20 Most Anticipated Hard Rock & Metal Albums Of 2022

20. Shinedown

Title: Planet Zero

Release Date: 22 April 2022

Previous Release: Attention Attention (2018)

Shinedown are a band that have had a great career with mainstream music fans as well as their target demographic. In March 2021, Billboard ranked the band top of their Greatest of All Time Mainstreams Rock Artists list.

Frontman Brent Smith described Planet Zero as "[...] a record that I think some people will consider controversial [...] very provocative, especially for Shinedown." Though he assured fans:

"The record is not a complete political record/thought-provoking record in regards to, 'This is what we think and you should think that way.' It's the complete opposite of that. What it is, it's historical. Nobody writes records like these anymore."

On 26th January 2021, Shinedown released the album's first single and titular track Planet Zero. The political themes are evident in the track's lyrics, with lines such as "they're cancelling your feelings" and "so bite your tongue 'cause it might save your life." With revealed track titles such as America Burning and The Saints of Violence and Innuendo, Planet Zero may not be a "complete political record," however, it is likely heavily politicised.