shinedown threat to survivalAlbum number five from the hard rock outfit comes at you with a little something different. It is a more accessible and radio friendly Shinedown for you. Radio friendly in that there are tons more beats and grooving than what they have previously shown us. They accomplish all this without allowing it to feel like they are cowtowing or selling their souls for success. Shows more of their softer side as well as the pumped up energy we’ve come to expect. Once you get over the shock of the more soulful sound from Shinedown then you will find softer songs like “Black Cadillac” and “Outcast” growing on you. Some songs are admittedly not so successfully done and occasionally the album falls into the trap of one song sounding like the previous track. To temper it all they come at you hard on tracks like “Oblivion” and “Cut the Chord”. Brent Smith’s voice is still instantaneously recognizable and really is the centre which Shinedown operates around. Here’s to hoping that their fans will approach this experimental sound with open minds.