Three Days Grace – ‘Human’

Replacing a front-man can often be incredibly difficult for bands to do without alienating some part of their fanbase. Loyalties are often split between those reluctant to accept such an obvious change to the line-up and those who are just happy that the band is continuing in one form or another. This is the situation that Three Days Grace find themselves in as ‘Human’ is the first album for the Canadian heavy rockers since Matt Walst officially replaced Adam Gontier as lead singer back in 2014.

Despite this, not much has changed musically, and it’s not long before the synth tinged intro of ‘Human Race’ gives way to the metal-lite riffs that have long been the stock of Three Days Grace. The guitar solo towards the end gives the song some spark but apart from that it’s a fairly lifeless and less than convincing start to life with the altered line-up. ‘Painkiller’ does nothing to improve the situation with the overly slick production robbing it of any sense of atmosphere.

Unfortunately the whole album is devoid of any shred of the scuzzy dive bar feeling that heavy rock thrives upon and ‘Human’ is left feeling incredibly sterile. However the real issue is the lyrics. Veering from the easily readable metaphors of ‘Car Crash’ to the dumbed down commentary on personal struggle at the heart of ‘Tell Me Why’, they are nothing short of dire. An album full of questionable lyricism means that despite its stomping riffs and big chorus, ‘Landmine’ is held back by the serious delivery of lines such as “I’m living like a landmine waiting to explode”, whereas ‘Fallen Angel’ finds Matt Walst earnestly singing “fallen angel close your eyes, I won’t let you fall tonight”.

Even songs like ‘So What’ that adopt a different lyrical tone and are probably meant to give hope to fans are susceptible to the same problems. The questionable lyrics would be forgiveable if the rest of the album absolutely blew you away, but for the most part it doesn’t, with generic chord patterns further hampered by a lack of creativity.

It isn’t until ‘I Am Machine’ that Three Days Grace come close to rediscovering any sort of form and by then it’s already too little too late. It’s a real shame as it burns with a passion and energy that is lacking in the other twelve songs. If the rest of the album shared the same drive then it would be a very different experience. As it is, ‘Human’ is a bloated and generic record that is likely to succeed only in causing further debate between fans about the virtues of replacing a front-man.

CHRIS HILSON