![]() There were moments on Amaryllis – and certainly throughout Threat to Survival – that Smith’s talents were underutilized, misplaced, and flat-out squandered. While Attention’s highlights are nothing out of left field, they take Shinedown’s primary assets – Brent Smith’s incredible vocal range and passionate delivery – and place them in a setting that makes sense again. With this album, that recognizable brand of emotionally-inspired rock has returned with a vengeance, and the band resultantly feels alive again. When this group executes with a chip on their shoulder and a fiery demeanor, they’ve always been leaps and bounds ahead of their fellow genre-dwellers. Attention still isn’t a fountain of invention, as it draws from the same basic premises that Shinedown has always relied upon, but the formula has never been their issue. Lead vocalist Brent Smith explodes with a level of passion and exuberance that was nowhere to be found on the last couple of records, while Zach Myers follows his lead by contributing some of his beefiest riffs to date and Barry Kerch ties it all together with his momentous and ever-steady percussive work. Shifting focus back to their rock roots, Shinedown ramps up the intensity and volume in every way. One of the most remarkable things about Shinedown’s sixth studio album is that, after a total lack of meaningful direction, they manage to get practically everything right here. It’s a breath of fresh air…welcome back, boys. Attention Attention serves as both the rightful heir and long-awaited successor to The Sound of Madness, as well as a reinstatement of the band as one of the premier acts in mainstream rock. 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. When Shinedown released Threat to Survival in 2015, it felt like the nail in the coffin.
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