Alien Ant Farm - 'TruANT' (Dreamworks)
2/5
By: Matt Tomiak
There are plenty of reasons why lots of people don't like Alien Ant Farm. That name, for one. The fact that they shot to fame on the back of a novelty cover-version of Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal' for another. And that this burly unphotogenic, SoCal quartet were also responsible for making testosterone-fuelled nu-metal at its most primitive; unpleasant grunting and oafish, discordant guitars.
Yet - as anyone who was crushed into the Radio One tent at Reading this year for AAF's superbly-attended performance will attest - this band aren't lacking in supporters. Naturally, 'TruANT' is not a subtle album, neither in terms of its musical nor its lyrical content. But therein, one assumes, lays the appeal: everyman rockers Alien Ant Farm have no pretensions, no delusions of grandeur, no claims of being anything more than a bunch of rock-chancers who struck lucky.
Even after forty minutes of the teeming, turgid trappings, the melodic, jaunty 'Glow' proves that - in between the perfunctory meat 'n' potatoes - the US quartet are truly capable of writing decent tunes, while the sweeping 'Hope' provides additional, respectable respite.
Artists in this article: Alien Ant Farm
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