Eighth album for Atlantic’s hit machine, and a surprise: the rock press, usually condescending towards Shinedown, applauds. 74/100 across nine reviews. Blabbermouth (9/10) swears EI8HT « doesn’t play like a safe, normal-sounding release » but like an « exciting listen from front to back »; Kerrang! (4/5) hails « the sound of a band doing the opposite of what others would do eight records in »; Classic Rock (4/5) confirms the turn: « a hard rock record all the way ».
The consensus: Brent Smith and company, multi-platinum with nothing to prove, chose ambition over repetition — even at the cost of sprawl, concedes AllMusic (70), which finds the whole « less focused » but interesting to hear. The dissenters hold their ground: Metal Hammer (60) sees multi-platinum rockers who « stick to the middle lane », and Sputnikmusic (50) searches in vain for « anything even slightly distinctive » in a homogenous hour.
The irony of the case: it’s the public that sulks, at 58/100 — sixteen points below the press. Fans who came for three more « Second Chance » walk away with an hour of arena rock experiments. When critics like a Shinedown album more than its fans do, something happened.