1/4/2024 0 Comments Attention attention review![]() After two underwhelming albums and a decade of dwindling output, Shinedown have returned to pin at least one more stalwart album to their resume. Thankfully, things weren’t actually as bleak as they appeared back then. It seemed like an appropriate time to mourn Shinedown, placing them in the rearview mirror while effectively resigning them to pleasant mid-2000’s nostalgia. In what amounted to a borderline comical mess of assorted pop and southern influences, none of which were particularly believable or inspired, the slow decline that Amaryllis had set into motion finally appeared to come to a head. The main theme of the album is how short life is and how much we should appreciate it.When Shinedown released Threat to Survival in 2015, it felt like the nail in the coffin. There might be a few cheap thrills for those who just want something to jam to. There aren’t any redeeming qualities to talk about. Shinedown continues to tell the same old redemption story through a new sound and style. It’s not unique, although it tries to be, and it’s far from anything coherent. Overall, ATTENTION ATTENTION doesn’t say or do anything important. What they fail to understand is fans won’t listen to the album if it sucks. I guess they feel fans won’t listen to it if it’s not rock. It can’t decide between rock or pop so it does both. ATTENTION… is ridiculous because it tries to be two things at once. It’s almost like they’re trying to imitate their previous sound. It’s a poorly handled pop album that tries too hard to be rock. This album gets worse from here.Įverything in ATTENTION ATTENTION is forced, contrived, and cheap to the point of stereotype. Leave a light on if you're able 'cause we both know you're unstable,” is such a cheap melody. Speaking of ‘MONSTERS,’ “Don't get angry, don't discourage: Take a shot of liquid courage. There might be a few songs, like ‘MONSTERS,’ which starts off with a familiar sound, but falls flat thereafter. ’ There’s very little in the album to appeal to old-school Shinedown fans. It’s all so basic to the point of ‘this song is about. There’s no atmosphere, mood, or ambiguity to invest in. The lyrics are written so obvious and simplistic it’s ridiculous. Brent Smith took a huge step down with this album. “What can you do? Bringin' you down when your momma is a burnout and your daddy is a pyro,” is taken from ‘PYRO’s’ pre-chorus. This is normal territory for Shinedown, of course, but they decided to write a pop song instead. The song tells the story of a fractured home life. And you call each other sick, yeah, you're coming back for more,” are an excerpt from ‘KILL YOUR CONSCIENCE.’ “…when you're begging for a brick just to throw it back and forth. The bright vocals shining against a horrendously mixed pop/grunge mash up sounds like a bad remix album than anything else. He wants to rile everyone up and make them a force of positivity. Instead of singing about gritty life lessons, Brent is the nice guy now. Much like Threat…, Brent Smith tries to be an inspiration to the masses. Lyrics, though, are a huge ordeal with this record. The album’s problematic in just about every way. Once they start trying to implement modern minimalistic riffs into the chorus of ‘ATTENTION ATTENTION,’ it all goes downhill. They really push this positive vibe way too far. Brent Smith tries to rap for a few bars before resolving on his usual vocals. The modern age mixing fusing with an outdated style is a cry for attention itself. It’s hard to take this album seriously at times. The contrasting textures make for a confusing experience. Once a minimalistic electronic intro comes into play, incomes a thick grunge riff to play over it. The sound of the album is such an odd texture overall. The album takes the pop appeal from Threat to Survival and smashes it with Us and Them. ‘BLACK SOUL’ has a modern sound, nu-metal-ish vibe, and Brent Smith’s normal vocals. The best way to describe it is Papa Roach and Imagine Dragons. It’s hard to really describe what’s going on, where it’s going, or if it even works. With a name like that, one can only wonder.ĪTTENTION ATTENTION is such a strange album. Threat to Survival did them no favors, and now we have ATTENTION ATTENTION. Every time they pitched an album they swung and missed. The problem, however, is they kept swinging. They hit the ball, ran as far as they could, and struck out. It lit a fire in the music scene for a minute, and faded away. In all fairness, it wasn’t that great of a record, but it served its purpose. It was fun watching a couple local kids kill it on the music scene, and once Sound of Madness dropped, everyone else saw it too. They were local, broke out, and made it big. Shinedown is one of those bands I really wanted to like.
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