Review Summary: Has Attack Attack risen above their "crabcore" criticism and released something fresh and exciting?
This band has been labeled as a joke after their first album came out and they were labeled "Crabcore". Attack Attack's sophomore album is completely different from the previous. The high pitched screaming is gone, since Austin Carlile departed from the band. The other singer, removed most of the autotune from his voice, giving your ears a break from the high-pitched wails. Other than that, they follow the same trends as most bands do in this genre. Silly track names, and average-at-best lyrics.
"Sexual Man Chocolate" opens the album, and I was looking for a breakdown or some hip-hop comedy skit to open this album, but I was wrong. I was greeted with a beautiful piano intro and other instruments slowly fading in. You get to hear the new screamer, and the un-autotuned singer, and they sound great together. The deep growls and soft singing really compliment each other here. "Renob, Nevada" is a heavier track, and it was really boring to say the least. "I Swear I'll Change" was a highlight of this album. This track has alot more singing and instrumental work than it does screaming and exhausted guitar riffs. "Shut Your Mouth" is almost like the bathroom break of this album. This song is pure pop, and it is also pure garbage. I don't understand why this was even placed on the album. "A For Andrew" opens up with a creepy whistle, but again has heavy uninspired guitars dragging out throughout the whole entire track. "Smokahontas" starts off with a fast-paced synth fading in, and as the formula goes, the loud guitars come in to break the mood. This song also has a dubstep-like breakdown in the middle, but it sounded uninspired and uncreative. "AC-130" is an interlude track that starts off with the lyrics; 'you think you could be God' being screamed over once again, uninspired guitar riffs. "Fumbles O'Brian" mixes all of their styles together. It opens up with a comedy rap-like skit, cue the guitars, and scream/sing tradeoffs. In the bridge of this song, there is a really poppy breakdown with awful lyrics like 'shawty, you're on my mind, yeah'. "Turbo Swag" is the best track on the album by far. It follows a basic formula of screaming in the verses, and singing in the choruses. The bridge is by far the best part of the song, as it contains alot of atmospheric vocalizing and instrumentation. This was a huge suprise. "Lonely" closes the album, and it is one of the worst songs on the album. It's their attempt at a pop-ballad and it is awful. It ends with another dubstep-like breakdown, but it sounded very much like the one from Smokahontas.
Overall this album is a decent effort, a tad better than their previous, but nothing special. The direction they were going with a few of these songs such as "Sexual Man Chocolate" and "Turbo Swag" was brilliant and fresh, but the awful array of pop garbage kills any chance for me to take this band seriously.
