3 Doors Down Album: “Seventeen Days”

"Seventeen Days" sees 3 Doors Down take their Southern rock style and give it a harder, more metal edge (thanks in no small part to producer Johnny K, who has also worked with Disturbed and Drowning Pool). "The Real Life" alternates a wall of sound with more restrained choruses (perhaps they were influenced by Nickelback during their summer tour in 2004?), and harder/angrier songs like "For Today" and "Right Where I Belong" definitely show that 3DD is heading in a more hard-rock direction.

But the group returns to its trademark sound in the final track, the ballad "Here By Me", which blends a quiet melody with tender lyrics and a deeply personal vocal delivery.

All in all, it's definitely a solid album if you are a fan of this band.

Ever since "Kryptonite", I've been a fan of Three Doors Down. They've always kept originality, which bands like Nickelback, 311, and others have lost. Well, sadly, we might have to add Three Doors Down. I guess being away from the sun so much made them lose originality.

Looking for "The Better Life", you'll become dissappointed. Looking for "Away From The Sun", you will also become dissappointed.

About 90% of the songs on this album are slow, and quite tiring and boring after awhile, but "Live For Today" and "Right Where I Belong" as being exceptions. Actually, I do go for more slower songs. But, I don't like slow songs scattered around the CD.

I don't see anything truly dramatic or outstanding on the CD. There may be some radio airplay, but I don't think any of them will become #1 like "Kryptonite", "When I'm Gone", or "Here Without You". All of the songs are good, but not outstannding. I'd recommend lowering your expectations before buying this CD.

Maybe they are trying a different style, or maybe they are leftovers from earlier albums. You decide. Now, time for the vitamin shot, and on to the next CD.

I swear, every album that these Mississippian rockers release is better than the previous one. "Seventeen Days" is no exception. This album is loaded to capacity with great songs. Two of them are already hits.

"It's Not Me" made its debut on the live album "Another 700 Miles", and it has been one of my favorites ever since I first heard it. This version clearly packs more wow-power. Of course, the live version was still in the "design stages". But it resulted in an excellent finished product. "Let Me Go" was being played on the radio before the album was even released. Kudos to 3 Doors Down on such an accomplishment.

As for the remaining ten tracks, I see two that definitely are chart-toppers in waiting. "Landing in London" is absolutely dynamite. Brad Arnold and Bob Seger sound unbelieveably good singing together. Now is it just me, or was this song somehow separated from "Here Without You" and "I Feel You" (tracks #6 and #7 on "Away From The Sun") at birth? I certainly would not rule that out, as the three do sound similar. Listen to them back to back to back and you'll know what I mean.

"Never Will I Break" is the second of my predicted future #1s for 3 Doors Down. This song has an extremely powerful "never say die" attitude, even more powerful than "Duck And Run". The chorus says it all: "This road I walk is paved with the broken promises I made. At least a million times I've fallen. But never will I break". These are definitely the words of a diehard "never say die" attitude song.

Brad Arnold and company, if you happen to read this review, look no farther for your next two hit songs. But no matter which tracks make it to the charts, "Seventeen Days" is undeniably your best work yet.

3 Doors Down is a terrific band with much talent within. I am a big fan of the first cd, 'The Better Life' and their second CD, 'Away From the Sun', but the third, I'm just not into as much. The thing about 3 Doors Down that I always enjoyed in the previous two CDs was that they brought on elegance when writing the slower-paced songs, but in this latest installment from the gang, the elegance they once had has been unfortunately withered away. I have listened to Seventeen Days many times within the last week, and I get bored with the constant slow-esq pace of how the album goes. I feel like most of the songs were forced, maybe more personal, but in the long run, I was hoping for more of a sound that was mixed between fast songs and slow songs, rather than mostly being dominated by slow songs. I gave it 3 stars because I thought it was a valiant effort, and I'm looking forward to hearing more from this band in the future!

Seventeen Days - somewhere I read that's how long 3DD had to make the album. Sadly, that shows through. As much as I want to love the album, I really can't. This band has huge potential, but these songs don't showcase it well. Many of them sound the same. The only song I disliked was "Never Will I Break," for its lack of a catchy tune - something several other songs make up for with thoughtful lyrics, but this one didn't. Besides that track, all the others were good. Not great. Just good. Listenable. "Let Me Go" is quite upbeat, actually, but severely overplayed on the radio. "Be Somebody" has touching words but a boring melody, but is maybe the most optimistic tracks of the album. "Here By Me" is heartbreaking and a nice way to end the CD. But other than those, Seventeen Days is more along the lines of punk/rock elevator music than a collection of smash hits. Hopefully 3DD can crank out some good tunes in 2006 and atone for Seventeen Days.