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Attack Attack! - Attack Attack!
Written by: PP on 29/7-10 at 15:42:44
Oh boy, here we go. Attack Attack!, or as most people know them, the 'crabcore' band, have become the most hated musical outfit that isn't BrokenCYDE or Blood On The Dancefloor (or whatever they are called). All thanks to idiotic fringes and the retarded synchronized headbangs in their video "Stick, Stickly", which many considered to be proof that crab people really exist. But you know what? Their debut album "Someday Came Suddenly" was, as long as you were able to ignore its negative image and other stupidities associated with it, actually quite fucking good. It was a neon-metalcore-emo listener's wet dream with it's ultra-poppy clean vocal choruses, punishing breakdowns and infectious synth melodies. And I'm saying that despite the risk of destroying my musical credibility by saying so. So I wouldn't blame anyone for cautiously looking forward to their eponymous sophomore album "Attack Attack!". However, if you still like Attack Attack! after listening to this album.....man the harpoons, someone call the firing squad, it's time for a good ol' lynching.

You see, since their debut album, we have every reason to believe that the band's main songwriter has either committed suicide, quit the band and vanished from the earth, or alternatively, he has taken some coma-inducing medicine that has prevented him from formulating anything even slightly reasonable to his guitarists. There are two, maximum three riffs chords notes to the guitars counting across the whole album, all consisting of chug...chugchugchug... chugchug...chug in exactly the same octave. There are tracks which I simply refuse to believe are songs, because repeating the same chord ad infinitum does not a song make. It is pseudo-heavy Joey Sturgis metalcore catered to mindless 14 year old scene kids who think this shit is fucking br00tal etc while anyone with a sense for music is banging their head against the wall because these guys are effectively poisoning our youth. It's on par with the "OH MY GOD" breakdowns in Asking Alexandria, except worse. Granted, Attack Attack! were never excellent 'riff' composers, but at least in the past, they had fantastic synths masking their lack of ability to write anything interesting on guitar, but these have been pushed to side in favour of....well, I wish I could say something here, but there's actually no content that has arrived in replacement. And what's worse, the robo-tuner that characterized these guys in the past has been replaced with merely auto-tuned clean singing, a change in wrong direction if you ask me, because it's not like they were hiding its usage in the past, and that's what made some of the melodies irresistible.

Occasionally, a hint of something decent lifts its hand from the quicksand in an almost desperate call for help, even though we all know it's too late. "Renob Nevada", for instance, morphs into hardcore - almost hardcore punk in fact - given its high-octane tempo, but why oh why must this also be broken down into meaningless chugging soon after. Considering the first song is breakdown only, and the songs after are breakdown only, why is it necessary to inject breakdowns here, too? And anyway, two songs later, the band starts choking in the sand....because what the FUCK is "Shut Your Mouth"? A rave song with R'n'B and synth electronics? Trust me, it sounds exactly as bad in real life as it does on paper. It's HORRIBLE in every possible way. If it was a joke, it could be acceptable, but the worst part about it is that I'm fully certain that Attack Attack! wrote it, as well as the other cancerous cell known as "Fumbles O Brian", 100% seriously. There's stupidity, there's idiocy, and then there's Attack Attack!, apparently. Need I mention that there's a track called "Smokahontas". Are you fucking kidding me? As a final note of positivity, however, it has to be said that Sturgis has once again done a solid job on the production, giving the breakdowns some much needed oomph...but it doesn't change the fact that Attack Attack! aren't even 'generic' anymore. They're just outright horrible. Let the shitstorm begin. [3]
Download: Renob Nevada, AC-130
For the fans of: I Set My Friends On Fire, Asking Alexandria, Of Mice & Men, I See Stars, We Came As Romans
Listen: Myspace

Release date 08.06.2010
Rise Records



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User comments:


As Im writing this Im testing myself to see how long I can last thruogh the first song on the player - Smokahontas.

70 seconds in, Im struggling. Im still waiting for a riff.

87 seconds - more gay vocals which make a mockery of the 'angry' vocals that preceeded it.

120 seconds - gay Europop synth clearly made by computers not a 'band' with rock instruments.

170 seconds - A riff! Of sorts! Hardcore vocals a bit gay, mind.

200 seconds - mindless beatdown with mega epicz sound FX on the drums.

I survived a 'song'! I do feel quite ill however. :(
Written by: EW on 29/7-10 at 15:56:27


Haha EW - this song has many fewer breakdowns than so many of the others :p most of them are only consisting of the stuff at the end of smokahontas track :D
Written by: PP on 29/7-10 at 16:11:25


Awesome review.
Written by: DR on 29/7-10 at 17:17:57


I dont like the fact that you compare them to Asking Alexandria, Of Mice
Written by: sekke on 29/7-10 at 17:52:49


& men, We came as romans and i see stars (not that i really like i see stars) but i think they are way better than attack attack
Written by: sekke on 29/7-10 at 17:53:46


Ronnie's gonna ragequit music because of this review lol...

i, however, think i love you PP haha
Written by: Jimmie on 29/7-10 at 17:57:01


sekke: I don't compare them anywhere aside from Asking Alexandria. However, fans of those bands tend to also be fans of this band, you can't deny that :D
Written by: PP on 29/7-10 at 18:48:28


i remember that i liked their previous record..
i havent heard this but as i read this may be epic epic fail
Written by: foivos. on 29/7-10 at 18:57:10


What da foooork?? did i just here dubstep find its way to "metal" at around 2:30? :O
Written by: Niclas - BBiP on 29/7-10 at 19:40:07


dislike this review!
Written by: neema on 29/7-10 at 20:45:54


I would have given probably around a 4 to 5 and half out of 10, which is pretty much the general consensus, I mean he's right with most of criticisms, just overly, kind of like the reverse of his review of the first album.
Written by: BL on 29/7-10 at 23:23:28


On the basis of Smokahontus at least there is no way that album deserves anything more than a 3. I cant see anything redeeming about it at all, just pure insipid vacuous emptiness, so PP has much pretty hit the nail on the head.
Written by: EW on 29/7-10 at 23:53:03


one song isn't the whole album so that is moot, and given your opinion of scene music, i hardly think it would be an unbiased opinion no? :P
Written by: BL on 29/7-10 at 23:58:40


No, but then as PP rightly agrees in his report, anyone with a knowledge of real music that is more advanced than a 14 yo impressionable scene kid should be able to see just how appalling this is. I promise you that in no more than 5 years this shit will only be remembered for just abysmal it is, like some kind of more modern Limp Bizkit throwback.
Written by: EW on 30/7-10 at 08:41:02


Fair enough, I was only saying that, using the rating scale appropriately, they are at least good at being crabcore :P and fans would still like it, so a 4 is at least more reasonable.
Written by: BL on 30/7-10 at 11:42:59


heyhey! nothing's wrong with crabcore and limp bizkit!
Written by: neema on 30/7-10 at 13:50:22


BL - see the comment I made in my Alpha Drone review the other day about creating new genre names to justify terrible bands/albums. I assume 'crabcore' is abit tongue-in-cheek but metal, pop, trance or rock or whatever it actually is, it is a truly horrific concoction of styles, as is the whole genre for all Ive heard of it. Sorry.
Written by: EW on 30/7-10 at 17:53:55


Nothing to be sorry for, you're entitled to feel however you feel, like I was saying, it's about who this "music" is actually marketed to, and to be fair most of them get a kick out of it, and that's one of the things something that gets 3 out of 10 shouldn't do.
Written by: BL on 30/7-10 at 18:32:23


Crabcore comes from the Stick, Stickly video where the bassist and guitarists look like they are crabs in the position that they are playing in. YouTube it.

BL: by that token, The Jonas Brothers are superb I guess?
Written by: PP on 31/7-10 at 02:41:00


Yes yes unfortunately Ive seen that video. So as I thought, the term 'crabcore' is a derogatory one, and so "good at being crabcore" must rate them as the worst musical atrocity mankind has ever known? Non?

Following PP's lead, I hear 7 year old girls get a real kick out of Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus songs, and as we all know 7 year old girls are the truest judges of quality music.

Its nothing personal against you BL, but god, this is just too easy :D
Written by: EW on 31/7-10 at 03:21:16


lol christ there's more to it that just what fans think - you think I'm not aware of that -_-,

the rating scale suggests that for 3 out of 10 it must be badly performed (i mean hate this style as much as you want but attack attack are at least competent at their own style),

bad production - its sturgiscore 2010, the production is not bad, even if still quite digital.

and finally: "and we would think twice about recommending them even to fans of the band in question." - fans of attack attack will still get some kick out of this, not blindly, but a fair amount.

Just following the letter of the law..that's all.
Written by: bl on 31/7-10 at 12:50:50


I understand PP's actual reason for dropping from a 4 to a 3 though, and that's actually fine btw, so don't think I'm arguing for the sake of stirring shit or anything.
Written by: BL on 31/7-10 at 13:02:08


If something is atrocious enough, the letter of the law can be ignored to give a well deserved 1 or lower. I know, since I wrote that law :P
Written by: TL on 31/7-10 at 18:53:51


Haha well personally having listened to this enough times, it's not quite THAT atrocious :P
Written by: BL on 31/7-10 at 19:40:48


[2-3] - Poor: These are usually records where a BAND FAIL MISERABLY AT WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO PULL OFF. There are redeeming factors present, but overall, SOMETHING ANNOYING IS CONSISTENTLY DEVASTATING these albums, like HORRIBLE VOCALS or production, and we would THINK TWICE ABOUT RECOMMENDING THEM even to fans of the band in question.

^- I think this actually describes Attack Attack! quite accurately, and especially this new album of theirs. They're trying to be a metalcore band (let's just get past all these stupid subsubsubgenres and agree that this is essentially metalcore) and they suck at it. Something annoying is definitely consistently devastating the album.
Written by: AP on 2/8-10 at 16:25:28


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