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truANT
BY DAVID L. HARRIS
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This Southern California–based mainstream metal quartet have been through a long list of trials and tribulations since their major-label debut, ANThology, dropped in 2001. High up on the list is last year’s bus accident in Spain, which left lead singer Dryden Vera Mitchell with a neck injury and seems to have made the whole band rethink their path. Once they recovered from their injuries, they hit the studio to begin work on truANT, and the recording process may have been their way of coping with their brush with mortality. The first single, the hard-hitting, Foo Fighter–ish "These Days," finds Mitchell belting out nothing but positive lyrics: "These days are great . . . . Would you like to work with me/I’d love to work with you." Produced by Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean and Robert DeLeo, the 12-track album also goes beyond straight-up metal offerings like "1,000 Days" to surprise with numbers like the tropical-flavored "Tia Lupé." The disc’s diversity may be a weakness when it comes to pleasing mainstream metalheads, but there are more than enough hard-edged commercial tracks here to keep radio programmers happy until the next AAF album.
