---
title: "[Album Review] Shinedown – Attention Attention"
url: https://altwire.net/album-review-shinedown-attention-attention/
author: "M. Stoneman"
published: 2018-05-02T14:10:35+00:00
updated: 2023-12-06T11:39:57+00:00
categories: ["Albums"]
tags: ["Metal", "Rock", "Shinedown"]
source: "AltWire (altwire.net)"
---

# [Album Review] Shinedown – Attention Attention

*By M. Stoneman · May 2, 2018*

It’s fair to say that **Shinedown** are the kind of band where you know exactly what you pay for. Mixing hard rock with flavours of heavier post-grunge, *The Sound of Madness* effectively stands as a near-perfect example of fun and catchy rock music; it wasn’t anything revolutionary, but that was hardly the point – you’re here to have a good time, and **Shinedown** were pretty damn good at that. Fast-forward a decade, and despite what some have considered a misstep with tamer 2015 effort, *Threat to Survival*, the Jacksonville hard rockers are still going strong if *Attention Attention*’s ‘Devil’ is anything to go by. Indeed, the slick **Zach Myers** guitar riff and explosive **Barry Kerch** percussion saw the band returning to exactly the kind of sound that made the likes of ‘Devour’ so much fun, and with vocalist **Brent Smith** roaring *“cause it’s about to get heavy”* it certainly appears that **Shinedown**’s sixth studio effort is going to be a hell of a ride.

Regarded as something of a concept record by the band, and focusing on the struggles of overcoming personal negativity, *Attention Attention*’s hefty collection of 14 tracks quickly sheds the far safer direction of *Threat to Survival*, and this is certainly rewarding; ‘Pyro’ and ‘Black Soul’ both benefit immensely from allowing guitarist **Zach Myers** a little more room to stretch out and put some really solid riffs on the table, while ‘The Human Radio’s huge, **Royal Blood**-esque bass guitar sees **Eric Bass** stepping into the limelight a little to an extremely satisfying result. At a glance, the band definitely feels reenergised, far more akin to *The Sound of Madness*’ heavier territory and seemingly delivering on their promise: *“it’s about to get heavy.”*

Continuing this frame of mind and true to the assured direction of the album, the thunderous and somewhat cinematic ‘Evolve’ roars triumphantly and embraces the signature **Shinedown** hard rock delivery, while ‘Monsters’ joins the ranks of **Skillet**’s ‘Monster’ and **Three Days Grace**’s ‘Animal I Have Become’ with **Smith** lyrically dehumanising the negative side to human personality. Taking a more mellow approach, ‘Kill Your Conscience’ flows back and forth between soft synthesisers and a more energetic, percussion-driven pre-chorus, and generally makes for a nice change of pace, while album closer ‘Brilliant’ dabbles ever so slightly in ‘Summer of 69’s classic guitar riff, before leaping into far more recognisable post-grunge **Shinedown** territory and ending the record on a noteworthy high.

Unfortunately, while *Attention Attention* shows once again that **Shinedown** definitely have a knack for getting your attention, where the album falters shows in what seems a classic case of quantity over quality; while the album’s 14 tracks (and 50 minute runtime) is certainly generous, it also feels somewhat oversaturated compared to the far brisker 40 minute runtime of *Threat to Survival*. This is first indicated ironically through title track ‘Attention Attention’, feeling much more like an underdeveloped addition to the album or even an unused *Threat to Survival* B-side, while ‘Get Up’ and ‘Special’ both try their hand at being a little softer compared to the album’s heavier style and end up not really achieving anything worthwhile as a result. That being said, ‘Special’ *does* actually utilise some particularly stunning acoustic and string elements, but the self-congratulatory applause at the end of the track feels just a little too much on the nose and comes across somewhat hubristic.

As a whole, *Attention Attention* is an easy step up from the band’s previous effort and offers something that is generally fun and rewarding; it’s nothing revolutionary or ground-breaking, but then it was never going to be. It may not be a perfect record, but there’s enough here to get into that will appease any **Shinedown** fan, and the band’s energy is infectious enough to hold your attention. In short, it’s everything it needed to be to be a **Shinedown** record, albeit a little overlong and perhaps a little too pleased with itself at times, but plenty enjoyable to warrant more than a few listens.

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From AltWire: https://altwire.net/album-review-shinedown-attention-attention/