3 Doors Down; 30 Seconds to Mars

Mississippi's 3 Doors Down make top-notch second-notch rock: "Kryptonite," the big one from their debut, 2000's The Better Life, married cleanly corrosive guitars, efficient rock-dude vocals, a Nickelback chorus that actually swung and a snare drum riff that made it easy to pick out on the radio. Away From the...

By Mikael Wood

December 5, 2002

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18855504",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17105533",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105532",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18349797",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17105535",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Mississippi's 3 Doors Down make top-notch second-notch rock: "Kryptonite," the big one from their debut, 2000's The Better Life, married cleanly corrosive guitars, efficient rock-dude vocals, a Nickelback chorus that actually swung and a snare drum riff that made it easy to pick out on the radio. Away From the Sun, the band's new one, is less distinctive--slower tempos, Rick Parashar's anonymous production, no snare drum riffs--but it still shows how capable of filling a slot these guys are; lead single "When I'm Gone" could score a zillion angry Friday-night drives away from her or home or whatever without losing its bland functionality. 30 Seconds to Mars could offer that type of generic appeal: The guitars bite, the choruses roar, the singer closes his eyes. Only the singer is actor Jared Leto, so the band's self-titled debut isn't just another hunk of modern-rock detritus (even though, um, it is). Leto takes the opportunity to air his apparently long-burning fascination with undigested sci-fi paranoia--"I open up my head inside and find another person's mind," he shrieks on "The Mission"--and because he hired Bob Ezrin, the dude who did The Wall, to produce, he ends up with a slick approximation of that Deadsy record from earlier this year. It's called diversification, kids.

Become A Member

BEFORE YOU GO...
Can you help us continue to share our stories? Since the beginning, Dallas Observer has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas — and we'd like to keep it that way. Our members allow us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls.