Official "A Different Kind of Truth" Album Review Thread

[SNIPER]

Blood & Fire has a very "sturdy chorus". What is this guy talking about?

Agreed, HUGE chorus!!

[Bob_R]

Maybe nitrodave23 is a Hagarita?

[SNIPER]

Yeah, I sense sarcasm. Hagarita for sure.

[DRD]

I could not agree with you more. Well said.

[DRD]

I agree with this part of the Music Radar review and some of the observations about the songs. "The Van Halen of 2012 comes off as age-proof, confident monsters, chewing up the scenery with the top down and flipping the bird to anyone who's got a problem with that."

I, like others who have posted on this thread, have been taking turns with "my favorite song" on the record. As I write this, it's "Outta Space". Jesus H. Christ!

Some other quick thoughts... this is the kick in the ass that hard rock needed... again. Similar in style to the kick it received in 1978. I mean, this is a blowout. Nothing else in rock has been close to this in many years... wall to wall... first song to last song. As a musician, I sense this record having an influence for the next 10 years. No more looking at your shoes, whining that you're a loser baby so why don't you kill me, tuning down lower than the last guy, stale safe rock anthems that don't really mean anything.... and fucking let the guitar player melt faces, for christ sakes. Swagger is a word I read used here before. This record definitely has swagger. Not some pimp, jive ass bullshit. But real swagger. You gotta walk the walk swagger. James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley swagger. You know... "We got paid $1.5 Million to headline the US Festival 30 years ago and we're selling out every arena across North America in 2012" swagger.

I guess we know now why it took so long to get this record. Them dudes have been practicing. Wolfie is fucking KILLING IT. Ed deserves "Comeback Player of the Year", Diamond Dave is "MVP"... but Wolfie has got to be "Rookie of the Year". This is like Gale Sayers or Randy Moss in their rookie year. "Here I am, I DESERVE to be here, get out of my fucking way and there is no way you can stop me." Listen on your headphones to he and Alex behind the solo's... they are locked in the pocket and cooking with grease... then listen to he and Ed shred and match runs note for note... and then he is singing back ups, too. It really is ridiculous. This is like "Eat 'em and Smile" territory... they've laid a marker by which all other guitarists/bassists/drummers will be judged. I can hear people saying this over the next five years, "yeah, he's good... but he doesn't play like Wolfie." People will be saying that. He's that fucking good, dude. Remember when Dave opened the EEAS tour with "Shyboy"? I would love to hear them open with "China Town".

Dave expresses a lot of ideas on this record. I think it'll take me a few months to get all of them. And there is a passion in his delivery that is very pronounced. I read a review where a guy panned "Blood and Fire". The reviewer didn't mention the spoken part in the middle of the song. You CANNOT talk about that song and not mention that part. The way he says "SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT" is spine tingling. Yeah, I'm drinking the Kool Aid... but you cannot listen to that song and not FEEL his meaning. Or on "Bullethead" when he spits out "yeah I'm rolling slowly... but I'm ahead of you"... can you feel it? I do. I think it's clear that this record means EVERYTHING to him and he reached way deep down inside... to places that only some people know about... and delivered this work of art.

But, it's not just him. It's the band, too. And the point/counterpoint between those two cats (Dave and Ed) is on a different level. It's organic and real and just can't be duplicated. It's like Lennon/McCartney. Great individually... but really special together. It makes sense that Ed has always played with his brother on drums and now his son on bass. The same flesh and blood with a sense of timing and rhythm that perhaps dudes with different genes just can't lock in on the same level. Then pour the best storyteller and world's most confident performer on top and you get "A Different Kind of Truth".

Other people have written what I'm about to write. This (new record, tour dates, etc.) means a lot to me. I have a connection to Van Halen that I can't explain to other people who don't have the same connection. It's like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"... we gotta get to Devils Tower... but we don't really know why. Hearing this record...coming to the place in time we're at right now (new record, tour dates, etc.)... it is up there with getting married, having a kid, completing Ironman (4 times!) and work world success. It has made me very happy. I knew it was going to be great when it happened. But I didn't know it would be this great.

Great post. I feel the same way.

[DavidLeeNatra]

So today is D-Day for the british guys around here?

[DavidLeeNatra]

meanwhile in the USA:

[saint]

Release date in sweden feb 8, What’s up with that

[DavidLeeNatra]

Release date in sweden feb 8, What’s up with that

[Halen High]

HitFix.com gives the album a B-
A somewhat positive review, but the critic embarrassingly (now fixed) compared Big River to "Flirtin' With The Devil" (See comments). Really takes away any credibility.

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-beat...-kind-of-truth

I don't expect every journalist to be falling over themselves to praise ADKOT, but the Hitfix review can be instantly dismissed as a load of nonsense. The songs are "largely hookless"? The album is full of hooks - heavy yet catchy tracks - all with a clear direction of where the band wants them to go. Dave's edgey lyrics for China Town are perfect for Eddie's aggressive riff and Outta Space is the archetypal Classic Van Halen song, brought out of the 70s and into the 21st Century by Dave's fresh lyrics and new vocal treatment. And Dave's spoken interludes work beautifully, particularly in The Trouble With Never, prompting the band to erupt into life and provide an unforgettable contrast. When I listen to this song, Dave's spoken part and the band coming back to life is what I'm waiting for. It was the old tug of war between Eddie and Dave, reminding me of Fair Warning.

What we have here is a writer with no understanding of the Classic Van Halen approach, probably due to no research or prior interest in the band, resulting in a lazily written review lacking any real substance.

[DavidLeeNatra]

this album is not build for speed...it's build to last...

[Yount]

this album is not build for speed...it's build to last...

Zen Dave Rave Rave! Album'll land on its feet if it don't land on its head.

[Carmine]

All these negative or critical reviews mean nothing. There aren't that many fans that actually knew of the unreleased songs that they reworked for the album until a month ago. Of course, we knew....we're real Van Halen fans. Any jagoff "reviewer" that got on the web can pick up on what songs they were, where they came from and when they were cut originally and rag the band for 'digging into the vault" as being uncreative and make comments like they actually knew of and heard these songs before 2012. Fuck em...I say this...if this album was released as the true follow up to 1984...there would be no criticism what-so-ever.

This is a band simply picking back up where they left off...and kicking everyone's ass in the process...with songs that, had they remained together..most likely would have been released in the 80's...

I've said it many times already...I think the coolest part is that they've ignored the last 28 years as if they never happened...

and musically...with A Different Kind of Truth...they didn't...

99.9% of people I've talked to about the album are blown out of their shoes by it...

as always, you can blame the red rocked bologna pony's shrinking fanbase for the remaining .1%...

[Yount]

This is a band simply picking back up where they left off...and kicking everyone's ass in the process...with songs that, had they remained together..most likely would have been released in the 80's...

Oh yeah Carmine!

[Panamark]

Had a chance to crank it in the "Suburban" today.
I say that with great irony as our suburan is totally
required in "rural"

Im realizing that Im almost at a 50/50 with the album,
50% I love already/ 50% that are still growing.
I know the growers are going to get me eventually.
But thats what I love, you dont want a song to be instantly
"perfect" I know the growers will be the ones I love
the most. Starting to form more opinions about the
album, closest comparison to the 6 pack "Fair Warning"
*BUT* its even heavier. The heaviest Van Halen album to date.

"Big River" has a little bit of a "creedence" sound when they
sing "Rollin" but thats another great tune..