Alien Ant Farm's Truant: The Best Hard Rock CD of 2003 You Aren't Hearing
Written: Dec 31 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: solid riffs, newfound hope in lyrics, diversity
Cons: Mitchell's voice can be grating after a bit
The Bottom Line: TruANT is one of the best hard rock surprises of the year. Pick it up.
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| MattA75's Full Review: Truant by Alien Ant Farm |
It sucks to be a band that garners that first hit that just happens to be a cover song. The public doesn't necessarily take you seriously, follow up singles usually fail to take off, and follow up albums usually leave the public trying to figure out exactly what 80s song you decided to punk up. Radio and MTV's response to you: "Hey, we had some great times guys, but don't call us, we'll call you." Case in point: Alien Ant Farm.
Breaking through in 2001 with an infectious rocked out cover of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal (if they really wanted to be like Mike, they could blame his problems for lagging record sales of their own), the band followed that up with an irreverent video for Movies before fading off into the sunset. While their debut album, ANThology, was nothing great, it did show the band had promise, and I hoped they would come back with a solid sophomore effort.
But all that promise was nearly lost in May of 2002 when while on tour in Spain, the band's bus collided with a truck in an early morning crash that killed the band's bus driver and left lead vocalist Dryden Mitchell with a broken neck. Within six months though, the band had recovered physically (some might question mentally), and they went into the studio with producers Dean and Robert DeLeo (of Stone Temple Pilots) to record their second album, the album that would become TruANT.
More than anything, TruANT delivers on the promise that could be seen on ANThology. It is an exciting hard rock album that also delves into other musical genres, keeping things fresh, but never leaving out the rock for very long.
The band goes for the juggular right away with the opening 1000 Days, which immediately showcases the influence that the DeLeo brothers had on the sound and atmosphere of the record. It seems more and more bands lately are sounding like the old STP, although one can forgive the similarities given who the producers are. They follow this up with Drifting Apart, a song with an absolutely sinister riff that drives the song along, and some philosophical lyrics from Mitchell ("Time has two separate hands and I wonder where we stand" is a line that really rocks my world). Not to be overlooked is the solid rhythm section duo of Mike Cosgrove and Tye Zamora, who keep the song from becoming a disaster.
The album isn't all about the rock though. The rock just happens to be the best part. Current single Glow, which is actually garnering some radio and video airplay, is an acoustically driven number that employs handclaps and vocals that just seem to call out to be shouted along with. The chord progression is actually reminiscent of Green Day's Hitchin a Ride, but it took me a while to place it.
Elsewhere, the band dabbles in reggae a bit on Never Meant, which reminds me an awful lot of The Police in sound. But what sets the song truly apart is the trumpet solo that brings in a jazz flavor to the song. I think what makes me enjoy this whole song is that it doesn't feel like they just threw a trumpet solo in there to be different, it feels like they wrote the song and the trumpet solo just kind of fell into it.
The band recalls Radiohead and Paranoid Android on Tia Lupe, at least in the acoustic guitar melody that drives the song. The rest of the song is decidedly Spanish flavored, as its title might suggest.
But this album is truly about the rock, and the band brings just that. These Days isn't quite the epic of the same name that Bon Jovi wrote a few years back, but it is a catchy hard rock song that gets its strength from its breezy chorus. The same can be said of Sarah Wynn, which has a soaring chorus of its own. And it may take a bit for S.S. Recognize to get going, but once it does, you'll be dancing and banging your head at the same time. The breakdown towards the end is one of the most intense hard rock moments of the year.
The only drawback to this CD is that Mitchell's vocal delivery rarely differs, and while the guitar playing by Terence Corso is much improved over the last record, occasionally the songs begin to bleed into one another. This is a problem that gets a lot of help from the slower songs that are on the disc.
If you're a hard rock fan who has been looking for something new and has been disappointed with what 2003 has offered you, I urge you to give this disc a shot. The riffs are heavy, the lyrics reflect the band's new attitude post accident, and there is a surprising amount of diversity to be found for a sophomore album.
Besides, part of you knew that second Puddle of Mudd disc was just gonna suck anyways...
More on Alien Ant Farm:
ANThology
Recommended:
Yes
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MattA75
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Member: Matt Aucoin
Location: South Berwick, ME
Reviews written: 1162
Trusted by: 464 members
About Me:
Gonna be a daddy, April 2010!
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