Shinedown are one of those acts – perhaps along with Alter Bridge – who feel like the modern equivalent of Bon Jovi or Def Leppard.
Arena rock, basically. Proudly, unapologetically arena rock. The type that is built not just for stages, but for places with tiers. The sort of thing where the chorus needs to reach the bloke in row Z who has just paid twelve quid for a pint.
And Shinedown have the numbers to back all of that up too: billions of streams, platinum and gold singles all over the shop, certifications across their entire album catalogue, and more than 10 million albums sold worldwide.
None of that matters much, of course, if the songs are bland. And to Shinedown’s credit, bland is not something they seem very interested in these days.
Indeed, if anything, “Ei8ht” finds them broadening their sound again. This is still recognisably Shinedown. The choruses still arrive like someone has just turned the lights on in an arena. Brent Smith still sings like he’s addressing 15,000 people whether you’re listening on headphones or not. But there’s a willingness here to take chances, to stretch the edges, and to make something that feels like a proper album.
“At The Bottom” has the feeling of the opening scene of a rock opera. Dramatic, huge, and full of depth, it sets the tone for a record that is heavy in more ways than one. This is not the same band that made “The Sound Of Madness”. That is no criticism either way. It is just that this is a band now happy to push themselves into different corners.
Even the more upbeat songs come with weight. There is a reason “Dance, Kid, Dance” was a single, because on the surface it has that immediate, fists-in-the-air quality. But dig into it and, like so much here, there are issues being explored. It moves, it punches, but it is not empty.
“Burning Down The Disco” proves that Shinedown have modern rock sorted. Let’s be honest, they have had it sorted for years. This one, though, feels destined to be an arena favourite. Big riff, bigger hook, and a sense that it knows exactly what it is doing.
“Three Six Five” has a poppier edge and obvious crossover potential, but the sheen does not hide the hurt underneath. There is real pain in the words, and that is where Shinedown have always been cleverer than some of their detractors might admit. They know how to dress bruises in melody.
“Young Again” does the reflection thing beautifully. “We didn’t know that we’d never be that young again,” sings Smith, and that line lands because it is true in the way the best simple lines often are. Everyone knows that feeling eventually. The moment is gone before you knew it was the moment.
“Dizzy” is, at heart, a simple love song, but interestingly it is not delivered as a ballad. Like most of these songs, it explodes in the chorus. Shinedown, you suspect, could try to strip back completely and still end up sounding enormous. It is just in their wiring.
Then, straight away, “Imposter” takes us somewhere darker. This is a record that spends a lot of time inside the mind, not always comfortably. “Machine Gun” offers a contrast in sound and tone, finding them “focused and not fragile”, but the line “instead of you I’m holding a machine gun” gives the whole thing a sharper edge.
“Outlaw” is another one that sounds vast. That is true of so many of these songs. They are constructed to fill space, but the trick is that they rarely feel hollow. “Safe And Sound” arrives with proper confidence too, the kind of song that seems to walk into the room knowing exactly where it is going.
Then comes “Searchlight”, which is brilliant. The fiddle could have been lifted straight from a modern country record, and indeed Shinedown made history by debuting it at the Grand Ole Opry. It works because it does not feel like a gimmick. It feels like another door being opened.
That willingness to keep moving is one of the record’s real strengths. “No one ever said growing up that they wanna be a wannabe,” they observe, taking aim at the lack of originality around them, and there is a point there. Shinedown are not reinventing rock music, but they are not content to stand still either.
“Deep End” has harsh synths and a darker modern edge, while “Killing Fields” is the sort of thing modern Bon Jovi would probably kill for. Massive, melodic, and built on that classic idea that rock music can still be both polished and meaningful.
“Back To The Living” adds lush strings and another skyscraping chorus, while “Wide Open” builds superbly. “So Glad You Asked” finds them “burying the past”, and if it is overtly pop in places, then does that really matter at this point? Shinedown have earned the right to follow the song wherever it goes.
The acoustic closer, “The Pilot”, brings things home with the line: “Today’s a battle, but I win the war.” That could almost be the thesis of the whole thing. Shinedown do not make throwaway music. They make music that matters to them, and whether you buy into the size of it all or not, there is something admirable in that.
In an age where we are constantly told the album is dead, for a major rock act to come back with a record that runs for over an hour is, in itself, a brave move. There is no attempt here to shrink to fit the moment.
Instead, with “Ei8ht”, Shinedown continue to elevate themselves above the pack.
Rating: 8/10
