Life Starts Now


Life Starts Now is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. The album was released on September 22, 2009. The album was produced by Howard Benson. This is the second time in a row the band has worked with him, after the commercially successful One-X. Life Starts Now expresses a lighter lyrical mood compared to the band's previous album. It is the first Three Days Grace album to be released under Sony Music Entertainment and the last to be released through Jive Records, as Sony disbanded the label in 2011.

Background and production

After being on the road for five years with Three Days Grace, bassist Brad Walst stated, "We all came home and got a hard dose of life", which the band then used to create a more "musically in-depth and personal album". He describes Life Starts Now as a record about "confronting life and how fragile it can be".
Pre-production for Life Starts Now began in January 2009 while the band began recording the music at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver that March. The album was completed in August of the same year. After finalizing all aspects of the album, they officially announced that the album would be released on September 22, 2009.

Sales

The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, selling 79,000 copies in the US in its first week, thus becoming the band's highest-charting album to date. The album also debuted on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart at number two, along with "Break" which peaked at number one on the Billboard Rock Songs chart and "The Good Life" at number 52 on the Canadian Hot 100 and number one on Billboard Rock Songs chart. With the exception of "Lost in You", all of the band's singles from the album topped the Billboard rock song charts.

Reception

Upon its release Life Starts Now received mixed reviews from most music critics. Allmusic reviewer James Christopher Monger, who gave the album three out of five stars, said "Life Starts Now continues the theme of One-X, Gontier's personal demons, but with a hint of sunlight." He compliments the album, saying it "treats the well-worn metal themes of anger, isolation, heartache, and redemption with the kind of begrudging respect they deserve, pumping out a competent flurry of fist-bump anthems and world-weary, mid-tempo rockers." Sputnikmusic gave the album a mixed review calling the album "rehash number two".
The album's release was also met with some negative reviews. A negative review came from About.com reviewer Tim Grierson, who said, "The problem isn't that Life Starts Now doesn't have good songs—the problem is that there aren't enough of them and that even the strongest moments feel overly familiar. Frontman Adam Gontier continues to expose his tortured soul, but without consistently gripping tunes to back up his anguish, Three Days Grace seem stuck in their misery rather than transcending it."

Accolades

The album has been nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2010 Juno awards. The album has been officially certified Platinum in Canada. It was also certified Gold in the US on March 1, 2011, and Platinum on February 12, 2018.

Track listing

Personnel

;Three Days Grace
;Artwork
;Additional musicians
;Production
;Management
Chart Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 2003
U.S. Billboard Top Rock Albums2
U.S. Billboard Top Alternative Albums2
U.S. Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums2
Australian Albums Chart77

Certifications

Year-end charts