Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Attack Attack! - Attack Attack!

  
Tracklist:
1. Sexual Man Chocolate
2. Renob, Nevada
3. "I Swear I'll Change"
4. Shut Your Mouth (feat. McSwagger)
5. A for Andrew
6. Smokahontas
7. AC-130
8. Fumbles O'Brian
9. Turbo Swag
10. Lonely (feat. Jason Cameron)


5/10


I’m sure we’re all aware of last year’s shitfest of Attack Attack busting out on the scene. The term crabcore was tossed around a few times and it eventually stuck to bands who use silly choreographed moves and squatting low enough in those skinny jeans to make is sure that they would never have kids in the future. Since their hilariously awful video for “Stick Stickly” appeared, I’m sure they’ve endured their fair share of embarrassment. They’ve lost their vocalist, having their keyboardist step up to the plate as the group write their new album. What will happen? Will they redeem themselves or will they continue on with the crabcore tripe?
Well, upon first listen, I was surprised. They seemed to have stepped up their game, taking on a dark atmospheric turn on the generic metalcore sound, which honestly wasn’t all that bad. Everything has improved on these first few tracks. There are some real riffs here and there, synths are being put to better use in building mood and atmosphere, and vocals are better in the way of Shomo’s screams. Franck’s clean vocals are still clearly processed and pitch-corrected, but they tried to make it less obvious and obnoxious. Through the first three tracks, I must say, I wasn’t having a bad time, as ashamed as I may be. But I’m not going to lie to you people. Track 2, “Renob, Nevada” sounds like a lazier As I Lay Dying without the cool riffs. The Devil Wears Prada, if you will.

However, what goes up, must come down. Track 4, “Shut Your Mouth”, plays like an N*Sync or Backstreet Boys remix and is very, very terrible. That song passes, and track 5, “A For Andrew” comes back into a not so terrible sound, with a groovy guitar riff. Aside from the terrible chorus, this song would be pretty cool. “Smokahontas” goes from ‘eh, not so bad’ to electronic dance breakdown, but not as near as bad as the one you’ve heard before in “Stick Stickly.” The song ends in your average *chug chug* breakdown.
“AC-130″ sounds like a collection of djent breakdowns, only without the polyrhythms, leading me to believe that this album, when charted on a graph, keeps going downhill exponentially. And on that note, “Fumbles O’Brian” starts out as if it’s a T-Payne/Lil Wayne mixtape, which brought this reviewer to facepalm and regret enjoying the first couple of songs. If you want people to take you seriously and stop giving you shit, don’t scream “ATTACK ATTACK IS BACK BABY! AHAHA!” in autotune over a terrible synth beat. They later use the word “Shawty.” Seriously?!
“Turbo Swag” takes things on an upswing that goes nowhere, as the final song, “Lonely” is a modern R&B ballad that, while it is catchy (if I ever have this stuck in my head, I will be SO pissed), will serve as nothing more than ironic scene bile.
Make no mistake about it, Attack Attack are still a bunch of scene kids who like to throw some metalcore into their dance music (or vice-versa?). However, this album does take a step up on some tracks. I would not recommend listening to much beyond the first three tracks, but this is the best they’ve come up with at this point. If they continue on this path of growth in future releases, they may not be a mockery for much longer

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