Three Days Grace: Alienation
It is almost surreal. It is an alternative band that now has not one but two – epicly talented – vocalists. It is a comeback with an album that speaks volumes about raw openness on mental health struggles and uncomfortable truths. It is one for the history books, making a band still as relevant after being around for more than three decades.
Three Days Grace just released their latest album ‘Alienation’, which might be one of their strongest moves yet. The record marks the comeback of Adam Gountier as a vocalist, after leaving between 2013 and 2023. During that time, he was replaced by Matt Walst (founder and the lead singer of the former My Darkest Days) who is now jointly co-leading as a vocalist of Three Days Grace.
And even though there might have been speculations and debates among the band's fans around which period of Three Days Grace was better (Adam-led or Matt-led), the new album puts an indisputable full stop to this. Both Adam and Matt bring so much to the table – and they do it so eloquently and harmoniously – that there is no room for any confusion.
‘Alienation’ is the eight-studio album for the band – and isolation is centred as the main theme, cropping up throughout the album in several highly charged songs. Zooming into the track list, the song named after the album emphasises on a growingly serious concern about the level of connection in society:
“Can I get some contact now? Does anyone even know how?”
‘Alienation’ further speaks volumes about the difficult times of feeling like the underdog:
“We're all outsiders
Fallen fighters
No one knows we're making an alienation”
The first single off the album, ‘Mayday’, also carries this theme, suggesting that it feels like we are somewhat lost, as if we are rebels without a cause:
“We walk like dead people who haven't died yet
We ride like passengers without a pilot
We be losing our minds, but we all try to hide it
It's hard to keep fighting when you're barely surviving"
Those raw, heavy feelings of the doomed ones also make their way in ‘Apologies’, the second single off the album. Here, Adam and Matt open up about addiction to drugs and alcohol – and a confession that even love, at times, was not enough to help in coping with such a heavy baggage and dark times.
And even though the band discusses those feelings of alienation and isolation to such a vast extent, listening to the songs makes me realise that such dark thoughts and emotions are anything but a minority. It is, nowadays, far too common for people to feel hopeless and as if they're the only ones going through a tough time. However, both the tragic reality and the grounding comfort is the fact that such feelings, while extremely overwhelming, are shared by most of us, regardless of who we are, what our story has been so far and where we are in life right now.
A sharp contrast to this ubiquitous theme of isolation in despair is the opening title for the album, ‘Dominate’ – a powerful, almost mantra-like, song that makes a strong testament that the protagonist will go through the pain, as he was “made to dominate” and is here to “seize the day” and “storm the gates”. The riffed-up energy here is capable of making anyone want to conquer the world – right at this minute and not a second longer!
‘Alienation’ is worth every listen – on repeat – as it gives you exactly what you'd want from Three Days Grace. The goosebumps-inducing vocals, the story about the rough but character-shaping battle with demons and the powerful return of the hero who can take on the world stronger than ever before. What an inspiring journey that is… And the best part? This album tells us this is far from over.