ALIEN ANT FARM is mostly known as that band that covered MICHAEL JACKSON’s “Smooth Criminal” 5 years ago, and being known for a song that isn’t your own is usually a sign of a tumultuous career, that is, if your career even continues past the radio hit. AAA have held up, and are onto album #3, which is too long at 14 songs with more misses than solid tracks. AAA aren’t the type of band that you go to if you’re expecting dynamite musicianship or an incredible vocal range; they write catchy rock songs, but the problem is they’re lacking in that department here. “Forgive and Forget” vents the frustration of shelling out money for dates, and winding up with the broad leaving you, and it has a great melody that makes it probably the best song here.
“Around the Block” features a cowbell in the beginning that seems out of place, and only used to be ironic. “Lord Knows” switches things up a little with the use of horns in the end, but if you were to take them out, it sounds all too much like the rest of the songs. After 13 songs of typical radio rock fare, they break out the bloated “She’s Only Evil”. Time to get experimental, MAN. It’s mostly acoustic, but then about six minutes in, they start rawking out. This curveball stuck at the end of the record feels too forced. If they really wanted to be the type of band that existed outside of the margins, they’d have more daring attempts like this, instead of the safe route of putting the only non-radio song last.
