One-X

''One-X'' is the second studio album by Canadian rock band Three Days Grace. It was produced by Howard Benson and is the band's first album recorded as a four-piece band, as Barry Stock joined the group and took over lead guitar from lead singer Adam Gontier. It is their first and only album under Sony BMG, the successor to Sony Music Entertainment's original roots and Bertelsmann Music Group. The Sony BMG joint venture was dropped in 2008, which led to Bertelsmann's Sony BMG stake going back to Sony.

''One-X'' was released on June 13, 2006. The album was both a critical and financial success, being certified silver in the United Kingdom and triple-platinum in both the U.S. and Canada.

Pre-release and writing

Before ''One-X'' was released, the band previewed some numbers from the upcoming album on several occasions. They played four of the new songs, including "Animal I Have Become" and "Never Too Late", at the H.O.P.E. Volleyball SummerFest in Ottawa, July 2005. The band began recording the album in the winter of 2005. "Animal I Have Become" was released as a single and received substantial airplay before it was released with ''One-X''.

Previews for four of the tracks on ''One-X'' were able to be found on Three Days Grace's Online Trading Cards. Tracks that could be previewed were "It's All Over", "Pain", "Never Too Late" and "Over and Over".

Adam Gontier wrote many of these songs during rehabilitation after being addicted to OxyContin (oxycodone), a pain killer. "Usually we all sit as a group, hanging out, working together, but here I was just alone, writing about how I felt," as Adam Gontier said in his docu-drama about his experience, ''Behind The Pain''. Gontier has also said that the album was a lot more personal to him than their previous record. Guitarist Barry Stock said that ''One-X'' is about, "feeling like a target, like you're standing alone in a crowd of people."

The album cover depicts a string of connected paper dolls with checkmarks on all with the exception of one which is crossed out, thus ''One X''. On the inside, the CD tray shows all red fish, except one black fish. This same image is also on the " Animal I Have Become" single cover. The lyrics are included in the album booklet.

Promotion

To support the album, the group headlined a US tour called the "One-X Tour" that began in February 2008 with supporting acts from Breaking Benjamin and Seether. The band also co-headlined a North American fall tour with Breaking Benjamin in 2007. They supported Nickelback on the "All the Right Reasons Tour" in February 2007.

Sales

The album debuted at No. 2 on the Canadian Albums Chart selling just under 19,000 copies in its first week. The album also entered the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart at No. 5 with first week sales of more than 78,000 copies. The album has sold over 1.2 million copies in the US and 158,000 units in Canada.

Reception

''One-X'' was met with positive reviews. The ''Toronto Star'' complimented the album with a review title of "One CD worth buying..." and focused on its lyrics, saying, "The lyrics really speak out to you, especially if you're going through a tough time in your life." AllMusic reviewer Corey Apar praised the music, saying it "remains catchy despite its lyrical darkness". Kaj Roth at Melodic criticized the predictability of the album, stating "Three Days Grace has lost their soul, their debut was a lot better!" Roth, however, praised the songs "Animal I Have Become" and "Pain".

Accolades

In 2007, ''One-X'' earned the band an award for Rock Artist of the Year by ''Billboard'' magazine. The album also earned a Juno Award nomination in 2007 for "Album of the Year". They won a Media Base award for most played rock song on radio in Canada for their single " Animal I Have Become". ''One-X'' has been certified triple platinum in both Canada and in the US, respectively. All four of the album's singles as of February 2018 have gone platinum with "Animal I Have Become" and " Never Too Late" being multi-platinum. In addition, "Time of Dying", was certified gold in the same month.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Personnel

Three Days Grace
* Adam Gontier – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
* Neil Sanderson – drums, backing vocals
* Brad Walst – bass guitar, backing vocals
* Barry Stock – lead guitar

Additional musicians
* Ned Brower – background vocals on "Animal I Have Become" and "One-X"
* Taylor Locke – background vocals on "One-X"
* Deborah Lurie – string arrangements on "Over and Over" (recorded at Fire House Studios, Brooklyn, New York, New York)
* Casey Stone – string engineering

Production
* Howard Benson – producer, keyboards and programming
* Mike Plotnikoff – recording
* Hatsukazu Inagaki – assistant engineer
* Paul DeCarli – Pro Tools editing, additional programming, programming on "Time of Dying"
* Chris Lord-Alge – mixing at Resonate Music, Burbank, CA
* Gersh (Drum Fetish) – drum technician
* Marc VanGool – guitar tech
* Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York, NY

Artwork
* Brian Kushner – editor for the enhanced portion
* Purple Can Post – facility
* Three Days Grace – art direction and design
* Warless Rabit – art direction and design
* Jackie Murphy – art direction and design
* Jeff Gilligan – art direction and design
* Dean Karr – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

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2006 albums
Albums produced by Howard Benson
Jive Records albums
Three Days Grace albums