3

Not to be confused with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer's ephemeral late 80s prog-rock venture 3, or indeed the post-hardcore punk band Three, this American crew formed in 1993 and 'Revisions' is their fifth studio album to date. It will actually be their last on Metal Blade as they've now inked a lucrative deal with Roadrunner. Often labelled as prog-rock themselves, I would expand on that by describing their music as progressive-emo-rock. There, I added that dreaded 'emo' word into the mix. I certainly don't mean the kind of emo pap associated with teenage angst pop-rock rubbish such as My Chemical Romance, rather the eleven tracks on 'Revisions' are dripping with emotionally charged hooklines throughout. However, 3 tread the thin line between accessible "heard it somewhere before but can't quite put my finger on it" melodies and musical innovation. Fortunately, the familiarity of some passages never fall into plagiarist territory as it is the innovative instrumentations that save the compositions from such. Highly skilled musicianship is on display throughout, most notably guitarist Joey Eppard's rather unique style of playing (acoustic and electric), largely avoiding rock clichés in the structure of each song. Actually, 3 are perhaps better described as alternative rock that is progressive rather than generically prog-rock. Eppard also delivers a fine vocal performance - his voice has a captivating charm through its smooth tones that is both part of and draws you into the music's enchanting essence. An astonishingly good album, with the release of 'Revisions', 3 deserve far greater success than they've already experienced. Perhaps the new deal with Roadrunner will see to that.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Metal Blade Records

Album

REVISIONS

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

43:22

RELEASE DATE:

26th Oct 2009

TRACK LISTING

1) Anyone Human
2) Rabid Animals
3) The Better Half of Me
4) Automobile
5) Why
6) Lexicon of Extremism
7) Fable
8) You've Been Shot
9) Halloween
10) The Emerald Undertow
11) The Game

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

USA

"...the eleven tracks on 'Revisions' are dripping with emotionally charged hooklines throughout."