SHINEDOWN: Planet Zero (ALTERNATIVE METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Shinedown had offered us in 2018 an excellent album, "Attention Attention", proposing a great number of catchy tracks rather anchored in the pop metal (or heavy rock) movement, varied and easy to access. The band comes back 4 years later with "Planet Zero" which, like its predecessor, is a kind of concept album supposed to make the listener think. Here, Shinedown transports us in a (not so) fictitious society, called "Planet Zero" in which the individuals are deprived of rights but are not aware of it. Several issues are tackled, from social networks to the lack of tolerance, from misinformation to general apathy while everything is pushing to move.

What better way to wake up your audience by making noise when you have an important message to deliver. That's what Shinedown does with a 'No Sleep Tonight' that bears its name well. In a punk rock style that could remind The Offspring, the track starts the album with a bang and surprises a bit by its aggressiveness and speed. 'Planet Zero' which follows is more in the usual heavy rock movement in spite of few melodic aspects intended to make the song heavy and to stick to the lyrics. The rhythmically jerky bridge saves a bit a rather plain composition.

It is from this title that the band regularly proposes interludes allowing to understand the slow evolution of the mentalities, and thus of the lyrics, as the album progresses. The few declamations through a robotic voice make live the decline of this civilization doomed to disappear. An interesting idea indeed, but on a first listening only because they tend to break the rhythm.

Alternating calmer songs and slightly rougher tracks ('Dead Don't Lie', 'Army Of The Underappreciated'), the rhythm weakens in the second part of the album with notably numerous ballads ('Dysfunctional You', Hope') but sometimes a little too sweet ('A Symptom Of Being Human' or 'Daylight' which could have been written by Ed Sheeran) as well as mid tempo tracks with rhythms and melodies often taken from the current FM pop, which would have had their place in albums of bands like Imagine Dragons ('Sure Is Fun', 'What You Wanted').

If your English allows you to understand the lyrics easily, "Planet Zero" can be considered a successful album. The texts and the music go together quite well and convey the desired emotion. On the other hand, without any guiding thread, it is allowed to find the album rather rambling and lacking of outstanding tracks. Less efficient than the previous opus, "Planet Zero" will probably not disappoint the fans of Shinedown but is not the reference album that we could expect from such a talented band. - Official website

SHINEDOWN

PLANET ZERO

AUTRE LABEL

ALTERNATIVE METAL