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Self-titled: 3 Doors Down's new album arrived in stores Tuesday, following previous releases "The Better Life" (2000), "Away From the Sun" (2002) and "Seventeen Days" (2005). The band will headline the May Day concert at Verizon Wireless Music Center. (Submitted photo)

Going the self-titled route for album No. 4 may seem a simplistic choice for 3 Doors Down, but vocalist Brad Arnold says the decision speaks volumes.

"As the other ones seemed like chapters, this one seems like a whole book to me," Arnold says of the album, which arrived in stores Tuesday. "It describes who we are as a band. It's a little wider swath, I guess."

The universal topics of life and death are addressed on the band's current single, "It's Not My Time," and in another new song, "It's the Only One You've Got."

Arnold says the idea is to take stock of life as it happens.

"It's like, 'Here it is.' These songs talk about standing in it for a minute," he says.

"3 Doors Down" features more than philosophy, though. The album's opening track, "Train," finds the Mississippi band embracing the good-time charm of old-school Southern rock.

"I've never really called us a Southern rock band, but that's a Southern rock song," Arnold says. "I'm kind of proud of it, because a band from Boston couldn't play it."

3 Doors Down has sold more than 11 million albums, and its singles "Kryptonite," "When I'm Gone" and "Here Without You" landed in the Top 5 of Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart.

But even with platinum sales and hit singles, Arnold and bandmates Matt Roberts, Chris Henderson, Todd Harrell and Greg Upchurch aren't fixtures of mainstream pop culture.

"One of my favorite things about us is that we're not always in the spotlight," 29-year-old Arnold says. "We go out and we're successful at what we do. At the same time, I can go to the grocery store.

"I don't care about being a rock star. I just like playing music, and I love for people to love it."

X103 May Day

Featuring: 3 Doors Down, Seether, Finger Eleven, Theory of a Deadman and Atreyu. Presented by radio station WRZX-FM (103.3).

When: 5 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Verizon Wireless Music Center, 12880 E. 146th St.

Tickets: $50, $39.50, $29.50, $19.50.

Information: (317) 239-5151 or www.ticketmaster.com