SHINEDOWN-Attention Attention
Atlantic Records
I first got in touch with Shinedown around the time of the debut album ‘Leave A Whisper‘ in 2003. It was love at first sight when my friends in the Newburgh, NY area played them to me. First of all, Shinedown‘s music was so raw, full of emotion and man, this singer could sing. Secondly, I will allways have these great memories in mind rockin out to songs like „Fly From The Inside“ with my friends. They got me and they almost lost me again with the follow up album ‘Us And Them‘. But also in not so good times (music wise) you should stick to your bands and so did I. It was worth it, with the line-up change and the addition of Eric Bass and Zach Myers, the band released ‘The Sound Of Madness‘. Is there one song on the album which isn’t a straight hit? Not at all. Shinedown pushed their music to perfection in songwriting and acting and even improved with ‘Amaryllis‘ in 2012. Where would a band go from there without repeating itself ? How would they grow and increase the fan base? These tough questions got answered with the critically acclaimed ‘Threat To Survival‘. Die hard fans called it a sellout because of the pop music appeal. To me, this album was the next logical step within the unstoppable evolution of Shinedown. Although not every song was meant to be top class, the boys showed balls in releasing an album like this, started their engines and became even more succesful. Now it‘s 2018 and `Attention Attention‘ knocks at our door. To be honest, I’m not surprised about the album at all. It is what I expected. The prototype they created with the previous record got re-designed to one of the most succesful records coming up this year (mark my words). Critics can cry as much as they want, this album defines Shinedown, it‘s their ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band‘, a masterpiece. Whatever made me fall in love with them 15 years ago is still there. The rawness might be gone, but the songwriting is on a level that can only be reached by a few. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a blueprint of how modern rock music should sound like. And beware, Shinedown are only starting……
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