With Shinedown, when they release a song or an album you know what you are going to get.  They have a sound and a style that works and they don’t stray far from that formula.  With the new album coming on May 4th, ‘Attention, Attention’, Shinedown is trying to do just that…get your attention.

The album is basically a concept album  The songs will take you on a journey of a person who is starting in a very dark, ominous place and take you all the way through to the other side where this person is done battling his mind and his issues and coming out a changed person.  I love concept albums so I can’t wait to get ahold of this an take this journey.

The first single is “Devil”, which is the first song on this story through the mind.  According to Brent Smith in an interview with Billboard, he states the following:

“‘DEVIL’ is about being afraid, ‘DEVIL’ is about being terrified of not only yourself, in some respects, but the world around you, and understanding that there are so many things and so many different situations and people and places and atmospheres and exposure that human beings are put in front of on a daily basis, [and] the world can be a really difficult place to navigate. So that’s where the story starts.”

The song is heavier and darker in tone and comes at you with all the gusto it can muster.  Brent sounds great vocally and brings the anger, the fear and the despair in his vocals that is perfectly conveying the emotions of the song. Musically there is so much texture as the band has added a little bit of everything including the blazing guitars (Zach Myers), thumping bass ( Eric Bass – yes that is his name) and the pounding drums (Barry Kerch).  There is even some added choir backing vocals and some piano/synths towards the end.  The pace goes back and forth between heavy and face pounding to a little slower tempo and back to the heavy reflecting the changing emotions throughout the song.

I am going to give this song a 4.5 out 5 stars.  It is a great opening track and if the rest of the album can come close to this, then I am seeing a possible Top Rock Album of 2018 in the making or at the very least make the list.

“DEVIL”