I will say my expectations for this album were very low and they surpassed them, so at least Van Halen succeeded on that front. A lot of Van Halen's peers from that era have made far worse reunion albums than A Different Kind of Truth. Thankfully, there is only a couple tracks that are god awful ( The Hagar-era sounding"Tattoo" and the bluesy disaster "Stay Frosty"). That being said, there just isn't anything remotely special about it. It just seems like they were on auto pilot throughout the album. There is really no redeeming qualities to most of this album. The songs just lack the punch that old, Roth-era Van Halen had. There is a lack of great hooks, riffs, and just overall catchiness. David Lee Roth doesn't really do a bad job (especially considering his age), but let's just say he's seen better days. It's kind of a shame considering the glory days of Van Helm were when Lee Roth was the frontman. It's awesome that he's back, but I just wish this was more of a landmark record to celebrate his comeback. Even Eddie Van Halen can't make this album memorable. Sure Eddie Van Halen is still arguably the best guitar player of all time, but his solos are (for the most part) surprisingly pretty bland here. I will say at least his guitar playing is back where it belongs instead of on the insultingly bad material that was produced when Sammy Hagar was in the band.
A Different Kind of Truth did indeed surpass my expectations, but that doesn't excuse it's mediocrity. This is an album that just doesn't go anywhere for 90% of it's duration. It's mostly inoffensive yet very so-so hard rock. It's good to see David Lee Roth back and Van Halen going back to their roots, I just wish that they had made a better comeback album than A Different Kind of Truth.
2.5/5 Stars
Standout Track
1.China Town (the only track on the album that is actually good!)
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