3 Doors Down (Bonus Track Version)

iTunes Review

Their fourth album finds 3 Doors Down veering from late 20th century post-grunge toward alt-metal based radio rock, though "Train" opens the album with a subtle twang that borrows from 1970s southern rock. And if the tribal grooves and foreboding guitars of "Citizen/Soldier" sound somewhat familiar, it could be because the band licensed it to be used in a National Guard recruiting commercial. The album's first single "It's Not My Time" starts off sounding like '80s Queensryche before the singing comes in, throwing the kind of melodiously barbed hooks that will grapple your memory like a catchy jingle or a bygone Goo Goo Dolls song. Singer Brad Arnold inflects like Eddie Vedder on "Let Me Be Myself," but the song is too much of an orchestrated power ballad to sound like a Pearl Jam ditty. "Your Arms Feel Like Home" is a more endearing serenade that's so pretty it could easily be stripped down to approximate a Keith Urban-esque country hit. Of the two bonus tracks, "Feet In The Water" and "Who Are You," the former rolls with chunky riffs and whiskey textured vocals, while the latter rocks like an updated Mountain song sans cowbell.