Attack Attack!

With so many metalcore bands taking themselves so seriously, it’s pretty refreshing for a group like Attack Attack! to display a sense of humor with song titles like “Sexual Man Chocolate” and “Smokahontas.” (Hi-jinks prior to their eponymous sophomore album include a 2008 EP entitled *If Guns Are Outlawed, Can We Use Swords?*). Much of Attack Attack!’s lyrics are based on Christian beliefs, but they don’t consider themselves a Christian band. “Renob, Nevada” opens like a violent storm with bludgeoning beats, punchy guitars, gang vocals and Caleb Shomo screaming in a guttural growl before Johnny Franck’s boyish vocals come soaring down to warn of the slippery slope that is jealousy. Though the band incorporates various flourishes of electronic music, “Shut Your Mouth” is a straight-up dance-floor jam replete with a guest cameo by electronica artist McSwagger. It’s quite a contrast to the following “A for Andrew,” which hinges on more larynx shredding from Shomo, who balances lyrics of suicidal desperation with Franck’s uplifting choruses that sing of hope and praise.