Originally published by L.S. Media. February 6th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating *****
It’s been a long time coming and you pretty much know what you are going to get, but if you’re a fan of Van Halen it won’t stop you buying and revelling in the new album A Different Kind of Truth.
A Different Kind of Truth is the band’s 12th studio album and the first since Van Halen III in 1998. There has been 14 years in between the two albums and the bad blood of creative differences that drove the band apart after the success of the phenomenal 1984 seems to be finally consigned to the history bins. The rift between Diamond Dave Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen repaired and replaced by a mutual trust and understanding in what made Van Halen one of the major American acts of the late 70’s and early 80’s.
The band has had two other frontmen since the heady days of touring in 1984, when they did 103 nights. However, in reality and no matter how good in parts Sammy Hagar was, there can only really be one man at the front, one man who can put the testosterone into a band that feeds off pure rock and roll. A Californian hard-core lifestyle wrapped up in a guitar sound that sounds terrifyingly exquisite and yet like Prometheus’ fire, stolen from the gods and given as a gift to one man.
With this blend of Roth attitude and Van Halen brilliant guitar indulgence comes the basis of this album. It might not have kick of 1984. It’s doubtful that the band could produce anything as iconic and so right for the times ever again. After all, to beat a legend is rare but in this new offering they come close. Very close. The voice of Dave Lee Roth seems different, more at home with the older man’s view on a world that still holds him in high regard but on each song delivered by the two Van Halen siblings, Lee Roth gives a vocal command that in all honesty would be rude to ignore and in some countries around the world can see you banished into exile.
It’s never impossible to find something wrong with anything if you look hard enough but even if you listen to this album 100 times I dare you to do just that. With songs delivered with one eye on rebooting the group’s history between 1984 and now, it’s no wonder that Tattoo, China Town and the magnificent Bullethead have the feel of a perfect antidote to the slight lacklustre and downbeat appeal of the albums in between.
There is one line delivered during the album that sums up this band and how grateful fans will be to witness the coming together of two musical creative forces once more. In typical bright and knowing smile David Lee Roth sings in an aside that wouldn’t have been out of place in the best Shakespeare plays…”I told you I’d be back”. When you’re right, you’re right!
Ian D. Hall