3 Doors Down Make the Album Rock Fans Knew They Could

Today marks the release of 3 Doors Down's self-titled fourth album, already making waves with the radio hit "It's Not My Time". The follow-up to 2005's Seventeen Days is a return to form for the band that started out as a straight-arrow rock band and really never should have tried anything else.

The band's previous two albums, 2002's Away from the Sun and Seventeen Days were both worthy efforts, but weren't the balls-to-the-wall rock you'd expect from the band that ripped listeners a new one with "Kryptonite" back in 2001. The biggest hits from those two albums ("Here Without You", "Landing in London") fared best on the safer, ballad-heavy Adult Contemporary charts. Scoring a hit on any chart is nothing to sneeze at, but I always thought 3 Doors Down could do better. Thankfully, they prove me right on the new album, and damn is it good to hear some crunch back in their sound.

This album comes in with their guitars at 11 for the first three tracks, with "Train", the previously raved about "Citizen/Soldier" and "It's Not My Time" offering an incredible first impression not heard since The Better Life eight years ago. The remaining nine tracks put up a similar urgency and strength that wasn't really there on previous albums, only stopping one or two moments to let the acoustic guitars do their bit. "Let Me Be Myself" is a decidedly been-there-done-that track, while "Your Arms Feel Like Home" is about as country-twinged as the title would suggest. Aside from these blemishes, every other aspect of this album is what you would hope for. "It's the Only One You've Got" would make a hell of a single, with a near-perfect blend of subdued (but still rocking) verses and explosive shout-worthy chorus. Lastly, album closer "She Don't Want the World" is a different 3 Doors Down in that it doesn't ever reach that high point in the chorus or bridge a la "It's Not My Time" or "Kryptonite", but even though it stays pretty static, it's got an indescribable allure to it that demands you stick around for the whole album.

Anyone who heard The Better Life knew 3 Doors Down had to be just messing around on the two albums between that one and this one. This, of course, leads to the age-old question, "What the hell took so long?"

Final Score: 7/10
Highlight Reel: Citizen/Soldier, It's the Only One You've Got

==TJ==