Author: Jernej Vene
Artist: Van Halen
Label: Interscope Records
Released: 2012
Length: 49:58
Rating: 4.2/5
A Different Kind Of Truth is the twelfth release from the hugely popular California heavy metal quartet Van Halen. They’ve come a long way since their debut back in 1978. Today the band is made up of three original members: the Van Halen brothers, guitarist Eddie and drummer Alex, plus singer David Lee Roth, with Eddie’s son Wolfgang on bass. On a first, casual spin of A Different Kind Of Truth, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d heard most of this stuff on their earlier albums. But then, snap judgments are usually not the smartest move. The answer is that a songwriter feels most at home where writing comes easiest, where the best inspiration strikes. And where his muse lives, Eddie surely knows well…
The odyssey that led to this new record was a long one. For the stats nerds: A Different Kind Of Truth is the first album in 28 years with original singer David Lee Roth, and the first with new music in almost 14 years. I’m not counting the 2004 greatest-hits collection Best of Both Worlds, where Sammy Hagar recorded three new tracks. Eddie Van Halen is known as an outstanding guitarist, a musician who cares more about interpretation than about the notes. Along with his incredible ear and memory, that’s exactly what sets him apart from most of the famous masters of the six strings. After all the drama and bitter stories about the lineup, Van Halen are back in front of us. The circumstances under which Sammy Hagar and especially bassist Michael Anthony, who had been in the band from the start, left the group are, of course, more or less kept under wraps. Both found happiness in the supergroup Chickenfoot, where Joe Satriani and Chad Smith back them up. By their own account, they feel fantastic there. What else would they say. It’s an interesting fact that the Van Halen web shop also carries Chickenfoot merchandise. So either they’re all friends, or they’re friends of money. Michael Anthony was replaced by Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen. The father said they’d release the record and go on tour once his son had finished his final exams. That happened, and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The kid is a competent musician who masters several instruments, and growing up next to a guitar giant probably can’t produce anything bad. Except for addiction, one kind or another. Eddie has been through a few of those in the past, and beaten quite a number of them. The fact is that Van Halen are a real money machine. Thanks to the exceptional business nose of their agent, music industry giant Irving Azoff, who was marketing them soon after their first successes, the Van Halen comeback ranks among this year’s most successful tours. As modern media allows, we’ve been able to give the shows from the New York club Cafe Wha?, once owned by Manny Roth, David’s uncle, a thorough check. The impression is very good.
Thirteen tracks for a new release after all these years is just enough to make all the expectant listeners stop drooling and dive into the sonic experience of A Different Kind Of Truth. Eddie once said that during the years of recording silence he laid down a pile of demo ideas that are still waiting to see the light of day. Van Halen obviously plan to ease off the throttle and release new albums in small drops. Fair enough. It’ll happen when it happens, as the wise ones say. Almost half of the songs, or rather their ideas, come from notebooks of ideas dating back to the start of their career. Lyricist Roth is an unmatched, seductive representative of true rock, and vocally he manages to pull off every idea, all of them pitched suitably for his age. All three of the older Van Halen members are closing in on sixty, yet the instrumental performance is tight and punchy. The front is open, and A Different Kind Of Truth will surely be among the most dazzling comebacks of the year. It’s surely hard to get past the feuds that led to the original split with Roth, but people get more mature with the years, helped along by the rustle of banknotes. Van Halen made the record in the old style, but with a modern sound. All the songs for the new album were recorded close to home and finished off in Eddie’s studio. Van Halen have recorded some calmer songs over their career, but on A Different Kind Of Truth, apart from three more radio-oriented tracks and two built on the blues, it’s the bombastic, fast-paced stuff that reigns.
The members of Van Halen got help on production from the renowned John Shanks, known for his work with Fleetwood Mac, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Anastacia and others. Many were skeptical that this might soften their sound. The worry was unfounded, as Shanks let the musicians off the leash. The American tour is staked out through the end of June, and although there were rumors that they might come to Europe too, we’ll have to wait and see. All the standard elements of the Van Halen sonic legacy are of course woven into A Different Kind Of Truth. Eddie Van Halen builds on his technical brilliance and serves up everything you know him for, from the tapping technique and bluesy solos to abusing the vibrato and raging all over the strings. Young Wolfgang is solid, and together with his uncle he makes up a mighty locomotive for the band. Throughout the entire career Michael Anthony handled the high backing vocals, which are present in a new form on A Different Kind Of Truth too. This closeness to the sound of the first records is a delight for every fan who values the Roth era most. A welcome refresh of their catalog, it will surely show over time that the band is still capable of making an uncompromising, lucid and meaningful album.
Lineup
David Lee Roth – lead vocals
Eddie Van Halen – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Alex Van Halen – drums
Wolfgang Van Halen – bass guitar, backing vocals
Production
Van Halen, John Shanks
Tracklist
- Tattoo
- She’s The Woman
- You and Your Blues
- China Town
- Blood and Fire
- Bullethead
- As Is
- Honeybabysweetiedoll
- The Trouble With Never
- Outta Space
- Stay Frosty
- Big River
- Beats Workin’
