If a new album from “those guys who did that sick cover of “Smooth Criminal”” was not on your 2024 bingo card, it should have been. Southern California alternative rockers Alien Ant Farm have been out of the spotlight for over a decade, with their last studio album Always and Forever coming out in 2015 (it’s not currently available on streaming services). Their major label debut, ANThology, gave them wide-spread attention thanks to their Michael Jackson cover, as well as other solid modern rock hits like “Movies” and “Attitude”, yet like too many artists from the early 2000s, major label politics and drama hurt the release of their next albums TruANT and Up in the Attic, despite those albums having some solid tracks (check out “Glow” and “Forgive and Forget” if you haven’t).
So now the band is back with ~mAntras~, and if you’re like me and have a love for well-written, memorable radio rock, then this album will definitely please you. Listening to the songs on here, I was transported back to college, and the wide world of alternative rock I started to discover. AAF sounds as youthful and hungry as they did back then, throwing a few new tricks into the mix while never straying from the sound that made them huge.
Opener “The Wrong Things” has that big, epic sound that also simmers with frontman Dryden Mitchell’s familiar emotional intensity. Following this is, in my opinion, the album’s best track “Last dAntz” (if you can forgive the first of many “ant” puns). The group blends in some 80’s spice to their burning alternative rock while digging into emotional baggage (“I used to confuse my joy and pain”). The propulsive chorus hooks you right from the start; “I don’t want to dance with the dead alone, and be just another ghost on the radio.” It’s mildly haunting, and could end up a future Halloween playlist add.
There’s plenty more greatness across the album; “No. 1 _chAnt_” has a bouncy crunch as Mitchell delivers some self-empowerment (“Last year, my world was burning, falling apart. I made a plan to clean it up, make a brand new start”) without getting overly cheesy. The semi-acoustic “Storms Over” carries muscle while staying mid-tempo, with a staccato vocal delivery that separates it from the pack, and on “What Am I Doing”, the band makes a play for a future Cali Fest spot, venturing into reggae/roots rock with a surfy guitar line and memorable grooves.
While Mitchell is not always the most poetic lyricist, he certainly is pushing himself here, showing off some clever writing on “Prosperous Futures” (“like bees in the hive, it stings every time”), reflecting on a break-up as the band taps into prog and psychedelic influences. And while there are certain tracks that feel stuck in less-inspired nu-metal templates (“Fade” and “So Cold”), for the most part Alien Ant Farm sounds revitalized across ~mAntras~.
The album is out this Friday, April 26th, on Megaforce Records. Listen to the pre-released tracks here!
The Indy Review 
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