Favourite Song

When I was introduced to this assignment, I knew right away which song I had to review and talk about;  Never Too Late-Three Days Grace.  Three Days Grace is from Norwood, Ontario.  Their self-titled debut album, released singles "I Hate Everything About You", "Just Like You", and "Home".  This album hit platinum status. Next the band released the album "One-X" with singles such as "Animal I Have Become", "Pain", "Never Too Late", and "Riot".  The latest album, "Life Starts Now" is a lighter side to the bands artistic abilities.  The band decided to move away from the sad, and angry songs included in the past two albums, and decided to move to a more positive message.  This is not to say that they left out their incredible rock abilities, but the songs had a different message than in the past.  The even decided to throw in a love song which consists of a piano, played by drummer Neil Sanderson.  This song is called "Lost In You".  This album has three singles so far.  "Break" is the first single for the album and was the song that really opened the listeners to this album.  Next released was "The Good Life".  Both of these songs are a fast pased rock song which are loved by many.  The last single is a slower rock song with a less positive message but not as depressing as the previous albums.  This song is called "World So Cold".  The song is basically about the feeling of loneliness when a person you care for leaves you.
 Singer, Adam Gontier checked himself into rehab because of his prolonged addiction to OxyCondin.  Many of the songs on "One-X" were written by Gontier while in rehab.  "Never Too Late" was originally created because a friend of Adam Gontier (lead singer), was very depressed and suicidal.  In Adam's words, "This song is about, feeling like you want to give up on everything, feeling like you don't really belong here anymore, feeling like you want to, sort of end everything, but really this song is about not giving up at all." -Adam Gontier
The power behind the vocals and the strength of the distortion in his voice creates a mood on its own because of the feeling of unhappiness.  A lot of thought went into the creation of this song.  Setting aside the powerful vocals, there are many well thought out layers.  The songs begins with a soft acousitc guitar solo consisting of a four-time repeating riff.  I believe the slow acoustic sound is symbolic of how a mood disorder begins.  Nothing too alarming but there is a feeling of unhappiness.  Next, the song builds up, adding drums, adding a bass guitar, and replacing the acousitc guitar with a clean sounding electric.  The song slowly builds in volume until it reaches the chorus and reaches it's peak volume.  I think this building of volume is symbolic of a "snowball effect" where things in life start building up inside, making things worse as time goes on.  At the time of the chorus it reaches it's peak volume, adding distortion to the lead guitar.  At this point, the vocals become louder, not quite a scream, but is loud, accurate with tone and note quality, and is also symbolic of the peak of depression.  This is the stage where depression is at it's worst.  A time where a person will believe there is no reason for being. Next in the song is a rotation of bridge, chorus, and riffs, symbolizing the up and down feelings occurring during depression.  Finally, then end of the song comes, returning to the riff at the beginning of the song, but with only the acoustic guitar, excluding the vocals.  This symbolizes the end of depression.  The lifted spirit one obtains in the aftermath is shown in this part.  A calm feeling has returned to the song, and the listener knows the song is over.  The music video included with this post is the video for the song and is a great representation of symbolism and an alternative to the context of the song.  A great piece of work done by singer Adam Gontier, drummer Neil Sanderson, bassist Brad Walst, and lead guitarist Barry Stock. This song has gotten me through a long rough road, as well as many others who have listened to it.
It is more than worth the listen and view.  It was the first and only song on my iPod to hit 600 on my playcount!  Every album by Three Days Grace is worth purchasing so go ahead and find your copies and support the band!