his is one of the best, all-around, pop-based adult alternative rock discs I’ve heard all year. A pretty bold statement? Maybe, but Matchbox Twenty’s latest may very well signal this band’s true coming of age as they arrive at a decisive juncture in their 6-year career.


From humble Florida beginnings to being crowned the hot rock band of the moment with their supposed one-hit-wonder single “Push” (off the band’s multi-platinum 1996 debut, Yourself or Someone Like You), MatchBox Twenty has continually surprised and silenced even their staunchest critics.


When Rob Thomas co-penned the 2000 Grammy Award-winning song, “Smooth” with Carlos Santana, and propelled the band’s 2001 Mad Season disc to chart-topping heights on the power of “If You’re Gone”, everyone from Rolling Stone to Billboard were forced to eat their words. Now, with the release of this new, eye-opening recording, MatchBox Twenty convincingly show themselves to be a band who are a lot more than you thought they were.


From the onset, this disc excels on a new level. For the first time, all members contribute songwriting duties and give More Than You Think You Are a full-bodied, rhythmically expansive groove. From the hard rocking opener, “Feel” all the way through to the searing power of “Cold”, this band rocks with hot, burning passion. “Feel” stomps out of the box with palpable sensuality every bit as powerful as Foreigner’s “Hot Blooded” single. In fact, MatchBox Twenty plays homage to that arena-rock band in many ways throughout this recording. The beseeching “Soul”, the swelling sentiment of “Bright Lights” and the touching brilliance of “Hand Me Down” all echo the plaintive pop balladry that made Foreigner such an endearing band, oozing with emotional and heartbreaking renderings. Rob Thomas does the crooning pop star thing just as competently as Mick Jones ever did.


In other places, the careful production of the always-reliable Matt Serletic allows the band to successfully explore aspects of gospel (“Downfall”), country-rock (“All I Need”), and traditional guitar-swagger rock (on the Mick Jagger-assisted “Disease”). Most notable for me is the sure-fire single “Unwell” wherein Rob Thomas’s distinctive, oft-phonetically-challenged singing style becomes the most lucid it has ever been. Depicting himself as a loser in love, this track is lyrically sound and also fun in its honest revelation (I’m not crazy/I’m just a little impaired/I know/Right now, you don’t care). It’s catchy and displays a keen sense of song craft. It’s one of the many songs on this disc that you can’t stop singing long after it’s over.


More Than You Think You Are could have been better, that’s a given. But after this, MatchBox Twenty will not be so easily dismissed. They know what it is they do well, and on this one, they simply do it again.