An Outsider Trying To Climb The Mountain

 An Outsider Trying To Climb The Mountain

A review of "The Mountain" a single by. Three Days Grace

Welcome to the third edition of my music review season two! And this week we tackle a single from the upcoming album titled "Outsider". This is an album by the Canadian rock band "Three Days Grace". This will the band's second album with their current vocalist Matt Walst, the brother of bassist Brad Walst. This song channels the sound that the band is known for. That being said. If you ask me, Walst's voice and vocal style are very similar to the bands previous frontman Adam Gontier, and that makes it feel like that much more of a "Three Days Grace" song.  But I am still a little skeptical of it with Gontier being gone and the band replacing him quickly with Matt. Even though back in 2013 when Gontier left the band they said that it was unexplained and abrupt. I believe that they had to have felt that he was going to be departing sooner rather than later. But that's another story for another day. On to the review we go!

The Mountain - Single Review

Here it is! The first single off of their upcoming 2018 album "Outsider". And as I stated above this will be the second album with new vocalist, Brad Walst. The song sounds like something straight off of one of their previous albums, so it is a style that they are used to playing and recording. That means it should be a good track. But will it be a great track? That is the question we will try to answer today. First off we will get to the lyrics. Then we will get to the instrumentals of the track.

Verse One: The song begins with a faded backing of the hook. Then after a 10 second interlude the verse kicks in with the voice of Wlast (as stated I think he sounds a little too much like Gontier). Nevertheless. The verse sets the tone for being an outsider, the underdog, and just all around not taken like a serious contender in life. "Another night I'm barely holdin' on. One step away from being dead and gone. Am I alive to die another day? Is this life that I've been livin'. All that's meant for me?"  The lyrics set the tone of a fighting one, a man stepping to the mat in a sense. However still holding on though. Feeling like you've made it only to be one step away from it all ending for good. And now you've endured this so long that it seems like this is all you were born to do. As the verse ends and heads into the hook/chorus.

Vers Two: Continuing the songs outsider/underdog theme we get the rather short but seemingly powered up verse two. This of course being something that has been done quite a few times before by this and many other bands. It can get kind of annoying at times. But eventually with this genre you end up getting used to it and become blind to it. But we will leave that there for another day, and we will get into the verses lyrical content. "The higher I go, the harder I fall. So I don't look down, I don't look back at all. And when I wish it all would turn to black. I try to see the light and push the darkness back" Again, a short way to push the theme of the song. 

Hook/Chorus/Bridge: We have now our last segment of the review. Starting with the hook. "Every day I'm just survivin'. Keep climbin' the mountain. Even when I feel like dyin'. Keep climbin' the mountain" This short little hook sets you up to the chorus that pushes the message of "I might be down but I'm not out". Just take a look at the chorus. "Every time I think I'm over it! I wake up in the bottom of it all again! I'm alive and keep climbin'! Keep climbin' the mountain, the mountain!" Take to the realization of the narrator that any time you think you reach the top you wake up to realize that it was a dream. "So If I'm numb, already too far gone. And If I feel a pulsin', I can carry on. When I'm lost and want to fade away. I tell myself to live to die another day, yeah" And now you have no one so you have to motivate yourself to live day by day. As the song enters the final hook/chorus.

The Wrap-Up

There is not too much to wrap up here. The song is a solid, TDG style hit. Something they have created before and have perfected. As I said before, even with the new lead singer, it still sounds like Gontier singing and the instrumentals are the same as well. I was hoping back when the new guy came in that they would switch it up a bit. Not change completely like some bands, but at least develop a TDG sound that would be unique to the new singer. So that is where I will leave it, so that I do not get into a rant about what I think they should be doing. Be sure to go and check out my YouTube channel and the video that goes with this for an announcement about some music related things that are happening here in Houston. 1and as always. Check out the links below for more fun stuff.

Links and Stuff

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Song:https://open.spotify.com/track/57HYDcQvioMpUVeYsIDpsx?si=U8LebvRQQQW7zZeAdeLp_w
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National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Call: 1-800-273-8255
Suicide Prevention Lifeline:https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/talk-to-someone-now/
Suicide Prevention Resource Center: https://www.sprc.org/