Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2012

The essence of VH past was a “joie de vivre”—an attitude that the music be uplifting, sometimes left-field and quietly fun. So can A Different Kind Of Truth deliver enough “sturm and drang,” as David Lee Roth used to call it, to satisfy substance, to add to the mythology?

“Tattoo” has a swaggering, hypnotic groove which worms into your psyche, making it the most immediate single on an album without a single ballad. That said, it is the next three songs that set the template; “She’s The Woman,” “You And Your Blues,” and “China Town” each feature a blistering Eddie Van Halen guitar solo. Elsewhere, neither “Big River,” and closer “Beats Workin” would look out of place on any of their original albums. Despite all the politics and dissension about the absence of bassist Michael Anthony, Van Halen have returned—at the top of their game.