Shinedown - Threat To Survival album review

American alternative rock band Shinedown have evolved massively since their post-grunge debut in 2003, Leave A Whisper, and with their latest offering, Threat To Survival, the sound may have changed but the message is still as brutal as ever.

Shinedown's Brent Smith, Zach Myers, Eric Bass and Barry Kerch have been on a vertical trajectory to fame ever since the earth shaking monster that was Sound of Madness in 2008, however didn't quite satisfy the fans' lust on the follow-up, Amaryllis in 2012, making it all the more important for Threat To Survival to regain the reigns on the horse the band rode so majestically seven years ago.

Although starting out as heavy as ever with Asking For It and Cut The Cord, the majority of the album progresses with a very modern sound, as if the group has anticipated the current of the mainstream and decided to steer straight into it. This decision may leave hard-core fans a bit deflated, considering there's nothing compared to 45 or Simple Man on this LP but there are classic sounding Shinedown songs for ingestion though - Outcast, Dangerous and Black Cadillac are as close to Sound Of Madness as you'll get.

Saying that though, it's not as if they have completely left the roots of the band behind. The lyrics, written predominantly by Brent and Zach, are as powerful and brutal as on any other Shinedown record, following the same themes as all their other albums; death, depression, drug abuse, violence, bullying, mental illness etc. If you're going to go deep you might as well go all in, right?!

There's more emphasis on making a unique sound on this record, rather than rock 'n' roll, which becomes immediately clear on tracks such as State Of My Head and It All Adds Up which are lead rhythmically by Barry Kerch's genius drumming.

As they've done on Sound Of Madness and Amaryllis, Shinedown close the album with a rather more chilled out track in Misfits. Chilled out musically it may be but lyrically will have you an emotional wreck if you relate to it's socially against the grain message.

Verdict - 8/10

Threat To Survival can't match Sound Of Madness for sheer intensity but I don't think that's the point. A successful band has to be constantly evolving, and to just copy what they did seven years ago would be a mistake, no matter how much fans would love that. I love the album both for the new sound and brilliantly written songs although I can understand why fans from the beginning might be a bit uneasy towards the direction the band have taken.

Individual track rating

Asking For It - 8/10
Cut The Cord - 7/10
State Of My Head - 7/10
Outcast - 8/10
How Did You Love - 8/10
It All Adds Up - 9/10
Oblivion - 8/10
Dangerous - 9/10
Thick As Thieves - 7/10
Black Cadillac - 9/10
Misfits - 8/10