Shinedown tease new album Planet Zero with the release of its title track

Shinedown 2022 — (Image credit: Jimmy Fontaine)

Shinedown will release their seventh album, Planet Zero, on April 22 via Atlantic Records. And for those who can’t wait to hear what the Jacksonville, Florida quartet have in store for the world on that date, the band have kindly released the album’s title track as a teaser for what’s to come.

Speaking about the single, vocalist Brent Smith says, “If we shut each other down and allow ourselves to be divided by the information we consume and the way we talk to each other, we lose our humanity. When you look outside of your phone, you’ll see there are so many people doing good things and trying to take care of each other. But we’re starting to see parts of society slip into an unknown. Planet Zero was written for all of us. The fact is that we’re all here on this planet no matter what, so it’s time to actually move forward together with empathy, perseverance and strength.”

The follow-up to Shinedown’s 2018 album Attention Attention was recorded at bassist Eric Bass’ Big Animal Studio in South Carolina.

The band’s ‘people’ are describing the album as the quartet”s “most ambitious and masterfully realised work to date.”

“Planet Zero is a high-concept, ultra-vivid, viscerally charged saga,” the publicity blurb states. “A critical yet optimistic look at the fractures and frays of a society that has undergone many challenges in recent years, the album is part social commentary and part in-depth exploration of the human psyche.”

The track listing for Planet Zero is as follows:

01. 2184
02. No Sleep Tonight
03. Planet Zero
04. Welcome
05. Dysfunctional You
06. Dead Don’t Die
07. Standardized Experiences
08. America Burning
09. Do Not Panic
10. A Symptom Of Being Human
11. Hope
12. A More Utopian Future
13. Clueless And Dramatic
14. Sure Is Fun
15. Daylight
16. This Is A Warning
17. The Saints Of Violence And Innuendo
18. Army Of The Underappreciated
19. Delete
20. What You Wanted

Showdown will kick off what promises to be a busy year on the road with a show at The Warfield in San Francisco on January 26. A full list of their upcoming dates, including European festival shows and support slots with Iron Maiden, can be viewed on their website.

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.