Our Bande Apart

These guys have been my favorite band since their initial self titled album. I have seen them many times my last just before the pandemic on the Screamer tour. My daughter and I bonded over this band loved the music and the lyrics went to a bunch of shows some a couple of states away. we would text lyrics waiting for the other one of us to reply with the next line. Eventually she sort of lost interest but her younger brother jumped on board the 3EB train and we went to one show but both of us had all the music of their second half. The so sad part is I think we would be unanimous the 3 of us saying this album is by far their worst. I don't think there is even one song I am motivated to buy. They are lifeless. No beat, nothing catchy no decent electric guitar. Just sad. Stephens lyrics were always so clever but due to the aforementioned issues II can’t even get excited about them. I can only hope they return to their previous higher standards. Its just always awhile before that next cd/streaming appears.

To start off, I used to their #1 fan the better part of 25 years. Yes, that guy. I’ve memorized each song off their first few albums and seen them 6 times in concert. But this album is so bad it’s almost good. Stephen is obviously bored out of his mind by now. This album is a direct result of firing Kevin and Tony and arion, and hiring middle schoolers who can’t play and writing and producing music while you’re drunk. There is zero effort out into this album. It’s weird to say that your number 1 band is now one that you can’t stand to listen to. They’ve been to Dallas several times and I could never bring myself to attend since there are other things I can do for free just to piss myself off and feel resentful about. Can you imagine going to a show where this was the only album played???? This album is so bland that I doubt anyone could even memorize a lyric or a line or a beat unlike each song of their other albums. If you’re leaving 5 stars, go listen to Blue, then reassess your opinion of this album.

It’s not good. Feels like SJ writes 3 chord acoustic demos and then hands them off to his band to try make something out of his crappy songs.

Love me some 3eb, but this LP would have been better off dropping a few songs and just being a bridge gap EP. The grunge, punk, funk edge is gone and more of a indie rock feel replaces it. Argument can be made this is where they have been trending since Dopamine, but the album is truly just whatever. I listened to it through on release day and didn’t listen to it again for another 3 weeks. I listened to Screamer twice through same afternoon I got it and haven’t stopped listening to Dopamine. Let’s see what the next album brings. Maybe more collaboration between the band members and less of solely Stephen, which is what feels like happened during the pandemic. This better not be the last album though. Can’t end on this note.

Clearly, he needs Kevin back in the band. Love 3EB, but this should of been an epic return.

This is the best 3EB has sounded in a long time. Silverlake Neophyte sounds like it came right off of self titled album or Blue.

3EB continues to put out great music!

I’ve been a huge 3eb fan since the self-titled album in ‘97, and since then I hardly recognize them. Before I get accused of being a hater, I’ve given every album a chance and purchased them all before even sampling all the songs. While each post-Kevin and post-Tony release have had some good material, this is such a departure from what most 3eb fans recognize as “Third Eye Blind”. The post-grunge era rock band is essentially gone. Someone said this could be “the Stephan Jenkins Project” and I don’t disagree. Whoever said the first two songs are “classic Third Eye Blind” has probably only listened to “Screamer” because that’s the only albums that shares any similarities to this. Kryz is a great guitarist who is showcased virtually none here - Brad is a fantastic drummer who, again, hardly is present and when he is, it’s highly over-produced, no raw drums like the original fans are used to. Bands go through changes, and on Dopamine I gave them a lot of credit for kind of modernizing their sound to what was more mainstream now, but this doesn’t even do that. They’ve unfortunately gone too political with some of their lyrics for me to enjoy (certainly their right to do so but like I said, I don’t enjoy it as much) which isn’t so much a criticism as just a statement of fact. Stephan’s vocal range has diminished significantly as he’s gotten older, but he’s always had such an awesome low register - instead of highlighting it, they have had lots of backup vocals in unison with the higher parts and auto-tuned the others to a point where it’s too obvious. Self-Titled, Blue, Out of the Vein, and Ursa Major are some really great albums start to finish, and Screamer has a few catchy tracks, but this has just not kept up. It’s more of an exposure of the steady decline of the quality, thoughtful, rock band they used to be. Oddly enough, the pieces are still there to do it. Each individual has the talent to make the band still great and relevant, but the sum of the parts, as of now, seem to be greater than the whole. I’ll continue to give them a chance, but in my opinion they need to move back towards the Dopamine sound (with the current lineup) if I’m going to want to listen to new music. They’ll forever be my favorite band, so I guess I just expect more.

Overall, it's a decent effort. For these ears, Box of Bones, Again, Dust Storm and Funeral Singers are the strongest tracks. I wonder how much stronger this latest release could have been if they had some of the early-original musicians writing and playing on it.

When Jenkins, in a fit of unbelievablly destructive ego-mania, fired Kevin Cadogan, the band lost the ability to write powerful, evocative, and catchy songs. Jenkins is a good writer, but without the balance Cardogan brought, the essense of the band evaporated, leaving the current band soundling like a TEB homage band.