Artist: Attila
Album: Rage
Genre: Partycore
Label: Artery

Now I have to admit, working this review was my first real experience listening to Attila and I’m sad to say that it was a very disappointing first encounter. There were moments of instrumentation that were really good and caught my ear but the rest was simply monotonous while the vocals were simply a joke. I know that’s a bit of a forward stance to take early on in a review, but Attila’s Rage lived up to its name and now it’s time for the slaughter to begin.

First off, the vocals, like I stated above, are absolutely terrible. There is no cohesion with the guitars and it offsets the whole album from very early on. However, even a broken watch is right twice a day and when the group finally finds cohesion, Attila is a powerful force. The problem lies in the party based culture that Attila rose from. The point of the group seems to praising off-the-wall lifestyles and people who don’t take anything seriously, which if fine, but when the group themselves don’t take their music seriously, why should we? No one wants to support anything that sounds like Jazz getting ripped apart by Megatron.

The problems with Rage, don’t end there though as the guitar tones and EQ is an equally appalling train wreck. When I hear a breakdown I want to feel the heaviness draw me back and rip my face off, not just sit there and feel like I got shot with a pellet gun. Bring the beef, turn the bass up and the treble down. While I wouldn’t ask anyone to listen to the record, one of the few bareable track, “Strikeout,” encapsulates this issue fully. It’s a sick track meant for partying while throwing down, but lacks almost all the “boom” factor that makes hardcore great.

Only one part of this record seemed worthy of highlighting, but at the same time, it’s still a fault. There are some styles that Attila plays so well, but they lose focus and genre jump to much for it to shine through. They need to stick to one genre and master it. The southern rock and solos are amazing on Rage. In fact, even after everything negative, I haven’t heard anyone play this genre this good since the peak days of Once Nothing. If the whole album was this style, I would cherish it and praise it. It’s upbeat and catchy to any ear. I don’t see why they didn’t write the whole album in this fashion.

I’m sorry Attila fans, I’m not impressed with Rage and the band’s future isn’t looking too bright thus far. If the band could focus their passion for partying and chugging into one solid sound [and work on those vocal issues], then maybe there’d be some hope, but for now it’s all been done before and much, much better.

In the words of Attila’s ‘Make It Sick’, “I don’t give a f*** if you like this.”

Score: 3/10
Written by Matt “Hurricane” Haines

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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