When we last left matchbox twenty, they had simultaneously released a decent follow-up to their 1996 debut and had somewhat run away from the guitar-driven sound that gave them their earliest hits (…like "Push." And "Long Day." Not necessarily "3AM," though). And since then, things have been good for lead singer/songwriter Rob Thomas. He had a major hit with the help of Santana, some collaborations with the likes Willie Nelson and Mick Jagger, more songwriting on Santana's followup to Supernatural, and managed to keep himself in the fringe of the spotlight while the band took a break.

And they returned, not only to the studio, but to a similar sound to that of their first album. There's still big-time production going on, but none of it is nearly as horn/synth heavy as, say, "Black and White People." I have no clue who clued Rob in that he has guitarists, but hey, it works for me. Starting from the metallic, guitar-heavy intro to feel, through the semi-funk of the bonus track "So Sad, So Lonely," more weight is put on the shoulders of guitarists Kyle Cook and Adam Gaynor.

There isn't a single stinker on the album, either. The boys of MBT manage to pull out a few classics, namely, the lead single "Disease," "Unwell," and "Could I Be You." Probably thanks to Thomas's various collaborations, the album manages to be as uniform as Yourself or Someone Like You, yet, at the same time, as diverse as Mad Season. It's not hard to tell, either, from these three songs. "Disease" has a disco-funk-thang going on. "Unwell" is more countri-fied. "Could I Be You" is a sweet, pain-tinged ballad.

However, the best song here is the closing "The Difference." It has a general feel along the same lines of "Mad Season" (the song), but happens to be more gently romantic than almost anything Thomas has written before. I'm not good with words (which is why doing a website such as this is REALLY weird for me), but that is the best description I can give it.

The only flaws with this CD are minor ones. While I will stand by what I said before - there are no stinkers on this album, and this album is fairly diverse - some of the songs just do not stand out above the rest. Examples include the opener, "Feel" and "Cold." That is to say, they are distinguishable from the rest of the album, but they are mediocre songs.

But that is a minor gripe. Thus far, matchbox twenty have established a fairly consistent discography, despite their chart-topping success spiraling downward. Then again, I doubt anyone in the band really expects them to reach the Diamond-Status-Plus level of sales that their debut reached for. While their sales may not ever peak as they did in that time period, one thing is for sure: matchbox twenty have far surpassed anything they artistically could have even conceived at the time of their greatest sales. (how's THAT for semi-complicated phrasing?)