On their sixth album, Stephan Jenkins and the rest of his friends that now comprise Third Eye Blind have tried something new. Recruiting outside help, they\u2019ve attempted to create a record closer to what their live shows have become. The opening title track, also featuring Alexis from Sleigh Bells, is a nice opener, a stomper with lots of gang vocals. It\u2019s quite surprising actually, considering most \u201890s alt rock bands haven\u2019t been capable of pulling something great off lately (just look at Sugar Ray).<\/p>\n
\u201cWays\u201d is a decent but brief track that goes by too quickly. Jenkins tries a hip-hop vibe, but as a 55-year-old, he really can\u2019t pull it off anymore and the song lands on its face. \u201cThe Kids Are Coming (To Take You Down)\u201d is an okay track, coming across as an anthem for teenage rebellion, but it can\u2019t quite go the distance and wraps up before anything powerful really happens.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, many of these songs feel like they\u2019d be better suited as B-sides. The less said about the auto-tuned \u201c2x Tigers,\u201d the better off we all are. \u201cWalk Like Kings\u201d is a pop-rock trifle that offers nothing important and feels almost like a track destined to lengthen the running time, similar to the acoustic version of \u201cWho Am I\u201d tacked onto the end of the disc.<\/p>\n
Of course, this wouldn\u2019t be a Third Eye Blind disc without a song about doing drugs and being high. After all, \u201cSemi-Charmed Life\u201d is about crystal meth, for God\u2019s sake. \u201cGot So High\u201d turns into a piano ballad about being so high, the experience turns transcendent. Guess what? It\u2019s not that great of a track and leaves the listener wanting a bit more from the auditory experience. Even \u201cLight It Up,\u201d which contains a co-write from Billy Corgan, has potential to be a great track, but aside from Jenkins\u2019 vocals \u2013 which really carry the whole thing \u2013 it feels like it\u2019s missing a particular something that would have really put it over the top.<\/p>\n
I wanted to like this record, but ever since the band essentially became Jenkins and company instead of a full band, it\u2019s hard to support something that feels like a vanity project that needs to end. Jenkins can still come up with some great songs, but let\u2019s face it, it\u2019s never going to have the same feeling that it used to back in the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":33908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6067],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-45735","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-third-eye-blind","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45735"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}