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Solid yet safe southern-twanged songwriting is what 3 Doors Down do best, and after nearly 15 years on the circuit, their fifth album Time Of My Life indicates that their radio-friendly, inoffensive rock sounds are here to stay.

Some tracks stand alone as potential hit singles in the making: the title number is a catchy Black Stone Cherry-style rock anthem; Race For The Sun is entirely southern, summery and upbeat; and the dreamy echoes of She Is Love remind us that the band are still capable of producing impressive ballads.

However, you can’t deny that when the album is played in its entirety, the similarities of the mid-tempo mopes make them mesh together. Furthermore, dry, generic and soppy ballads like Back To Me and What’s Left drag the album into dull territory.

Their decision to rely on such sounds is all the more aggravating when final track and album highlight Believer bursts with fast-paced punk undertones that both surprise and impress, proving that 3 Doors Down are perfectly capable of experimentation and need more confidence in leaving those bland ballads behind.

Hannah May Kilroy has been writing about music professionally for over a decade, covering everything from extreme metal to country. She was deputy editor at Prog magazine for over five years, and previously worked on the editorial teams at Terrorizer and Kerrang!. She currently works as the production editor for The Art Newspaper, and also writes for the Guardian, Classic Rock and Metal Hammer.