| Written by Alex Stojanovic TRACK LISTING Above It All Better Late Than Never Chew Me Up So What Left Behind Bite The Bullet Blinding Lights (The Weeknd cover) Devastate Break The Mold Over It Wolf Better Now Chasing The Light Above It All (Acoustic) Devastate (Acoustic) SAINT ASONIA IS: Adam Gontier - Lead vocals & guitars Mike Mushok - Lead guitars Cale Gontier - Bass & backing vocals Cody Watkins - Drums |  Release Date: December 9, 2022 Label: Spinefarm Records Website: saintasonia.com facebook.com/saintasonia |
There’s a bunch of bands that released new albums either at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020, but never had the opportunity to tour behind those albums due to the pandemic slamming down and pushing the big "Pause" button on the world in 2020. Saint Asonia was one of those many bands that became one of the unfortunate victims of that circumstance. They released their second album Flawed Design at the end of 2019, and had dates lined up in 2020, but those dates never happened. The only show that they played in support of the album was in 2021 at the Cadott Rock Fest. However, instead of doing nothing, the band hunkered down and got to work on new music, because what else are they going to do, right? However, instead of a new full-length album, we got not one, but two brand new EPs containing new songs and covers titled Introvert and Extrovert, with the titles aptly representing the situation we were all in during the past two years.
The surprising part came just recently when the band decided to put the two EPs together to make a full-length album, simply titled Introvert / Extrovert. While not an official studio album, it can be seen as that given that there's 13 new tracks. The new releases mark the band's first with new members Cale Gontier (Adam Gontier's cousin) on bass and Cody Watkins on drums, both members of Art Of Dying. There's no questioning that Adam Gontier has one of the most identifiable voices in modern rock, and Three Days Grace are becoming a new generation's classic rock (damn, do I feel old). I find it completely ridiculous, yet hilarious at the same time, that there are still many people that haven’t gotten over Adam not being in Three Days Grace anymore. Move on, people. It's been 10 years now.
Getting into the album, if you've been a fan of any of the members' current or past bands, everything found in Saint Asonia is sure to hit you in the sweet spot. While there's nothing groundbreaking, songs like "Above It All", "Break The Mold", "Wolf" and even their cover of The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" are standout moments in particular. I always love it when a rock/metal band takes a pop song and puts a heavier/rockier spin on it, and it just ends up working like a charm. It's also been pretty well documented that Adam suffered with substance abuse problems during the early years of Three Days Grace, even up until a few years ago, and he has always written about his struggles in songs like "Never Too Late", "Animal I Have Become", "Break", "This August Day"
If you were to ask me which side contains the better collection of songs, I'd say they both have their strengths, but in terms of consistency of songs, the Extrovert side contains the slightly stronger bunch. I also found it rather cool that the band decided to put both EPs together and make it feel like a legit studio album, because it's no surprise that rock fans still like full albums.
The surprising part came just recently when the band decided to put the two EPs together to make a full-length album, simply titled Introvert / Extrovert. While not an official studio album, it can be seen as that given that there's 13 new tracks. The new releases mark the band's first with new members Cale Gontier (Adam Gontier's cousin) on bass and Cody Watkins on drums, both members of Art Of Dying. There's no questioning that Adam Gontier has one of the most identifiable voices in modern rock, and Three Days Grace are becoming a new generation's classic rock (damn, do I feel old). I find it completely ridiculous, yet hilarious at the same time, that there are still many people that haven’t gotten over Adam not being in Three Days Grace anymore. Move on, people. It's been 10 years now.
Getting into the album, if you've been a fan of any of the members' current or past bands, everything found in Saint Asonia is sure to hit you in the sweet spot. While there's nothing groundbreaking, songs like "Above It All", "Break The Mold", "Wolf" and even their cover of The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" are standout moments in particular. I always love it when a rock/metal band takes a pop song and puts a heavier/rockier spin on it, and it just ends up working like a charm. It's also been pretty well documented that Adam suffered with substance abuse problems during the early years of Three Days Grace, even up until a few years ago, and he has always written about his struggles in songs like "Never Too Late", "Animal I Have Become", "Break", "This August Day"
If you were to ask me which side contains the better collection of songs, I'd say they both have their strengths, but in terms of consistency of songs, the Extrovert side contains the slightly stronger bunch. I also found it rather cool that the band decided to put both EPs together and make it feel like a legit studio album, because it's no surprise that rock fans still like full albums.
FINAL RATING
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