Threes by Sparta

Threes, the third album from El Paso's Sparta, arrived in 2006 and marked the band's first outing with guitarist Keeley Davis, who came over from Engine Down and Denali. Jim Ward sings and plays guitar, Matt Miller holds down the bass and backing vocals, and Tony Hajjar drives it from behind the kit, both there since the band formed in 2001, Hajjar, like Ward, a veteran of At the Drive-In.

It's darker and more tangled than what came before, with a few nods back to their earlier sound among the detours, and songs like "Taking Back Control" and "Erase It Again" churn with tension. Ward has said the title refers to the number 3 and the role it keeps playing in his life, calling the record a big turning point for him. The band streamed it on MySpace days ahead of release, a leaked copy was already making the rounds, reviews came in mixed, and it reached number 83 on the Billboard 200.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.