Us and the Night
studio
Artist3 Doors Down
CoverThreeDoorsDownUsandtheNightalbum.jpg
ReleasedMarch 11, 2016[1]
RecordedMay–July 2015
Studio
  • Rivergate (Nashville, Tennessee)[1]
  • Blackbird (Nashville, Tennessee)
Length
  • (standard edition)
  • (deluxe edition)
LabelRepublic
ProducerMatt Wallace[1]
Prev year2011

Us and the Night is the sixth studio album by the American rock band 3 Doors Down, released on March 11, 2016. It is 3 Doors Down's first studio album since Time of My Life (2011), marking the longest gap between two studio albums up to that point in their career. It is the band's first album with Chet Roberts on lead guitar and Justin Biltonen on bass. The album received mixed reviews from critics. Us and the Night debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200 chart and spawned three singles: "In the Dark", "Still Alive", and "The Broken". To promote the record, the band headlined tours across Europe and North America.

It was the last album released by the band before the death of lead singer Brad Arnold in 2026.

Background

On June 17, 2015, Chris Henderson announced that the new album would be titled Us and the Night.[2] The release date was announced on January 7, 2016.[1]

Promotion

On May 3, 2016, 3 Doors Down announced a 13-city European tour to support the album, starting on October 19 at Berlin's Columbiahalle and finishing on November 6 at London's Hammersmith Apollo. Pop Evil were a supporting act on all dates and Fallen State performed on the U.K. dates.[3][4] On May 16, the band announced a 24-city summer-fall U.S. tour, beginning on August 26 at Charleston's Municipal Auditorium and finishing on November 12 at Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort, with Pop Evil and Red Sun Rising as supporting acts.[5] On January 20, 2017, the band announced a Canadian leg of their tour, starting on March 9 at Moncton's Casino New Brunswick and ending on March 19 at Enoch's River Cree Resort & Casino.[6]

Reception

Critical reception

Us and the Night garnered mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 51, based on 4 reviews.[7]

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted how the album was "a brighter affair than Time of My Life", giving credit to the band for favoring "wide strokes over specificity" with their lyrical content and instrumentation, concluding that "[T]his contradiction means the band remains an uneasy good time, but at least on Us and the Night the reconstituted 3 Doors Down have decided to look on the sunny side of life."[8] Jessica Thomas from Renowned for Sound commented about the overall feel throughout the record's track listing: "While there’s nothing necessarily bad or unpleasant about its content or delivery, there just isn’t anything new or exciting either. Each track falls into the rut of being entirely too similar, and from the thematic material to production, there’s just too much familiarity to discern from one track to the next."[9] Consequence of Sound writer Adam Kivel also gave a critique on the band's lyricism throughout the album: "Arnold’s lyrics latch onto tired tropes and clichéd rhymes, rather than offering any sort of narrative or emotional specificity. None of the songs are terrible, but none of them make much of an impression."[10]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200,[11] number two on Top Rock Albums chart,[12] and number one on the Independent Albums chart, with 24,000 copies sold on its first week of release.[13]

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's booklet.[14]

3 Doors Down

  • Brad Arnold – vocals
  • Chet Roberts – lead guitar, backing vocals, additional editing and programming
  • Chris Henderson – guitar, backing vocals
  • Justin Biltonen – bass guitar
  • Greg Upchurch – drums

Technical

  • Matt Wallace – producer, engineer
  • Chris Lord-Alge – mixing engineer
  • Nik Karpen – assistant mix engineer
  • Ernesto Olvera – assistant engineer
  • Marshall Bastin – assistant engineer
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • Aron Friedman – additional keyboard and programming

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (2016)Peak
position

Year-end charts

Chart (2016)Position
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[15]72

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions, showing year released
TitleYearPeak chart positions
US
Main. Rock
[16]
"In the Dark"20162
"Still Alive"6
"The Broken"36

References

  1. ^ "New Album, Us and the Night, Available March 11th!". 3 Doors Down. Three Doors Down. January 7, 2016. Archived January 9, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  2. ^ Bowar, Chad (June 17, 2015). "3 Doors Down Reveal 'Us and the Night' Album Title". Loudwire. Archived April 19, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  3. ^ "3 Doors Down Announce Plans To Tour Europe In October/November 2016". Red Light Management. May 3, 2016. Archived February 1, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  4. ^ "3 Doors Down - Us And The Night UK Tour". Red Guitar Music. November 2, 2016. Archived June 12, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  5. ^ Childers, Chad (May 16, 2016). "3 Doors Down Reveal Summer/Fall Tour 2016 U.S. Tour With Pop Evil + Red Sun Rising". Loudwire. Archived October 13, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  6. ^ Slingerland, Calum (January 20, 2017). "3 Doors Down Are Taking Some Serious Heat Over Their Upcoming Canadian Shows". Exclaim!. Archived June 12, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  7. ^ "Reviews for Us and the Night by 3 Doors Down". Metacritic. Archived September 17, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  8. ^ Thomas Erlewine, Stephen. "Us and the Night - 3 Doors Down". AllMusic. Archived May 22, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  9. ^ Thomas, Jessica (March 24, 2016). "Album Review: 3 Doors Down – Us and the Night". Renowned for Sound. Archived May 19, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  10. ^ Kivel, Adam (March 11, 2016). "3 Doors Down – Us and the Night". Consequence of Sound. Archived January 23, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  11. ^ "Billboard 200". Billboard. April 2, 2016. Archived April 18, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  12. ^ "Rock Albums". Billboard. April 2, 2016. Archived March 31, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  13. ^ Rutherford, Kevin (March 24, 2016). "Killswitch Engage, 3 Doors Down Lead Veteran Debuts on Rock Albums Charts". Billboard. Archived June 28, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  14. ^ Us and the Night (booklet). Republic. 2016. B0024575-02.
  15. ^ "Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Archived April 8, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  16. ^ "3 Doors Down Chart History: Mainstream Rock Songs". Billboard. Retrieved July 16, 2020.