Success came quickly to this Canadian quartet, which sold more than a million copies of their debut album and dominated rock radio airwaves for the better part of two years. To hear them tell it on this follow-up, that's both the good and bad news. Much of One-X is given over to self-examination -- even self-flagellation -- about life in the spotlight, with frontman Adam Gontier pouring plenty of angst into songs like the surprisingly raw-edged music-biz kiss-off "Animal I Have Become," which pits the singer's growl against insistently bulldozing riffs. While the band tone down the aggression a bit on "Pain," which is cleaved by choruses that all but demand listener sing-alongs, Gontier sticks with his writing-as-therapy motif, waxing alternately desperate and repentant as he sifts through the detritus of some pretty nasty mornings after. Fortunately -- for both the album's tone and the overall psychic state of the band -- there's some acknowledgement of a light at the end of the tunnel. "Never Too Late," which opens with guitarist Barry Stock gently strumming out a moody filigree, has an airiness about it that dovetails nicely with Gontier's understated delivery of a lyric that addresses attempts to gain solid footing on terra firma. That's echoed on the album-closing title track, on which Gontier belies the world-weary sound of his voice by vowing to step forward with conviction -- an ending that, while not exactly Hollywood perfect, is thoroughly satisfying.
![Title: Greatest Hits [Jive]](https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0012414127129_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg)
![Title: Greatest Hits [Ltd. Ed Bonus CD]](https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0724381131626_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg)
