There was a time when rock bands ruled the airwaves and, whilst the preponderance of mediocre bands polluting the airwaves in the early 00s may have started to grate, their absence is somehow worse. From the days when Bon Jovi pictures were given away in cereal packets to Green Day’s seeming presence in every country that had electricity during the ‘American Idiot’ period, there has always been a need for bands driven by an intense work ethic, an ability to write hooks every bit as catchy as the best that pop music can offer whilst throwing in enough riffs to keep the rockers happy. Shinedown are one such band – they sound like a million dollars, look like tattooed millionaires and have a knack for writing choruses so catchy you need a mental enema to dispense with them. As such, ‘attention attention’, a ferocious, highly polished, pop-rock hybrid is welcome, not least because it seems so few bands actually have ambitions beyond their immediate environs anymore. However, whilst the album does offer up some cracking singles, it also falls victim to its own ambitions, with a plethora of aggravating production tics serving to strip away the band’s humanity.
Leaving aside the short, and rather pointless ‘Entrance’, the first full-blown song on the album, ‘Devil’ is an absolute monster of arcing riffs, tough-as-nails percussion and radio-friendly hooks. “It’s about to get heavy!” sings vocalist Brent Smith over an industrial-strength backdrop, and whilst it feels like a custom track for a band looking to headline stadiums, few do it better. Next up, the stuttering electronic elements, bluesy vocal and hulking riffs of ‘Black soul’ manage to sound like Black Stone Cherry going head to head with Papa Roach in what is surely a strong contender for next single. That is, of course, if the album’s title-track, the punchy ‘attention attention’ doesn’t get there first with its alt-rock stylings and super-polished soundscape. The band’s globe-straddling ambitions are truly laid bare on the percussive ‘kill your conscience’, a track that feels like it was entirely assembled from a selection of number ones – a Franken-hit if you will – complete with a bank of studio trickery that makes you wonder just how much of the human element remains intact. It’s not as bad, perhaps, as that description makes it sound, but it’s a relief, nonetheless, when ‘pyro’ puts the guitars firmly back at the core of the mix for a track that effortlessly gets the adrenalin flowing. The first half of the record concludes with ‘monsters’, a slower, darker piece of music reminiscent of Live, although the band can’t resist shooting for the stars with an expansive chorus that will set the earth quaking live. It’s also a perfect example of the band at their catchy best and it’s hard not to be seduced by the rich melodies and passionate delivery.
The pulsing ‘darkside’ kicks off the second half of the album, promising much only for a shift into whimsical pop territory to diminish what could have been a truly powerful track, and there’s the feeling that the band are trying too hard to weld accessible elements onto the already-clean lines of their rock chassis. A more traditionally quiet-loud track, ‘creatures’ has a similar vibe to ‘monsters’, but it lacks that track’s urgency and the bristling anger of the short, punishing ‘evolve’ is what the album needs to get back on track again. Unfortunately, it’s followed by ‘get up’, a ballad built around numerous clichés, and its everything-but-the-kitchen-sink production is the final straw. That the band would then follow this immediately with ‘special’ makes you wonder if the band themselves managed to get this far when sequencing the album – the song is so similar to ‘get up’ that it’s almost like a direct sequel. Skip them both, however, and you get to the throbbing bass of ‘the human radio’, a pretty cool rock song with a taut groove at its heart, despite all the studio gimmickery, and it remains only for ‘brilliant’ to close the album on a far more organic note than the band have struck at any other point across the album.
‘Attention attention’ is a perfect example of an ambitious band reaching for the stars and, at times succeeding. However, at fourteen tracks its simply too long and too overblown, with the core of ‘Monsters’, ‘darkside’ and ‘creatures’ proving to be somewhat interchangeable, whilst the pair of ballads – ‘get up’ and ‘special’ are just cloying beyond measure. With its sumptuous (often overly so) production, catchy choruses and tight riffing, it’s difficult to begrudge Shinedown the success the album is liable to bring them, but for those seeking a record with more grit, ‘attention attention’ simply loses focus too often, chasing after pop-production techniques like a puppy after a particularly shiny ball. In terms of the radio, I’d far rather have Shinedown with their tailored anthems than any one of the current crop of semi-clad starlets, but it’s not a record I’d listen to with any regularity. 6
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