3 Doors Down: “Time of My Life” Review
I have become a big fan of 3 Doors Down over the last few months, and I recently bought their entire back catalogue before their latest — and fifth — effort, Time of My Life, was released at the end of July. It certainly doesn't disappoint, like all their previous albums.
The eponymous opener, Time of My Life, starts the album with a brilliant and catchy guitar riff. Lyrically, the song is uplifting compared to most 3DD songs, as Brad Arnold starts the chorus with “The life I love is the one I lead, it get's crazy but that's fine by me”. It gives the impression that they are loving what they are doing and don't want to stop. Whether it was meant specifically from the viewpoint of the band or not (“It's been so long, since I've been home”), it's ambiguous enough for most people to relate to if they feel the same way.
The first single from the album, When You're Young is a stark contrast with the previous song — having choices made for you while growing up, and having your childhood dreams shattered is a prominent theme. It seems to be the character (again, whether this is personally about Brad Arnold, I do not know) is unhappy with the life he is living (or has lived), “It's already over and done, when you're young”. The first verse starts out acoustic, but the guitars and drums kick in at the first chorus. An welcomed solo breaks up the song before the final chorus.
The Mississippi five-piece bring another catchy number with Round and Round, although the meaning on this song I have yet to fully work out. Arnold lists through what I assume are people; “the one who...” to a number of roles: “...tell the lies”, “...makes the alibis” and “...has no shame” before jumping into the chorus the track get's in name from. Perhaps continuing the theme of living life, maybe it symbolises that the world keeps going “round and round” and who know's which “one” we will all be. Or maybe not. I'm sure Brad Arnold does.
The band delivers what they do best next with Heaven — a power ballad. The obvious theme here is leaving behind your loved ones, and that you don't have to die to go to Heaven, you “just have to go home”. There is a nice nod to opening track/album title and overall theme here, when Arnold sings “while I was off having the time of my life”. There is just enough guitar in this song to stop it from becoming to soppy.
I think the general metaphor of Race for The Sun, is again about living life to the fullest, moving on from all the bad things and racing for the “morning sun”. The second half of the chorus is one of my favourite parts of the album, and I'll shamelessly admit one of the best singalong moments of the album.
Six songs in and we hit our first 3DD song directly about love with Back To Me. I think this song is obviously about moving on from an ex, and by moving on and getting over that ex, we can get back to ourselves and live our lives. I do however think listeners (and me, in particular) can relate to this song about anyone who has let them down and is holding them back.
The second single, Every Time You Go, is a much more upbeat rock song. I've read that the band already love playing this song live and I can imagine the crowds do too. Lyrically, it deals with a similar theme to Heaven, with someone losing a part of themselves every time their loved one goes away. Not depressing in anyway, it genuinely is a heartfelt love song delivered from Arnold.
My favourite song on the album, What's Left, is however rather depressing. I do have an odd attraction to depressing songs. The song would definitely be high in a list of break-up songs (although luckily I haven't been a situation that bad). The characters in the song is looking through his things, finding things that remind them of their ex, realising it's time to leave what's left of them and move on. I very much like the line “There's nothing left to say, and nothing left to prove, and now it's time to turn and walk away from, what's left of me and you”. I'm going to cry myself to sleep now.
We bounce back from our tear-stained pillow to a rock number, On The Run. The lines “yesterday's so far away, tomorrow's so far to go” definitely makes me think this song once again follows the theme of living for today, no matter what happened. The guitars through the chorus are very much welcomed back after all those soppy songs.
My least favourite song on the album is She Is Love. In fact, on most of my listens through I skip it. The chorus isn't particularly catchy, but I do enjoy the breakdown about two minutes in.
Another heavier song crops up as we near the end of the album, My Way is reminiscent of When You're Young, with Arnold (slightly angrily) stating “I spend my whole life hanging on your words... I'll do this my way now”. With a cracking drumbeat, guitar work and more solos, this is a very enjoyable song.
The album closer shows that 3DD have some fun every once in a while, and instead of writing songs about getting over ex-girlfriends and the hardships of growing up, write one about someone having an affair with a woman who's husband/partner then chases them threatening to beat them up. Certainly a welcome change. Believer is a straight up fact-paced rock song with an amazing (although not amazingly technical) guitar solo. Sex is not 3DD's usual subject choice for songs, but hey, maybe they were just “having the time of their life” when they wrote it.
I've read a lot of reviews for this album, and a few of them say that you will find it hard to enjoy this album if you are over 13. I disagree. Sure, the themes may be pretty similar all the way through, and some of the songs are a little too similar, but maybe that was the idea. And some of the lyrics may be obvious and a little cheesy, but I'm sure most of us can relate to at least one of the songs on the album, if not many. Or maybe I am just a 13 year old girl trapped in a man's body. A great buy if you are a fan of the band, or a good place to start before working back through their music catalogue.
