Review Summary: I am machine
Adam Gontier’s exit from Three Days Grace in 2013 came as a sudden and unexpected shock to not only longtime followers of the band but also casual rock fans. The former frontman of the Canadian post-grunge act cited undisclosed health concerns as the reason for his departure, although there have been rumors spreading stating that it was likely a ruse to mask his true intentions. How would the most recognizable member of the band be replaced, and who would rise up to the challenge? As fate (or internal connections) had it, the new lead singer was much closer to the band than many thought. Matt Walst, the younger brother of bassist Brad Walst, took Gontier’s place after also being the frontman of My Darkest Days, a band whose most famous songs include titles such as “Porn Star Dancing” and “Casual Sex”.
While Gontier’s vocals weren’t the most powerful, they were still recognizable and had some sense of personality to them at times. Much like he was in My Darkest Days, Walst is a subpar singer without a good sense of melody. At times, his performance is cringeworthy, especially when coupled with certain horrific lyrics. There’s simply nothing about Walst that makes him stand out at all, and at his worst he sounds whiny, nasally and deserving of a punch to the face. Combined with the fact that Three Days Grace were never that outstanding musically, and the instrumentation on
Human is too generic to reassure listeners that this is still a Three Days Grace album and not just a beefed-up My Darkest Days album. The riffs are basic, the structure is standard and there’s an occasional solo.
Human is also an album full of many lyrical embarrassments. Sure, Three Days Grace never really were well versed (“I! HATE! EVERYTHING! ABOUT! YOU!” remains the band’s most well-known line, and it really isn’t the best display of eloquence), yet still Walst’s participation brings down their quality. Luckily, there’s none of the sleaze-driven, sex-and-booze-first attitude that pervaded through every ounce of My Darkest Days, but what takes its place isn’t much better. Whether it’s the redundancy of lines like “So what if I’m crazier than crazy?” or the generic teen angst of “I wish I knew what it was like to find a place where I belong”, the worst part about it all is how repetitive it is. No matter what the words are, most of
Human’s choruses repeat a phrase over and over again into oblivion. Having Walst sing these horrific lyrics once is enough, but having them drilled through multiple times is just overkill.
Whereas
Life Starts Now and
Transit of Venus began to show Three Days Grace falling quite a bit, they still had their fair share of enjoyable songs (“Lost in You” and “The High Road”, respectively).
Human is a complete nosedive in quality, worse than the probable decline that would have happened with Gontier at the mic. The lazy songwriting, including the repetitive lyrics and boring riffs, are not new to Three Days Grace, yet they sound worse with Walst perpetrating them. Some songs including the singles “Painkiller” and “I Am Machine” do have somewhat catchy choruses, but they’re still too flawed to be enjoyable. On the latter, he repeatedly claims that he “is machine”, which is rather fitting due to the robot-like characteristics he exhibits as a frontman.
Many wondered if Three Days Grace would be able to survive the loss of Gontier, given that he was essentially the face of the band. While commercially they’re still as popular as ever,
Human proves that Matt Walst’s leadership of the band has turned them into nothing more than My Darkest Days sans the obnoxious cock-rock lyrics. The instrumentation is too generic and standard to stand out, sounding like almost any other rock band out there. If anything, this album shows how much Three Days Grace needs Adam Gontier more than Gontier needs the remaining members of Three Days Grace. While it can be catchy at times, the onslaught of terrible lyrics, a general feeling of repetitiveness and completely boring riffs are enough to drive away any hope one might have for this record.
