The hard rock powerhouse that is Shinedown are finally set to release their brand new album this coming Friday. The highly anticipated follow-up to 2022’s amazing Planet Zero, the band have been hyping this thing for over a year at this point, so have just a touch of expectations to deliver on. If the singles are anything to go by, however, we’re onto another winner. They have been one of my favourite bands for like a decade and a half at this point, through most of my teen years and beyond, so when this came through our emails it blew me away a little. There was no way I wasn’t diving deep into this thing, so join us as we do exactly that!
Opening on a piano and Brent’s vocals was an interesting choice, that’s for sure! However, the guitar and bigger instrumentation building in was excellent, instantly winning me over. Weirdly, it reminded me a little of The Black Parade, in the best way possible! And, after a quick verse, we soon EXPLODE into the rock, the distorted guitars and massive drums being the perfect punch in the teeth! It does drop back a bit for the second verse though, the dynamics being fantastic and pretty unexpected from the band, given their last album. It not only gives hints of ELO or Queen in its arrangement, but harkens back to previous albums from the band, almost feeling as a culmination of sorts. Oh, and on top of all that, the chorus is awesome, massive and hugely catchy, as only Shinedown can do! It all combines together perfectly, making not just a fantastic opening song, but a fantastic Shinedown song overall!
After that we are treated to the wonderful single ‘Dance Kid Dance’. Long-time followers of the company will know how much we love this and ‘Three Six Five’. Both are amazing songs in their own right, and are both a little more radio-friendly in their song structure. They’re also the two ends of Shinedown’s sound; the former being a boot stompin’ rocker while the latter is a rock ballad akin to Def Leppard, but with an indie-rock edge. I don’t want to linger on them too long as we have already covered them and this is a long release. However, damn, both are excellent, fit the release perfectly, and are definitely firm album highlights!
‘Burning Down the Disco’ continues the energy from ‘Dance Kid Dance’, being another up-tempo rocker. However, the track definitely has the expected sound given its title; a fantastic disco beat running through it from Barry Kerch. It’s another great chorus too, one that will surely go down a storm live. However, it does have a slight album-track feel to it, so maybe it won’t see a live setting all too much. Still, it’s a damn fun, quirky hard rock song, and yet again feels like a sound that only Shinedown could pull off. We get an awesome, albeit brief, lead line from Zach Myers tucked away in the middle, but honestly his guitar work throughout is great! It’s another good song!
‘Young Again’ not only slows things down a bit, but adds a synth element to the release that I genuinely wasn’t expecting. From the intro to the massive riffing, it starts out great, and it dropping back to the steady drums, solid bass and the vocals for the verse was excellent. It makes the chorus hit even harder when it bursts back in, being hugely impactful. It helps that the chorus is more typcial Shinedown awesomeness, infectiously catchy and some truly awesome lyrics. It’s another track that gives off more of a Threat to Survival or ATTENTION ATTENTION vibe to it. However, that breakdown riff in the middle is heavy, and still firmly grounds the track in the bands hard rock roots. It’s a good slower song, and another one that is begging for a big radio campaign!
Tracks like ‘Dizzy’, ‘Back to the Living’, ‘Wide Open’ ‘So Glad You Asked’ are more epic-feeling, slower songs. All are good in their own right, and definitely have a 2010’s Shinedown feel to them. And, in the context of the album, they definitely work very well. My favourite of the bunch is probably ‘Back to the Living’. There’s something about Brent’s powerful, beautiful vocals over a simple piano playing that is so incredible. The rest of the instrumentation comes in over the top after the first chorus, don’t get me wrong, but the main focus still feels like it’s based around those two elements. It reminds me a little of ‘I’ll Follow You’, which was my wife and I’s first dance, so of course I love it! Having said that, ‘Wide Open’ also has an Amaryllis vibe in the most beautiful way. And that heavy riff that breaks through after the choruses… DAMN! Meanwhile the latter is VERY Threat to Survival, in both a good and bad way. All are great songs, but are fairly similar, so I didn’t want to repeat myself too much given the length of the review already!
‘Imposter’ is a darker, moodier rock track that would definitely fit well on Planet Zero or even Leave a Whisper. It has that post-nu-metal vibe to it, and is very guitar driven with the chuggy playing leading the bass and drums. And, while the chorus isn’t much bigger than the rest of the track in terms of the scale, or the fact that it’s a similar vocal melody through the verses, it’s still infectiously catchy and memorable! It’s definitely a song that’s going to be stuck in my head for days to come! We also get more focus on the guitar leads throughout, Zach getting multiple moments to shine. It’s an awesome song, and one that easily makes it onto our playlist!
‘Machine Gun’ perfectly picks up the pace again. Strangely, again the riffs give me MCR vibes, but I’m certainly not complaining. The solid, quick drums and Brent’s powerful vocals complete the sound perfectly, and it all builds masterfully to a massive pre, let alone the even bigger chorus. The track is definitely designed to be played to huge festival and arena crowds around the world! And, while definitely being more of a hard rock track than others, it still has a poppy, radio-edge to it, even again slightly indie too; the melodies are so damn catchy. It’s an interesting track that’s for sure, that blurs the line between ballad and heavier song perfectly.
Next up we have a run of singles. ‘Outlaw’ is another slower, emotion-filled ballad. It’s beautiful and powerful and packed full of incredible lyrics. Meanwhile ‘Safe and Sound’ is maybe the heaviest track on the album, and it’s fucking excellent! That riff is amazing, and sets the tone for the most old-school Shinedown song in a while. This thing could have been easily ripped from Us and Them, Zach playing very much like Todd did/does. And that chorus… *chefs kiss*. The lead guitar line through the bridge is awesome too, harkening back to Sound of Madness in the best ways! This may be my favourite track on the album, at least after a couple of listens, and would easily put it up there alongside some of their best. On a generally lighter album, it’s nice to hear some of their older heaviness still rearing its head!
We change pace massively again with the crossover hit ‘Searchlight’. This debuted at the Grand Ole Opry, which should give you some indication of what it’s like, sonically. It’s an outlaw country acoustic ballad, and is another excellent song! We even get some fiddle, adding another amazing layer to their sound. Heck, there’s a banjo in the back by the end, somehow being a departure from their usual sound while still sounding and feeling so very them. It’s a beautiful, touching song that has had more than a tear out of me at times, the first time one of their tracks have touched me like this in a while. It’s like a traditional Shinedown (Amaryllis and prior) ballad, but with a fantastic country twang to it. Yet another amazing song, and a big personal highlight!
Tracks like ‘Bear With Me’, and ‘Deep End’ are two more great rockier tracks. The former has some attitude to it, but in more of a pop-punk way than a rocking swagger. It’s kinda simple, but a fun listen! The latter, meanwhile, opens on some more interesting synth, it driving the track but sadly not being as present as I feel like I’d have maybe liked throughout. It feels like Shinedown’s answer to an industrial/new-wave track, and is a damn interesting listen, if a touch forgettable after it finishes. Both tracks, while good, very much have a similar feeling as ‘Burning Down the Disco’ in that they very much feel a bit more album-track than a lot of the rest. That isn’t a bad thing at all, not all tracks can be singles, but these, while good, wouldn’t fit that mould.
Speaking of singles, ‘Killing Fields’ is the last from the album (so far). Opening on that rather ominous guitar riff and Brent’s fascinating vocals over the top, it goes to a surprisingly uplifting pre, and then a massive, stadium-filling chorus. While it does feel a touch disjointed at first, it has grown on me with a few listens. It’s theatrical, like ‘BRILLIANT’ or, again, something like MCR or Panic!. It’s a wild song, the most experimental one aside for the opener, and makes for a damn good listen! And that chorus is honestly MASSIVE, maybe one of the best they have ever written. It really feels like what the whole track is build around, but the rest of the parts are also awesome. It’s another fantastic song, and yet another massive high point of the album!
Closer ‘The Pilot’ is yet another slower track. It’s a simple, acoustic-lead song, the most stripped-back of the record. It’s a phenomenally beautiful and well-written track, and was exactly what I expected given the rest of the album leading up to this. The lyrics are some of the best Brent has ever put down, and it once again made me shed a (manly) tear. While I’m a bit hit-and-miss when it comes to slow closers, this was absolutely the right choice to close this album. Not only does it feel the most fitting, but on a release with so many slower tracks, it may have struggled to stand out so much if it was lost in the shuffle in the middle. Another absolutely huge highlight, both on the album, and in the career of the band itself.
Overall: So, damn, there are a lot of thoughts and feelings to unpack here. Firstly, I do want to say that this is an amazing album. Every track feels different in its own right, hence why the review is so long, and they all fit together rather perfectly on this record. It’s their most theatrical and experimental so far, and is an interesting, fun listen if absolutely nothing else! There will be a lot of people who LOVE this record, and rightfully so!
…I’m just not convinced I’m one of them. At least, not yet. As I’ve said already, this is a long album, and I’ve only sat with it two or three times so far. I was rather on the fence with Threat to Survival and ATTENTION ATTENTION when they dropped, and they have certainly grown on me since. However, after the hard rock juggernaut that is Planet Zero, I guess I was hoping for them to continue on that vein. However, the band have certainly been known to experiment in their time, and this is their most experimental yet. Some of it definitely stuck with me, like the opener and ‘Killing Field’. But, I think I’d have preferred a more concise, focused album over a longer one with more filler. Planet Zero was long too but certainly had arguably more highs than this. So, while I very much appreciate their musicianship and did very much enjoy this album, my immediate reaction is that it’s not quite as good as their last. They have a very solid 10 tracks on here, and they maybe could have cut a couple, but it certainly isn’t a bad release by any stretch. It’s still Shinedown, after all!
The Score: 8.5/10