the album and one of my favorites. The album ender “Hope” is an interesting song. Primarily acoustic, Dryden is singing about coming home after a long trip and finding his wife has married a new man. I don’t know if he talks from personal experience, but the lyrics are powerful and my favorite on the album. Dryden painfully croons, “Someone I thought was a friend to me, has ripped a hole in my life. Someone I thought was a friend to me, has gone and married my wife.” A brilliant song.
I had planned on doing two paragraphs, the high and low points of the album, but listening to the album, I find there are no low points. This is truly a fantastic sophomore release from AAF and it exceeded my expectations. Though the first few times I listened to it I hated it, the album seems to have grown on me and now gets better with every listen. The members of AAF still know how to play their instruments well and Dryden’s vocals seem to have improved, and he doesn’t scream at all on this CD. Alien Ant Farm seemed to have opened up with this album and taken down any boundaries they set with the first CD. With their debut, they were a bit more focused on testing the hard rock scene, but with truANT, they have explored new styles and truly found and perfected what they would like to do. truANT is an excellent CD and I would recommend it to any fan of alternative rock. If your looking for more of a mix between crunching metal and softer rock, check out ANThology.
The Good: Every track good, mix of styles, instruments played well.
The Bad: Lyrics can get cliché at times.
Score: 4.3 out of 5
-Chris Baranowski