Three Days Grace – One-X
Record Label: Jive Records
Release Date: June 13th, 2006
Stepping out of your comfort zone can be a real great thing. For the longest time, I was one a rather close-minded person when it came to my music tastes. I only stayed within a couple of genres, because I knew that’s what I liked. It’s a quite silly thought now that I go back and think about it, but the last few years, I’ve been expanding my tastes greatly and listening to bands / artists that I should’ve been listening to for years. I know it’s rather scary to step out of your comfort zone, but once you do that, it can open your mind (and your ears) to things you never thought you would listen to. I wish more people would realize this, and actually give things a chance. With that being said, one of those bands that I should’ve listened to years ago was alterative metal band Three Days Grace. I know what you’re thinking – they’re a rather popular band, so can you have not listened to them? Like I said, my taste as rather close-minded, so I didn’t really stray from a couple genres, mainly being metalcore and post-hardcore akin to “scene” music. Thankfully, I’ve gotten past that, and I’m into a lot more kinds of music now, including Three Days Grace. I don’t think I ever would’ve ever given them a chance if I hadn’t have met a friend of mine. His favorite band is Three Days Grace and told me to check them out, specifically his favorite record, which is 2006’s One-X. I picked it a few days ago, and I was quite surprised I had never listened to them sooner, because I absolutely loved this record. This is one of those records that I fall in love with a little bit more every time I listen to it. What’s even more surprising is that this is a hard rock / alternative metal band, and that goes back to what I said about stepping out of your comfort zone, because this isn’t a genre that I normally listen to. In fact, this is the first record of the genre that I’ve really listened to front to back, and I absolutely love it.
The biggest reason why I love this record is frontman Adam Gontier. Don’t get me wrong, the rest of the band does their jobs quite nicely, but Gontier really takes the stage here. The record was written when he was in rehab for a painkiller addiction, so most of the lyrics were written in his lonesome, and that really reflects the mood of the record at times. There is a lot of emotion and passion on this record, especially in Gontier’s vocal performance. It’s absolutely fantastic. Recently, he’s been in the talk of the music world because he randomly left TDG in December of 2012 and it was so shocking because it happened out of nowhere. And he also announced plans of releasing a solo record, so with that being said, I’m quite interested in seeing and hearing what he has to release. If it’s anything like Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy releasing Soul Punk, it should be interesting. Of course, Soul Punk was a pop / R&B record, and I highly doubt Gontier will go that route, but nonetheless, the anticipation is building. Regardless, though, Gontier really is the star of this record, and for good reason. He’s a very well known vocalist and I can hear why. That backing instrumentation is quite interesting, and works very well, but if I had to pick one thing I wasn’t crazy about on this record, it would be the instrumentation at a few points. This isn’t to say that every song is boring and sounds the same, which is not the case, but rather, the backing instrumentation can get a bit “dull” and repetitive at times. That’s easily forgivable, however, thanks to Gontier’s vocal performance and his lyrics. But instead of talking about the record, let’s dive into it and see what makes One-X a truly great record, shall we?
The record begins with “It’s All Over,” and I must say, that’s a very ironic song to begin a record. I would hope it’s not over, Mr. Gontier. In fact, I’m quite excited for this record to begin. The song starts off with a very distorted guitar riff from lead guitarist Barry Stock, then at about 40 seconds in, Gontier’s vocals come in… In the words of Ron Burgandy, “Boy, that escalated quickly.” I mean that in a very good way, for the record, because Gontier just takes center stage immediately. When I said he was the star of this record, I wasn’t kidding. He’s just absolutely fantastic. He’s got a knack for writing very hitting choruses, too, but there is another problem I have with the record that I will discuss a bit later. Regardless, this is a great opening track. It begins the album with a bang, and things only get better from here. Lyrically, this is a very good track, too; the lyrics I absolutely love on this record, but some tracks do have lyrics that tread on the “cheesy” factor. That’s easily overlooked, however, with Gontier’s vocal performance. Second track “Pain” is one of my favorite tracks on the record, but this is where the problem comes in that I just mentioned a bit ago – this song has a rather similar sound to “It’s All Over,” in the sense that it starts off rather slowly, then gets a bit heavier, and has a very catchy chorus. Essentially, it follows the same formula, and that’s one problem I have with this record – most songs do follow a set formula with little or no variation. While their sound is awesome, and I love it a lot, I would like to see some variation here and there. There is a little bit on a few tracks, and I will talk about those, but there’s not a lot. The tracks that hit REALLY hit, and the ones that don’t aren’t terrible, but don’t really do anything for me. There are a few tracks that just don’t really do much for me, but are still enjoyable enough to listen to.
With that being said, there are plenty of highlights as well; second track “Pain” is one of them. Gontier’s vocal performance just absolutely kills it, and lyrically, it’s a very interesting song, too. Another highlight comes in the form of fourth track “Never Too Late.” This is the first song from the record I heard, actually, and I never even knew it. My friend I mentioned in the beginning of the review showed me this song and thought I’d enjoy it, and well, I really do. This is a fantastic track in every single way. While I will admit this song does suffer from the same formula, there’s a bit of variation because its backbone is an acoustic guitar this time, which makes Gontier’s vocals much more passionate and effective. Lyrically, this is also a song that’s absolutely powerful. It does tread on that cheesiness border, but Gontier’s vocals are the thing that really keeps it from going in that direction. Right after that, fifth track “On My Own” is one of those tracks that I mentioned that really doesn’t do much for me. Is it a bad track? Oh, no way. It’s a very enjoyable track, but it’s not a highlight for me, either. Coincidentally, next track “Riot” is another highlight for me, and this track does sort of break out of the formula for a little while, because this track is the “heaviest” one on the record, really. What’s even more interesting is that Gontier actually screams briefly towards the end. I love his screams there, because they’re very well placed, and make the impact of the lyrics much more apparent. The lyrics themselves aren’t really too introspective, because they deal with causing a riot and blowing stuff up, but the music itself really adds to the mood that song projects. Seventh track “Get Out Alive” is a track that doesn’t really do much for me, but does deviate from the “formula” of the record, because it’s a much more somber track, at least until the end of the track. Now eighth track “Let It Die” is probably my favorite track on the record for one reason – this is the song that I can connect to most, in terms of the lyrics. This song deals with a relationship where Gontier put more effort into it than the other person put it into him, and he didn’t want it to die, basically. And he’s really upset that she keeps saying that he didn’t try when he put his whole heart into it. If there’s one thing I like, it’s lyrics I can relate to, and I can totally relate to this song. The next couple songs are those tracks that don’t really do much for me, but thankfully, the next track that really intrigues me is eleventh track “Gone Forever.” This is another relationship song that I can relate to quite a bit, because its lyrics tell of Gontier trying to get over a person that wasn’t right for him, and he’s glad that it ended. Again, I’ve been there before, so this song does hit rather close to him with me. Last track, and title track, “One-X,” is definitely another highlight of the record, because this is the longest track at about 5 minutes. This is where the album’s theme comes full circle, and it’s just a great closer, that’s for sure.
As I’m sure you, the reader, have gathered from this review, I love this record a lot. I’ve only been listening to it for a few days, but it’s insanely memorable, which really says a lot to me, because not many records have this effect on me. This is just a fantastic record all around, to be honest. I mentioned Gontier being the best part of the record, and honestly, I really still stand by that, because his vocals and his lyrics are something to marvel at here. While the backing instrumentation is fantastic, it does get a bit repetitive at times, like I mentioned in the beginning as well. What else can I say about this record, though? It’s one of those records you really need to listen to for yourself, and I’m really glad I managed to pick a copy of this up, because it’s one of the best records I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. It’s a shame I’m getting into this band after Gontier left, but now is a good time to get into them, nonetheless.
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