Three Days Grace
Life Starts Now

Third studio album from the Canadian band Three Days Grace, released in 2009.

If their first self-titled album represents an unpolished yet thoroughly enjoyable demonstration of talent, and the subsequent One X serves as its continuation and more mature perfection, this new record represents a further step in the band's evolutionary journey, distancing itself more from the two previously mentioned.

Undoubtedly, from the very first listen, there is a more melodic and less "angry" approach than in the past, with openings of hope and optimism towards a new beginning (well conveyed by the album's title), although the usual sense of rebellion and discomfort remains subtly present throughout the album. The songs are all, as in the past, of medium-short length, easily engaging and immediately impactful, starting with the second track "Break," a big single accompanied by a fantastic video that gets stuck in your head and won't leave. The album flows without peaks and essentially without falls throughout its duration, and even the songs that represent the new elements, i.e., the more melodic and reflective ones, although they often risk being overly sentimental and cloying (especially due to the lyrics), still manage to remain pleasant and absolutely enjoyable.

Among the four members, the one who undoubtedly stands out the most is the frontman, singer and rhythm guitarist, Adam Gontier, endowed with a truly remarkable voice and a very distinctive timbre, which adapts excellently to both the more "shouted" parts and the more melodic ones. Returning to the lyrics, although they occasionally fall into the banal, like in previous albums, they still manage to well express the discomfort and issues faced by Gontier in his life, with the most prominent being his strong (now overcome) addiction to oxycodone; in short, simple but effective.

In conclusion, these Three Days Grace are absolutely nothing innovative, nothing transcendental, and nothing particularly original, but they play with skill and passion, and manage to create impactful songs that are always enjoyable to listen to, consistently producing well-produced, well-played albums which, despite being very homogeneous, achieve the difficult feat of never boring me.

(the 4-star rating is entirely subjective, I am very aware that this is a decent but not excellent album and perhaps not even completely good, but I like it, and it is based on this that ratings should be given; objective parameters that satisfy everyone do not exist)