Attack Attack! – This Means War

The biggest challenge for bands that play music comprised of very heavy verses and melodically sung choruses is to make the two feel like they actually belong together. There needs to be an element of continuity between the sections, otherwise the parts don’t really seem to fit.  Luckily, Attack Attack! have not fallen foul to this, and their new album This Means War is a metalcore juggernaut.

The strange thing about this record is that it doesn’t start particularly well. Down tuned guitars and crashing drums thrash away with typical vitriol, but it isn’t anything out of the ordinary. It’s when the chorus appears that things get much more exciting. Where many of their other contemporaries fall down, AA! have got writing a melody that sticks in your head down to an art form. Instead of trying to make them sound melancholic and wistful, everything enforces the vocal melody and compounds the message its lyrics carry. In many senses, they approach their chorus’ as if they were writing pop songs.

Synth lines often feature too, and give the songs a certain sparkle that can be lost all too easily amongst the screamed vocals and heavily overdriven guitars. You never know when they will crop up either, which makes you appreciate them so much more when they do. As well as all of this, they favour the use of huge riffs in place of repetitive breakdowns, which not only makes the songs sound much heavier, but also allows the parts to flow brilliantly from one to the next.

What makes this album so brilliant is that every part of every song is carefully considered. Each of the styles that feature in its overall sound are married together expertly, as well as it also being very relatable lyrically. Forward thinking metalcore is rare these days, but this album is a perfect example, as well as one you won’t stop listening to for a long time.