Review Summary: Their best effort since One-X, but it should have been so much more.
When Adam Gontier abruptly left Three Days Grace in 2013, I genuinely felt sympathetic for the remaining members’ precarious position. Not to disparage or downplay what the rest of the guys contribute to the band, but Gontier’s voice – as is the case with many popular alt-rock bands of this type – is the main draw of Three Days Grace: his infectious melodies and emotive execution is, to me, what made the band a global success. So, when you see your golden goose making a capricious dart for the exit just weeks before a massive tour with Shinedown, you can imagine the wave of panic that washed over the band at the time. Rather than go on hiatus and postpone or ruin the tour with Shinedown however, they hired Brad Walst’s brother, Matt, on a temporary basis so they could fulfil their obligations. Subsequently the reception to Matt’s performance during that tour, and the chemistry between him and the rest of the band, must have been good enough to make him a full-time member, going on to make three albums since 2015. And all things considered, whether you’re a fan of this era of the band or not, they successfully soldered on and produced albums of, admittedly, volatile quality, but records that helped them subsist for the next decade. For me personally, I always thought Matt was put in a no-win situation and in actual fact, his tenure has produced some pretty solid tracks that stand up to some of Gontier’s best. That’s not to say the last few albums haven’t been deeply flawed, but it would be hyperbolic to brand Matt’s contributions as ill-fitting or out of sorts with the Three Days Grace dynamic.
However, in October of last year something interesting happened which put Three Days Grace in a pretty interesting position; the band confirmed they had reunited with Gontier and were making a new album together,
with Matt retaining his position in the band. For any fan this is a dream come true, because it not only opens up a wealth of creative possibilities for these two vocal styles, it has the potential to cater to both fan camps and mend the schism created from Gontier’s departure. Better still,
Alienation’s first single, “Mayday”, harnessed that lofty potential by delivering a perfectly balanced sound that represented both camps. Instrumentally, the song is an effective mix of classic and modern TDG sounds: the guitar in the verse hearkens back to that distinct, rattly sound in “I Hate Everything About You” and is followed up with a chunky, groove-centred earworm chorus and well-earned breakdown. Yet, the bulk of the enjoyment comes from the vocalists and their engaging back and forth to each other, courteously allowing each other the breathing room to bring the best track possible. Indeed, the announcement of Adam’s return coupled with the quality of “Mayday” was so effective, I was genuinely excited to hear
Alienation, having it on my 2025 most wanted list…That was until I heard the follow-up singles.
Put simply, the first third of
Alienation (where the singles reside) is a turbulent ride. The common denominator here is that, with the exception of “Mayday” which does a fantastic job of representing TDG’s best attributes, the other three tracks feel uncertain of themselves and lack identity and purpose. “Domination” is the strongest of the three, albeit a woefully anodyne experience, while “Apologies” and “Kill Me Fast” have aged like milk neglectfully left under the baking summer sun. The former is a glib, generic pop-rock song with no discerning characteristics to it, the latter, a cookie-cutter Bring Me the Horizon styled “anthem” that imitates all of mainstream rock’s worst traits, to eyerolling effect. It’s unfortunate that the band have front-loaded the album with some of the weakest numbers here; with the exception of “Another Relapse” – a terribly irritating song with vestiges of NU-metal’s worst traits – the aforementioned tracks only stand to disrupt what is an otherwise strong album. “In Waves” right through to “The Power” revive a part of TDG’s sound that’s been ruefully absent for over a decade, with every song being catchy, heavy, poignant and well thought-out. The verses are memorable and do a great job of bringing catharsis to the massive choruses that succeed them. And it isn’t just Gontier doing all the heavy-lifting either, with Walst bringing his A-game to some of the record’s best songs (“Never Ordinary” and “Don’t Wanna Go Home Tonight” in particular). Honestly,
Alienation doesn’t put a foot wrong during this seven-track run and overall, the bulk of
Alienation shows a consistency not seen since
One-X, which is a shock when you consider how weak this was coming across pre-release.
Of course, there is one big issue that undermines what
Alienation gets right: the production. In short, the album sounds like it was recorded underwater and then, just to make sure there was no trace of that pesky humanity left, is so thoroughly processed it sounds like Skynet produced it and turned the band’s frontmen into cyborgs. Recent TDG albums are notorious for this style of production, but I find it absolutely bewildering that the band decided to continue on this trajectory when Gontier rejoined. It’s heresy to hear Gontier’s voice annexed with this awful, wet reverb sound throughout, diminishing what are some great performances. This problem isn’t exclusive to Three Days Grace, of course, this is an issue that’s plagued modern rock acts for the better part of a decade, and, sadly, probably comes down to keeping recording costs down. However, this is something that rots away at a solid foundation and is particularly pernicious to rock acts that have some of the industry’s best singers, because it ultimately washes some of the emotion and forlorn away in the process.
Still, I walked into
Alienation expecting the worst and came out pleasantly surprised by the end of it. Being overly critical, considering the calibre of talent on display, this should have been a guaranteed win, a blinding, near-flawless success that hit the ground running. Unfortunately, we don’t get that. The harsh reality is that while this is a solid, mostly consistent album that balances the dichotomy of its two singers well, there are severe problems that prevent it from being a blazing return to form, the obvious being the dense, overproduced sound as the biggest detriment to
Alienation. Similar to Breaking Benjamin’s last two albums, its impenetrable haze genuinely hurts my head after a while. It’s a sound best described as busy and hostile – giving you the paranoid feeling the album is trying to crack your head open like a watermelon by the time you attempt your second run through it. It does the songs no favours here, and I wish bands today would get the memo. However, coupled with the volatile quality at the start of the album and repeated visits make it a bit of a chore to sit through, since you have to get through a load of skippable tracks before you can get to the good stuff.
Alienation does eventually find its footing and present a worthwhile experience overall, but considering how the planets aligned so perfectly for the band to exist in this current state, it’s a real shame TDG couldn’t harness that unfettered potential and turn it into something more magical.
