IN REVIEW: Shinedown - "Attention Attention"

When they arrived on the scene fifteen years ago, Shinedown found themselves already on the wrong side of history; a couple of years removed from the nu-metal and post-grunge heyday of bands like Staind and (welp) Nickelback, the band's debut album was considered standard rock radio fare upon its release and, a couple of moderately successful singles notwithstanding, Leave a Whisper didn't necessarily bode well for long-term relevance or viability of continued success. The thing is, they stuck around long enough (and, more importantly, fed radio enough hits) to buck the odds that were stacked against them; by the time their third album (2008's The Sound of Madness, considered by most fans as their best) ran its promotional course, they'd amassed a handful of formidable singles and built up a devoted fan base. Still, it proved to be a difficult status to maintain, and the band's following pair of albums (2012's Amaryllis and 2015's Threat to Survival) saw sharp declines in intensity, quality and, in turn, success.

It makes sense, then, that Shinedown would look to reclaim some of their previous rock glory on their sixth album; as such, Attention Attention is their fiercest and heaviest batch of songs in a decade. To be clear, it also packs plenty of the pop sensibilities (read: catchy choruses and some studio sheen) that slowly but surely worked their way into the band's sound early on, but this time out those big hooks are wrapped in harder music; to wit, lead single Devil has pianos, vocal effects and a little studio trickery, but it also has punishing riffs. Black Soul, meanwhile, might be as good a microcosm of the album as there is, a marriage of the accessible and the abrasive that's pulled off masterfully.

Whereas previous albums would take frequent detours into slower and/or more emotional territory, Attention Attention maintains its bite for the majority of its 50 minutes, with only a couple of true ballads; the focus seems to be on keeping the energy up and the hooks coming. Even the album's least enduring moments have a modicum of earworm-inducing quality, like the melodic chorus found on the otherwise pedestrian title track or the undeniable catchiness of assured future radio smash Get Up, the album's most blatant hit-seeking moment.

There's nothing shockingly different to be heard here, and the album's greatest crime turns out to be its run time; Attention Attention doesn't do the greatest job of (ahem) holding attention all the way through, and cutting a couple of the 14 tracks that veer toward the mediocre/repetitive would have made the album leaner and meaner. Regardless, we're talking a handful of minor missteps across an album that's overall full of promise for both longtime fans (who are looking for a return to their rocking roots) and their record label (who's looking for hits). It's a delicate balancing act that doesn't often work as well as it does here and, if nothing else, we're still talking about Shinedown in 2018; considering their tenuous start and their spotty recent output, what better measurement of success is there?

May 4, 2018 • Atlantic
Highlights Devil • Kill Your Conscience • Pyro