'Tuned In' review: Attack Attack! seems to wage war on itself

"This Means War" by Attack Attack!

“This Means War,” Attack Attack! (Rise)

Bold Ohio band Attack Attack! seems to want to make everyone at least a little unhappy with its new “This Means War.”

The Vans Warped Tour veteran group lives up to its name, full-throttle, by aggressively blazing through its 10-track would-be concept album in which every song title is like a new chapter — “The Revolution,” “The Betrayal,” “The Wretched,” etc. The death-metal, screamo, heavy-rock act rarely hits the brakes, with machine-gun guitar riffs and screeching vocals by Caleb Shomo swarming and suffocating the mix.

That alone would be sufficient to engage metal-core fans, yet the bludgeoning, hysterical assault employs numerous other weapons that are unexpected — and undoubtedly unwanted by some. Apart from some prog-rock trickery and chunky cadence change-ups that aren’t all that unusual for the genre, there’s real singing by “clean” vocals. Hook-happy, melodious singing behind Shomo’s animated monster voice — which, it should be noted, is often more discernible than that of his contemporary screechers, and it should further be noted that the group’s lyrics don’t live up to the conviction of its vocals.

There’s also old-fashioned punk fury racing through this polished, modern metal mayhem, and even traces of funk. But what might be the hardest for the heavy-rock fans to reconcile are the band’s unapologetic forays into danceable electronica.

“The Means War” isn’t nearly as fractured as the stylistic hopscotch might indicate — Rob Zombie and others have long managed to fuse raw rock to glossy synthetics (though Attack Attack! sounds more like a next-generation Atari Teenage Riot than a next-generation Rob Zombie).

Still, Attack Attack! has guts. Group members know that their audience will be put off by their conflicting signatures (shrieking vocals vs. poppy singing, thrashing guitars vs. rolling electronica), and listeners will be alternately attracted to and repelled by “The Means War.”

The fact the band embraces such contradictions is weirdly rewarding.

Rating: 3-1/2

© 2012 Knoxville.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.