Review: Attila - ‘Villain'
The always unapologetic Florida-based band Attila has finally graced us with their seventh studio album Villan, and let me just say I am quite thrilled with how it turned out. Making the decision to shy away from major labels, this is Attila’s first record released independently. And with that, I was honestly holding my breath along with a good portion of the Attila fan base waiting to be disappointed in Villain. But with the amazing breakdown’s presented and frontman Chris Fronzak's always entertaining vocals, I was easily hooked. It was amusing to me how they returned more to their earlier sound even paying a little tribute to their 2013 release About That Life with a track on Villian cleverly titled ‘Still About That Life’.
Overall, everyone including myself seems to be happy that Attila has chosen to return to the sound that was produced with About That Life and it’s becoming abundantly clear that this is one of the reasons Attila sought to be independent in the first place. It was so they didn't have to deal with labels trying to make too many changes to their music. It was obvious from the start that this album was going to be 100% Attila and they’re keeping true to their “give no fucks” attitude that attracted fans in the first place. However, considering both ‘Blackout’ and ‘Still About That Life’ were released as singles prior to the actual album, I wouldn’t say Attila surprised me at all when the album sounded more like their older work. Attila, particularly, tends to focus on the same exact sound structure in each of their albums and the same themes in all of their songs; drugs, sex, and partying.
There’s nothing really special that defines one song on this album as they are all somewhat orchestrated the same. It’s a recipe that works but gets boring after a while of listening. To be fair, that’s the only thing that annoyed me about the album. Overall, even if you weren’t too happy with their last album, Villain is definitely worth a listen if you are looking for a reason to get back into them.