Album: ANThology

Artist: Alien Ant Farm

Release Year: 2001

Label: Dreamworks

Alien Ant Farm is: Dryden Mitchell (vocals, guitar), Terence Corso (guitar), Tye Zamora (bass, vocals, keyboards, guitar), Mike Cosgrove (drums)

Additional Personnel: Lenny Castro (percussion), Gavin Hayes (slide guitar), Yanick Vincent (flute), Jon Zamora (vocals)

Tracklist:

1.  Courage (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

2.  Movies (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

3.  Flesh and Bone (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

4.  Whisper (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

5.  Summer (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

6.  Sticks and Stones (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

7.  Attitude (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

8.  Stranded (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

9.  Wish (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

10.  Calico (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

11.  Death Day (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

12.  Smooth Criminal (M. Jackson)

13.  Universe (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

HT.  Orange Appeal (D. Mitchell, T. Corso, T. Zamora, M. Cosgrove)

Lyrics:

The downfall of Alien Ant Farm is their ability to write lyrics.  The fact is, they're just not very good at it.  Some songs are alright ("Sticks and Stones", for example, is an example of a fine set of lyrics).  Other tracks, however, such as "Movies", are not as good.  One line in that song is "In our short years, we come long way".  It's like they had to leave out syllables and words in order to make the song flow, and that's generally not a good thing.

Music:

Every member of Alien Ant Farm is serviceable or better at their respective instruments. Mitchell has a decent voice, and Zamora is better than your average bassist.  Cosgrove gets the job done on the drums, and Corso's guitar playing abilities are nothing lower than average.  The flute on the hidden track, "Orange Appeal", is a very nice touch to the feel of the song.

Highlights:

Alien Ant Farm's big hit from this album was a cover of a Michael Jackson song, "Smooth Criminal".  I was also particularly fond of "Death Day".  Dryden's vocals really shine in that song, and the guitar work is not shabby at all.  Finally, I enjoyed "Attitude".  I'm not quite sure what it was that made the track stand out, but it definitely did.  It was a good song.

Overall:

If it weren't for the general crappiness of their lyrics on this album, Alien Ant Farm could be a very good band.  Perhaps they could do a bit more to show off Corso as a guitarist, sticking a few solos into their songs.  I'm not really sure I could recommend this album to anyone, as the lyrics and sometimes odd style of playing could put many people off.  This album's a real tossup, but the lyrics hurt a tremendous amount.