Alien Ant Farm
truANT
DreamWorks
Following the success of their 2001 platinum release ANThology, Alien Ant Farm is back with truANT, an album infused with elements of punk, metal, jazz, reggae, Latin and pop.
truANT is an album that came very close to not being recorded. In 2002, while touring Spain, AAF’s tour bus collided with a truck, killing their driver and rendering the band and crew in a critical state. Front man, Dryden Mitchell, was affected most severely by the accident – a broken neck left him wearing a metal halo for numerous months following surgery. Mitchell wondered if he would ever play shows again. Luckily, he recovered almost completely, and AAF was able to pull together once again and release one of the most introspective, melodic and original albums of 2003.
truANT is an album that includes countless themes, mainly love, relationships and the difficulties of touring. Yet, unlike other bands who cover these topics, AAF have a different outlook – clearly the result of their near-death experience. Mitchell now appears to be approaching life with a more mature and accepting perspective. Knowing how frightening life can be, Mitchell’s lyrics are more positive and less dramatic.
Take, for example, “Never Meant.” Instead of pining for an ex-girlfriend, Mitchell is realistic about the situation, even going so far as to apologizing for hurting her: “Here’s to making up and cheers to one more fight / Never meant to do you wrong / Never meant to cause you harm.”
Like ANThology, most of the songs on truANT are punk/metal/hardcore tracks, yet the real highlights of the album are those which have elements of reggae, Latin and jazz, namely “Glow,” “Never Meant” and “Tia Lupe.” “Hope,” the closing track, is an acoustic quasi-ballad that is not only one the best songs on the album, but also has special significance for Mitchell; it was the song he was playing when the tragic collision occurred.
truANT is an album that shows incredible promise for AAF. It proves that not even can a tragic accident can stop AAF from achieving their goal of becoming one of the most popular rock bands in today’s music scene.
Alien Ant Farm: http://www.alienantfarm.com/
