Artist = Shinedown
Genre = Hard Rock, Grunge
Track listing
- Devour
- Sound Of Madness
- Second Chance
- Cry For Help
- The Crow & The Butterfly
- If Only You Knew
- Sin With A Grin
- What A Shame
- Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide
- Breaking Inside
- Call Me
At last, a new release from Shinedown, the best band to come from the US in a very long time. You may have heard of Shinedown from such programs as WWE's 2008 Night Of Champions, or American Idol (season 5)
After a three-year wait whilst recording and writing new material, The Sound of Madness was released in June, after the release of 'Devour' as the first single. It reached number 2 in the US Mainstream Rock Chart, and 121 in the US Hot 100.
This album is heavier than the last album, Us and Them, and relies much more on the expertises of the drummer and the 3 guitar players and less on the vocal skills of Brent Smith. In this album, I feel that the band has found its sound. Whilst the two previous albums were good, this release has upped the ante enough to be certifiably brilliant.
Devour
Devour, devour
Suffocate your own empire
Devour, Devour
It's your final hour
Starting with a marching drum solo (reminiscent of MCR's Black Parade I feel) you're suddenly plunged into a heavy, pulsing, fast paced beat, with chugging guitars and vocals that could easily be the love child of Serj Tankian and the vocalist from Disturbed. A truly excellent song, catchy, and easy to see why it was released as a single. Easily one of the best songs on the album.
Sound Of Madness
I created the sound of madness
Wrote the book on pain
Somehow I'm still here to explain
That the darkest hour never comes in the night
Another pulsing tune, with the bass guitar and the drums leading the song through three verses and various chorus repeats. A darkly beautiful song, just don't play it to young children before bedtime
Second Chance
I just saw Hayley's comet1
She waved
Said "Why you always running in place?
Even the man in the moon disappeared
Somewhere in the stratosphere"
This is the first of quieter, gentler songs on the album, reminiscent of 'Lady So Divine' and 'Save Me' on the earlier albums. The song relies much more on the vocal talents of Brent, and, as usual, he doesn't fail to deliver.
The rest of the songs I'm going to leave for you'all to discover for yourselves. Trust me, It's worth the 45minutes it takes to listen to it.
Have an urge to discover who/what I'm going on about? Then the following links should help (I am planning to write a node on Shinedown at some point, so bear with me)
www.shinedown.com - Offical Website
www.shinedownnation.com - Fan Website
www.myspace.com/shinedown - Shinedown's MySpace Page
www.pandora.com - Pandora, the best music website ever 2
Listen and enjoy.
If you like these bands, you'll love Shinedown;
1 I know its Hailey's comet, but the booklet says Hayley's. Leave me be ok. Please
2 Site is only availble to these living in America or colonies thereof. IP address from elsewhere are banned from the site, something to do with licensing laws :
Various info from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinedown