Eric Bass is no stranger to massive, arena-filling rock, but I Had A Name proves he’s just as powerful when he’s flying solo. Best known as the bassist, producer, and creative backbone of Shinedown, Bass has stepped into the spotlight with an album that refuses to play it safe. This isn’t just a collection of songs. It’s a full-blown sonic journal, spilling over with the kind of unfiltered emotion and meticulous detail that only someone with a restless, hyperactive mind could create.
Let’s be honest. When a rock band member goes solo, it can go one of two ways. Either it’s a slight rework of what they already do, or it’s a complete left turn into something uniquely them. I Had A Name is the latter. It’s cinematic, unpredictable, and wired with an energy that shifts between cathartic chaos and delicate introspection. It doesn’t just sit in one genre. It sprints between rock, metal, synth, electronic, and ambient textures, sometimes within a single track. This isn’t an album you put on in the background. It drags you in, demands your undivided attention, and won’t settle for anything less.
From the moment A World Unseen kicks in, you can tell this album is saying something. It unpacks identity, neurodivergence, faith, and childhood memories, not with vague metaphors but with the weight of someone who’s actually lived it. If you’ve ever felt like your mind operates on a different frequency, this album doesn’t just nod in agreement. It grabs your hand and says, “same“.
Bass has been open about his experiences with ADHD and autism, and that perspective is woven into every second of this record. There’s something incredibly familiar in the way it moves—shifting tempos, unexpected turns, layers upon layers of sound, like a brain that never shuts up. It’s that feeling of hyper-focusing so hard that time stops or of emotions hitting all at once without warning. And then there are the moments where everything stalls. Like running headfirst into a wall of executive dysfunction, where the momentum is there, but something invisible holds you back. It’s raw in the way that real life is—messy, loud, and impossible to simplify.
Listening to I Had A Name feels like stepping inside someone else’s hyperfixation. Some tracks spiral into late-night overthinking, and others capture that electric rush of inspiration that keeps you awake all night. It’s overwhelming, but in a way that makes you want to hit repeat just to catch every detail you might’ve missed the first time.
Standout Tracks:
We Can’t Go Home – Melancholic in a way that creeps up on you, the kind of song that sticks to your ribs.
Goodnight Goodnight – Like sifting through old memories you weren’t ready to revisit. Heavy but beautiful.
New Graves – Surprisingly groovy. Try sitting still. You won’t.
One of the most fascinating things about I Had A Name is that Bass did everything himself. Writing, performing, producing, mixing. Every single sound is his. That kind of creative control could have made the album feel overly polished, but instead, it feels like he cracked open his skull and let the music spill out exactly as he hears it. For neurodivergent listeners, that’s incredibly relatable—trying to take the chaos inside your head and turn it into something that makes sense to the rest of the world. He’s done that through sound.
If there’s a challenge to this album, it’s that it’s a lot. The level of detail will take a few listens to fully absorb, but that’s part of what makes it so rewarding. It’s an album built for those of us who love dissecting music, who latch onto tiny production choices, and who let records take over our brains for weeks at a time.
Whether you’re a longtime Shinedown fan, a neurodivergent listener looking for something that gets it, or just someone who appreciates music that feels like a direct transmission from an artist’s soul, I Had A Name is something special. It’s not just a solo debut, it’s a world of its own, waiting to be explored.
Stay unruly.
TL;DR Review
Eric Bass - I Had A Name
Eric Bass' I Had A Name is a deep dive into a mind that never slows down. It captures the restless energy of ADHD, the weight of executive dysfunction, and the raw emotion of someone who feels everything all at once. Every note, every shift in tempo feels intentional, like Bass translating the chaos of his brain into sound. If you know how that feels, this one's for you.
