Human (Three Days Grace album)

Last updated
Human
Three Days Grace Human.jpg
Studio album by
Three Days Grace
ReleasedMarch 31, 2015 (2015-03-31)
Recorded2013–2014
Studio Noble Street Studios, Toronto, Ontario
Genre
Length39:31
Label
Producer Gavin Brown
Three Days Grace chronology
Transit of Venus
(2012)		Human
(2015)		 Outsider
(2018)
Singles from Human
  1. "Painkiller"
    Released: April 1, 2014
  2. "I Am Machine"
    Released: September 30, 2014
  3. "Human Race"
    Released: March 23, 2015
  4. "Fallen Angel"
    Released: September 15, 2015 [3]

Human is the fifth studio album by Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. The album was released on March 31, 2015 through RCA Records. It is the first of three albums without original lead singer Adam Gontier, and the first with My Darkest Days lead singer and Brad Walst's younger brother Matt Walst. [4]

Contents

Background and recording

Following Adam Gontier's exit from the group in January 2013, Matt Walst of My Darkest Days served as his replacement during the band's US tour with Shinedown. [5] The group later confirmed in March 2014, that Walst would officially be taking over as the band's new frontman. [6]

Recording for their fifth studio album began in late 2013 and recorded it at Noble Street Studios in Toronto with producer Gavin Brown, who produced the band's debut self-titled studio album. [7] According to drummer Neil Sanderson, the album features more raw and aggressive sounds than their previous records. [8] Bassist Brad Walst also added that they went back to their hard rock roots for this album and credited Brown for "getting them in the right mindset." [9] [10] "Painkiller" was the first song they wrote for the album, as well as the first one they wrote with Matt. [9]

The group embarked on the Human Tour in North America from July to November 2015, in support of the album. [11] [12] The band later toured across Europe and Russia from January to February 2016. [13] [14]

Singles

On April 1, 2014, the band released the album's lead single "Painkiller". [15] On April 8, 2014, the song was released to US rock radio stations. [16] The song reached number one on the US Mainstream Rock chart, which made it their eleventh number-one single. [17] The album's second single, "I Am Machine" was released on September 30, 2014. [18] The song topped the US Mainstream Rock chart. [19] On March 23, 2015, "Human Race" was released as the third single. [20] On September 15, 2015, "Fallen Angel" was released as the fourth single. [21]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Cryptic RockStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [22]
Melodic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [23]
Mind Equals Blown7/10 [24]
MusicReviewRadarStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [25]
New Noise MagazineStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [26]
Revolver Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [27]
Toronto Sun 2/5 [1]
Ultimate Guitar Archive 6.7/10 [28]

Human received positive reviews from music critics. Johan Wippsson of Melodic stated, "Matt really delivers here and shows that his voice suits really well for this type of rock and believe that many of the band's fans agree with me. The rest of the album is almost the same class and overall is it very solid, actually a little better than expected." [23] Allison Stewart of Revolver stated that "little has changed" on the album compared to their previous record Transit of Venus outside of their use of synths. [27] Heather Allen at Mind Equals Blown stated "It's always worrisome when a singer gets replaced because the band that you've come to know and love could easily do a complete musical 180." [24] MusicReviewRadar stated "the departure of the iconic Adam Gontier could have forced the band's loss of identity and direction but Matt Walst managed to fill in Adam's spot without becoming a complete replica" and that "the album was a good surprise [...] well balanced between soft and good-old Three Days Grace-style tracks." [25] Darryl Sterdan of Toronto Sun gave a negative review of the album remarking that the group "resumed churning out the same morose, morbidly misanthropic modern-rock/post-grunge/alt-metal crud-blort as before." [1] Jeff Miers of The Buffalo News described the album as "a collection stuffed with the sort of generic alt-metal that makes radio programmers squirm with delight and makes the rest of us deeply suspicious." [2]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 6,700 copies in its first week. [29] The album peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200 and sold 18,000 copies first week. [30] As of January 8, 2016, the album has sold 121,000 copies in the US. [31]

Human earned a nomination for "Rock Album of the Year" at the 2015 Loudwire Music Awards, though ultimately lost to Dark Before Dawn by Breaking Benjamin. [32] [33]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Three Days Grace (Neil Sanderson, Barry Stock, Brad Walst and Matt Walst) and producer Gavin Brown, with additional writers as listed below

Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Human Race" 4:09
2."Painkiller"
2:58
3."Fallen Angel"
3:06
4."Landmine" 3:25
5."Tell Me Why" 3:30
6."I Am Machine"
  • Andrews
3:21
7."So What"
2:57
8."Car Crash" 2:50
9."Nothing's Fair in Love and War" 3:44
10."One Too Many"
  • Casey Marshall
2:41
11."The End Is Not the Answer" 2:52
12."The Real You" 3:54
Total length:39:31
Deluxe second disc edition and Japanese bonus tracks [34] [35]
No.TitleLength
13."Every Other Weekend"4:02
14."Human Race" (atmosphere version)3:59
15."Painkiller" (live)3:20
16."Let You Down" (live)4:10
Total length:54:45

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. [36]

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [52] Gold40,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release history and formats for Human
RegionDateEditionFormatLabelRef.
VariousMarch 31, 2015
  • Standard
  • deluxe
 RCA [34] [53]
JapanJune 24, 2015Japanese bonus tracksCD Sony Music Japan [35]

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