*Note: This is a re-write of my first ever review I turned in to Sputnikmusic. Since I have learned quite a bit in my time here, I decided to go back, and begin to redo my first three to five reviews, in order to hopefully match them to my efforts of late. Enjoy the review. =)
3 Doors Down formed in 1996, and were signed to Universal Records in 2000. They are an alternative rock group that have released three full-length albums, with a total in sales of over ten million.
The Better Life was the bands first album release in 2000, which under the strength of the single
Kryptonite, went on to go six times platinum. Then two years later,
Away From The Sun was put out, had a strong single in
Here Without You, and met with good sales, even though it only sold half of what
The Better Life did. The reason was most likely because the truth of the matter is that the songs on both of 3 Doors Down"s first two albums sounded alike. However, they could still be considered a good band because of the emotional lyrics front man Brad Arnold put forward, and for their hooks, while repetitive, are still attractively catchy. Enter 3 Doors Down"s third effort,
Seventeen Day"s, which has a chance to become the best selling album from the band yet. It debuted number 1 on the Billboard Music Charts, a first time for the band, and it went Platinum in only a month.
Since
The Better Life, and
Away From The Sun are so similar, it could be said that they are twin brothers. This album is noticeably different than it"s two twin brothers; you could say
Seventeen Days is the younger sister of the two. Why? Because the music is incredibly tame compared to
The Better Life, and
Away From The Sun. This can be a good thing, as well as a bad thing. The good reason for the music becoming tamer is that it allows Brad to convey both his lyrics, and voice in a more, say, appropriate way. What affects the album in a negative way for having a slower pace is that even though 3 Doors Down"s past efforts were repetitive, there were enough songs to qualify as great singles, and enough hard rock tracks to keep ones attention. With
Seventeen Days, this doesn"t happen, causing it to not grab the listeners attention so well.
The main attraction that I always loved about 3 Doors Down was the incredibly relatable lyrics Brad always wrote. It doesn"t ever stop with
Seventeen Days. The song
Landing in London (Feat. Bob Seger) will have buiseness men, or women who travel a lot, but have familys relate to lyrics such as,
"I woke up in London as the plane was touching down. All I could think about was Monday when maybe I"d be back around. If this keeps me away much longer, I don"t know what I would do." Then there is the traditional love song lyrics that find themselves more prominent on this album than ever before with 3 Doors Down. Most of the time it"s about struggling in a relationship more often than not, such as with
It"s Not Me, but other times it can be about realizing the importance of a relationship, which comes along with album closer
Here By Me. The speaker finally recognizes the fact that his love has always understood him when he thought she never could. This has always been why I"ve thought Brad was a good lyricist. He does write love songs, but there are always songs that are about another subject matter.
Be Somebody goes on about a mother who worries about her sons future as all mothers do, but her son reassures her that he will be fine, and he will be somebody, and not someone else. These are about the most emotional the album gets, but lacks a certain depth to truly move the listener.
The only true rock track comes up right off the bat as the first track.
Right Where I Belong is easily the best song on the album as it stands out, and with its placement as the first track, it will have the listener wondering why the rest of the album wasn"t as fantastic. It is indeed the best song, but is fairly short coming in a two-and-a-half-minutes. However, a very nice guitar solo coming from Matt Roberts more than makes up for that, along with very good lead guitar coming from him throughout the whole song. The first single
Let Me Go can at first seem a bit too mushy for some, but after not hearing it for a long time, one can appreciate it for both its lyrical, and musical content. The closing song,
Here By Me may not stick out to some, but if one pays close attenion, then they can recognize that Brad"s voice is the best for the album on every verse, and the string accompaniment goes perfectly with every part of the song. The use of guitar solos is welcome on some songs, but do seem a bit out of place at times. While, Brads lyrics are strong, they won"t grab you like they had the potential of doing on their past two albums.
There aren"t any truly bad songs on the record, it"s only that 3 Doors Down"s writing style has become even more repetitive than ever before; although their writing style has changed from
The Better Life, and
Away From The Sun. However, many songs can be appreciated for either musical or lyrical content, there just aren"t many songs that are overall excellent, or even close to. This is a good record, but is not as impressive as 3 Doors Downs two previous releases. Plus, it could take quite a while for the album to grow on the listener, perhaps too long. This is a good album, but just barely.
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