Threat to Survival (Clear Red)

Shinedown have built their name on rock songs both brutal in power and epic in scope. With their 2015 album, Threat to Survival, the group (Brent Smith, Barry Kerch, Eric Bass, and Zach Myers) veered away from that densely layered sonic palette and took a more direct approach. Featuring lead single "Cut the Cord" – a blistering track that already shot to No. 1 on Active Rock radio – Threat to Survival finds the multi-platinum-selling act achieving their most powerful sound and offering up one of their most important albums to date.

On "Cut the Cord" the band looks at the insidious nature of self-destruction and puts out a call for self-empowerment. Produced by Shinedown's own Eric Bass, "Cut the Cord" fuses Smith's growling vocal work with thunderous drumming and lead-heavy guitar riffs, weaving in spooky, choirlike background vocals to thrilling effect. Elsewhere, Shinedown instill their self-reflection with a brighter mood that's often exhilarating in its intensity. On the piano-laced "How Did You Love," for instance, Smith's soaring vocals demand an exacting reassessment of how to go about building a more meaningful life. A bold statement of determination against all odds, "State of My Head" opens with an ethereal, dreamlike intro before powering forward as a groove-driven anthem.

With its stomping rhythm and surging guitar work, "Outcast" is as a full-throttle celebration of unbridled confidence and daring manifesto of Shinedown's dedication to constantly outdoing themselves as artists. And on "Black Cadillac," Smith delivers a darkly charged but soulful epic that twists its funereal metaphor into a strikingly hopeful message.

1. Asking For It
2. Cut The Cord
3. State Of My Head
4. Outcast
5. How Did You Love
6. It All Adds Up
7. Oblivion
8. Dangerous
9. Thick As Thieves
10. Black Cadillac
11. Misfits