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Van Halen "A Different Kind Of Truth" album

- Release date : February 2012 -

A Different Kind of Truth is the 12th studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released on February 7, 2012 through Interscope Records. Produced by both the band and John Shanks, it is Van Halen's first studio album since reuniting with lead vocalist David Lee Roth in 2006, and the first to feature bassist Wolfgang Van Halen. Prior to the album's release, the band had not issued a studio album in fourteen years.

Described as "a sort of collaboration with their past," a number of tracks that appear on A Different Kind of Truth are based upon demos and unused lyrics written by the band in the 1970s. Regarding these songs, Roth noted, "It's material that Eddie and I generated, literally, in 1975, 1976 and 1977." It is the band's longest album with David Lee Roth to date, clocking in at 49:58.

"A Different Kind Of Truth" album tracks and lyrics

"A Different Kind Of Truth" album reviews

Reinventing Van Halen proved to be a tricky task, so Eddie Van Halen proceeded to reunite the band…a move so obvious it should have come as no surprise that it was easier said than done. Sammy Hagar was brought in for a 2004 hits album and an accompanying tour, a project that collapsed in acrimony so noxious that founding bassist Michael Anthony left with the Red Rocker. Eddie brought in his son Wolfgang as Anthony's replacement and began a prolonged courtship of David Lee Roth that first led to a tour, and then to this, A Different Kind of Truth, the band's first album in 14 years and their first with Roth in twice that long. That's a long time, but the roots of A Different Kind of Truth stretch back even further, with several songs originating from demo tapes Van Halen made before their debut, and the rest consciously written in that style. No synths are to be found anywhere on the record, they've been swept aside along with Michael Anthony's bedrock eighth-note thump and Sammy Hagar's radio-ready pop polish, stripping Van Halen down to their core: a duel for attention between David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen. Where Sammy enabled Eddie's ambitions, Diamond Dave unleashes the guitarist's id, taunting him to play faster, harder, tougher, then fighting for space between unwieldy riffs. Certainly, there are hooks here, even some with pop propulsion, but the unexpected signature of A Different Kind of Truth is its heaviness, its 13 songs of loud, unrelenting rock. The only time it comes up for air is on "Stay Frosty," with its acoustic intro deliberately evoking memories of “Ice Cream Man.” Of course, the entirety of this comeback is designed to revive the spirit of the first five or six Van Halen records, and building the album upon those old demos turns out to be a savvy move, as they not only saved promising songs, but re-oriented the band, pushing them toward their essence. It’s akin to the Rolling Stones digging up unfinished songs and completing them for an expanded reissue of Some Girls but in reverse: instead of trying to fit into the past, Van Halen are using their history to revive their present and they succeed surprisingly well on A Different Kind of Truth.

*** by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide ***

It's the rare group that can jump right back into the saddle after eons apart — 27 years since David Lee Roth fronted them on record and 14 years since the Roth-less band produced a whole album of new material — and resume full gallop with such apparent ease and confidence

Must have been all that clean living in between because neither Red Bull nor cattle prods could have spurred this kind of exuberance.

The mainstream metallurgists sound neither rusty nor excessively welded to past glory. The classic elements are here —Eddie Van Halen's lightning-fast, screaming guitar runs, Roth's blustery vocals, Alex Van Halen's muscular drumbeats — and they're employed on sturdy, contemporary material.

There are no obvious hits here (sing-along hooks are scarce and the group misses the back-up vocals of bassist Michael Anthony, who is replaced by Eddie's son Wolfgang). But potent moments still abound, particularly Eddie's solos on China Town and Roth's in-your-face belting on Blood and Fire.

Nit-pickers will note more guitar distortion, as well as a sameness in the pacing, which is full-throttle throughout.

Still, this is the true kick in the butt that arena rock desperately needs.

*** By Jerry Shriver, USA Today ***

Despite the multi-platinum gluttony of the Sammy Hagar era, true Van Halen devotees have never been in any doubt about who they want to front their favourite band. Some 28 years after Jump and Hot for Teacher, David Lee Roth has squeezed back into his old spandex pants, his lascivious yelping at last reunited with legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen's nimble-fingered pyrotechnics (see page 12). In truth, this would have to be a dismal affair to fail to outstrip 1998's scorned Van Halen III, but once the DLR-related euphoria dies down, A Different Kind of Truth is a frequently thrilling return. These songs crackle, fizz and bulge with priapic exuberance, and not just due to the reliably demented Roth. Seemingly inspired by the presence of his 20-year-old son Wolfgang on bass, Van Halen is on extraordinary form, whether churning out sumptuous grooves on Tattoo and Big River, or gleefully setting his fretboard alight on China Town and the bug-eyed Bullethead. Against the odds, the party metal kings are back and blazing. Fun times.

*** by Dom Lawson, The Guardian UK ***

We've earned this, right? When David Lee Roth and Van Halen went down their own separate mean streets in the Eighties, who paid the price? We did. Van Halen fans everywhere have suffered through the years, waiting for this reunion. We don't need it to be Fair Warning or Van Halen II. We don't even need it to be Diver Down. We just deserve a break.

Well, as the man used to say: one break, coming up. Van Halen's "heard you missed us, we're back" album is not only the most long-awaited reunion joint in the history of reunion joints, it is – against all reasonable expectations – a real Van Halen album. It's sonically closer to 1984 than to 5150, but it's closer to 1980's Women and Children First than to either – no synth glop, no ballads. Eddie always liked to compare the band's sound to "Godzilla waking up," but this is the real deal. And the old lizard sounds hungry to chomp some power lines.

A Different Kind of Truth is the first Van Halen album since the Nineties dregs of Balance and Van Halen III, which were just humiliating Styx rips. But Eddie has rediscovered his guitar and unplugged the synths, as if Roth's presence reminded Eddie who his band is named after. Since there's never been a single Van Halen fan in history who secretly wished Eddie would put down the guitar and play more keyboards, this is a coup. Especially because Eddie's solos have the fluency of his early Eighties playing – just listen to him stretch out on "Big River" and "Blood and Fire."

If the songs are based on 1970s demos, that was a wise move, because wherever these 13 tunes came from, there isn't a single Waldo on the bus. The tempos are atomic-punk fast, letting Alex Van Halen rock out on the drums for the first time since his flaming-gong days. Original bassist Michael Anthony is missed for his bottom end, and even more for his kicked-in-the-nads harmonies. But Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie's son, acquits himself superbly – he definitely doesn't flunk if anyone asks, "Have you seen Junior's grades?"

As for Diamond Dave, the gods only made one of him, because they couldn't take the competition. Now this is a rock star, except no other rock star would try to get away with this many cornball one-liners ("It's looking like the city towed my other apartment!"). He's lost a high note or two, but the "stone-cold sister soccer moms" he pursues in "Honeybabysweetiedoll" probably like him better this way.

Toward the end, Roth reaches down between his legs, eases the seat back and shifts into "Stay Frosty." It's not just the show-stopper – it's a four-minute anthology of everything that rules about Van Halen. It begins as an acoustic country-blues goof, then switches into metal bombast, as Eddie's fingers and Roth's lips take turns showing off. "Stay Frosty" ends with the trick Van Halen did better than any band ever: the crashing power-chord-and-drumroll finale, which goes on for 30 insane seconds. It's ridiculous. It's obnoxious. It's awesome. This moment alone sums up why the album needed to happen. We've earned it. And so have they.

*** by Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone ***