Believe you me, despite my dislike of preachy lyrics, I was very excited to listen to the new Attack Attack album released earlier this week. Listening to the first few seconds of the first song I thought, "God damn are they god." Their sound somehow seemed to grow even tighter and their epic heavyness to their songs even bigger and bolder. Then The screaming settled in, "That's different. Is this the right band?" With the change of the logo and the completely serious and grimy artwork I thought I could have mistakenly listened to the wrong band. Nope, it is definitely them guys.
Things that I noticed immediately were different:
-Screamer
-Singer
-Techno interludes and break downs almost non-existent
-Funny titles GONE
-Lyrics not about jesus
-Sound darker
-Rooted more in metal and punk than hardcore and pop
I'm really kind of upset. I never got the chance to see them live and now the sound and line up is so different. They're practically a brand new band. I decided to do a bit of research to see what the hell happened to my crabcore saviors.
Bare with me, this cuss is harder to figure out then calculus. All of this information came from the know all of the internet Wikipedia, the only trusted source on the web, duh. Okay so let me break this down for you guys.
The first, and in my opinion best, full length album Someday Came Suddenly (2008) consisted of members Andrew Wetsel (drums), Andrew Whiting (lead guitar), Austin Carlile (Screamer), Johnny Franck (rhythm guitar/ lead clean vocals), Caleb Shomo (keyboards, synths).
Attack Attack - Stick Stickly 2008
So Austin Carlile gets fired, mistake one. They hire Nick Barham who takes over screaming. He was in the band for like 6 months, mistake two. He was never recorded on any album. Caleb stepped up and started screaming.
Austin Carlile (former singer/screamer?)
So then for the recording of the second self titled album Attack Attack (2010), the line up is recorded as Caleb screaming and playing synths, and Franck on vocals and guitar as usual. I went back and listed to this album while writing this post and I can admit that you can hear some of the changes. I only listened to Smokahontas about a billion times and the album as a whole still retained that techno-fun-rap-poppy singing-ness that the former had, just in less dosage. I guess i figured the screamer was just working on his range, not realizing it was a completely different screamer.
Attack Attack - Smokahontas 2011
Caleb Shomo (current screamer and keys)
Third mistake, Johnny Franck leaves the band to discover god or something. So now the band is forced to find a new singer again. I'm assuming that Caleb recorded screams, clean vocals, and keys on the new album This Means War (2011), I couldn't find much information on that. However, for touring reasons the band has replaced Franck with Sean Mackowski who fills in rhythm guitar and clean vocals while touring.
Johnny Franck (former rhythm guitarist and singer)
So now, the line up is completely altered from the first album. In my opinion the quintessential element of a band that must stay the same is a singer and or screamer. You can generally replace instrumentals without being able to tell a dramatic difference, but singing and screaming to a band as unique in sound as Attack Attack is detrimental. Certain critics have commented that on the self titled album Calebs screams were deep and almost disturbing to now on This Means War (2011) they are higher pitched. I don't hear it. To me his screams will never resemble those of Austin's.
Attack Attack -Wretched 2012
Band Members:
Current
Andrew Wetzel - drums, percussion (since 2005)
Andrew Whiting - lead guitar (since 2005)
John Holgado - bass guitar (since 2007)
Johnny Franck - rhythm guitar, clean vocals (2007–2010)
Nick Barham - lead vocals (2008–2009)
Austin Carlile - lead vocals (2007–2008)
Ricky Lortz - rhythm guitar, clean vocals (2005–2007)
Nick White - bass guitar (2005–2007)
Sean Mackowski - rhythm guitar, clean vocals (since 2010)
The first album is crabcore gold in a bottle. This last album however, has no oomph! They are turning into every other cliched hardcore band. Attack Attack used to be hilarious. They had serious lyrics, stupid and humorous titles (Bro, Ashley's Here), great rap intros ("Attack Attack where you at? 2008! hahaha"), and amazing electronica and keyboard break downs and solos. Not to mention their ridiculous invention of the "crabcore dance" (those guys must have thighs, glutes, and quads of steel). The meshing of techno rifs with the double bass and elloquent screams was what set Attack Attack aside from all other bands in the genre, love em' or hate em' you could dance and trash grab to em'! It's what made them famous and the lack of it is what will lead to their demise in mainstream hardcore/metalcore.
I for one am really dissapointed in this new sound of drab hardcore they have going on. There's nothing fun about their music anymore. Their singing parts have become seldom in the last album and their keyboard solos are almost nonexsistent. No more are the slow electronic songs with poppy upbeat breakdowns leading into the best three sounds ever struck. They are still talented no doubt, but they have lost their way as a band and it's very evident. They don't know who they are anymore, they have thrown away what sets them apart from other bands and they are quickly fading into the abyss of once great and unique hardcore music groups grasping for anyone that allows them to still tour.
I ask of you Attack Attack, where is my unknown rapper telling me I'm listening to a second wave of your greatness? Where are you're thoughtless and meaningless titles that I once so looked forward to reading? Where are the techno tracks that I can just skip ahead, and drive like a maniac to? Where are the sick beats interrupted with hardcore/techno break downs, base and double kick? In this new age of dubstep how are you not fitting in seamlessly to a new version of hardcore? Where is your prior genius and why has it been stifled? You have all the resources to grow within your original sound, so grow! Stop unplanting your seeds and joining an over populated garden. Find a field filled with epic beats and super sonic break downs and destroy it with your epic talent. Flourish my little crabkins flourish!
Time will only tell,
