Ask any fan of punk rock their favourite bands, and more likely than not, Strung …
6
Comfort and solace
For a concept album that is meant to deal with personal negativity and being reborn from our struggles, Shinedown have put out an innately ordinary soundtrack for innately complicated topics.
MORE: Dead Of Winter Festival: Drop Mammoth Second Line-Up Announcement
We would love to be able to tell you Attention Attention has the usual pounding anathemic numbers like the hard rock outfits previous releases but the new addition to their extensive catalogue is pretty bland–and this is from a die-hard fan.
It doesn’t have the romanticism of 2012’s album Amaryllis, it doesn’t have the edge of 2015’s Threat To Survival, or indeed the handsome mystery of the 2003’s debut Leave A Whisper. Instead, in Attention Attention you’re met with a band who are clearly masters of their craft, have a tight sound and perform very, very well–and yet, they’ve put out an album that is unremarkable.
It seems crazy that a band with such an amazing arsenal of life affirming albums behind them should present something so unremarkable
What the hell is up with Special?! People look to music to heal, as an escape, not to be told in no uncertain terms that there’s no hope in trying and are insignificant in any way. Sure, we’re all the same, but come on, we don’t need to hear it from a band to whom we admire and look to for comfort and solace. Too harsh, man. Too harsh.
The only tracks we hear even a shadow of the Shinedown we know is with Devil, heavy, hard, ruthless, and Black Soul, where hip-hop touches blend amazingly with the vocals of singer Brent Smith, a man whose talents are at a point so impeccable, only one or two other frontpeople on the scene could even hope to equal him.
It seems crazy that a band with such an amazing arsenal of life affirming albums behind them should present something so unremarkable, something that needs to be played through five times before its songs become infectious. Don’t worry, Shinedown, we still want you to come to Australia!
STANDOUT TRACKS: Devil, Black Soul, Kill Your Conscience
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Seether, Theory Of A Deadman, Hinder
