Attack Attack! This Means War Album Review

When I first heard Attack Attack! I was captivated by their use of electronic beats and auto-tuned vocals mixed with heavy breakdowns and deep growl style vocals. I had never heard anything quite like it. Stick Stickly, to this day, is one of my favorites songs. Fast forward to their third album release, This Means War, and you can quickly hear things have changed. Some for the better, some for the worse.

Both the clean and dirty vocals are now performed by Caleb Shomo with no sign of auto-tune. His clean vocals have a very "poppy" quality to them and remind me of early pop/punk "sing along" jams from the early 2000s. I'm not a fan of his dirty vocals most of the time. They sound like a kid that his hitting puberty and he has a "crack" in his voice if you will. Shomo must use this style because it makes it easier to transition into the singing clean vocals because every once and while he'll toss in the guttural growl I love so much so I know he is capable.

The musical style in This Means War sets a very steady and heavy tone. Even the song names have lost their quirky funny names of previous albums. The interlaced electronic beats and synthesized break downs are all but removed and replaced with a very been there done that metalcore sound. The song writing is very boohoo, "woe is me" (not the band) and they don't contain much emotion. This really disappointed me as what drew me to Attack Attack! was that they were different from your run of the mill metalcore band. Yeah the auto-tuned vocals and electronic beats are gimmicky, but they are so damn catchy. They never over did it and on their self-titled album, there was a perfect mix of the different genres. This Means War seems to take the band in a different direction, one that is littered with whiny writing and a repetitive sound. A step backwards in my opinion.  

I still found small traces of the "old" Attack Attack! in "The Hopeless" but did enjoy their newer style in
'The Motivation". So I don't hate this album, but I was disappointed for sure. If you enjoyed Attack Attack!'s old style of electronic beats and catchy hooks, this album isn't for you. If you prefer a "meater" sound and more traditional meatlcore, than give it a listen.

2.5 out of 5