I just wanted to take a little time to talk about a band I really enjoy known as Attack Attack!. Described as "crabcore" or "dubcore" by their fans, this band has been on the rise the past couple of years. Their music features a typical metalcore sound, with tuned down guitars, crunching riffs and emese breakdowns. One of the unique features of AA! is the combination of their metalcore sound with various electronics via keyboards and synthisizers and use of autotunes in their clean vocals. But every band who is on the rise will eventually have some problems to overcome.
Their first problem came when the band decided to kick out vocalist Austin Carlile. Carlile, who was known for his higher pitched, "chirping" style of screaming, seemed to be a great fit for the band. Kicked to the curb, AA! was forced to find a new vocalist which they found in Nick Barham. Barham had a drastically different approach to voacls, taking more of a lower pitched sound, marking the beginning of a new deeper sound for AA!. But due to wanting some change in his life, Barham didn't last very long, which prompted keyboardist and synth op, Calab Shomo, to take over vocals.
Shomo's screams happen to be deeper than even Barham's, so on their second self-titled CD, the band decided to reflect the deeper sound of Shomo's vocals with a deeper sounding music. This new CD expanded AA!'s sound in ways that weren't possible with Carlile as frontman. And although everything seemed to be working great for the budding band, another problem was on the way.
Following a very successful Warped Tour run, guitarist/clean vocalist, Johnny Franck, decided to leave the band to focus on his relationship with god. Although the band respects his desicion and wishes him the best, this raises the question of what to do next. The band is commited to continue on their headlining tour, which started this week, and to continue making music with Shomo taking over clean vocals as well. A clip of a new song was posted on their MySpace page this week with Shomo doing all the vocals. Although the music itself seems similar, the vocals sound dramatically different. The contrast that was once between Shomo and Franck no does not exist, with Shomo not being able to hit higher pitches. This raises a big question of can Attack Attack! re-invent themselves, or have they already reached their prime, just 5 years into their career as a band? Only time will be able to tell, but one can only hope that these four kids from Cleveland can continue to do what they love and find success at it.
Below you will find three links featuring the three recorded eras of Attack Attack!. Let me know what era you like best and what you think will happen in the future.
Attack Attack! w/Austin Carlile on vocals (Barham in video)
Attack Attack! w/ Shomo on Vocals
Attack Attack! w/out Franck
Hmm. Its hard to really say what will happen in the future. People are either going to love it or hate it, but then again I guess it has always been that way with music anyways. I haven't heard much of the second album, but I have the first and I like that one a lot. I always liked how Carlile's vocals and Franck's complimented each others. The song with Shomo and Franck on it though is way different and I personally don't like it as much because Shomo has such deep screaming vocals and it kind of contradicts Franck's higher pitched electronica vocals.
ReplyDeleteBut without Franck there to offer the higher range on vocals and Shomo filling in with his more hard rock voice it brings a nice change. I'm not sure how I feel about his voice possibly auto-tuned and dubbed over electronica though.
This new style could very well work out, but I am still in love with the old sound back with Carlile and Franck. One thing is for sure though, they have definitely changed a lot and fans aren't always so forgiving when something they love is so drastically changed.
Yea its funny because the early to the new stuff almost seems likr two different bands. I like the early and the newer stuff and I can't really decide what one I like more. I'm just kind of skeptical about what they can do without Franck, but I am definitly hoping this isn't the end.
ReplyDeleteSame here. I guess the greatest thing a band can do is keep changing their style so they aren't making the same music all of the time. So only time will tell for them on wether this new change will be good or bad. And I agree I can't decide what I like more.
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