ALBUM OF THE WEEK #16 SHINEDOWN - THE SOUND OF MADNESS (2008) AUDIO EXCELLENCE BY THE DECADE (PART 5)

[RJhog (Admin)]

   

     Album: The Sound Of Madness
     Artist: Shinedown
     Released: 2008

1. "Devour" – 3:50
2. "Sound of Madness" – 3:54
3. "Second Chance" – 3:40
4. "Cry for Help" – 3:20
5. "The Crow & the Butterfly" – 4:13
6. "If You Only Knew" – 3:46
7. "Sin with a Grin" – 4:00
8. "What a Shame" – 4:18
9. "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide" – 3:11
10. "Breaking Inside" (Smith, Bobby Huff) – 3:51
11. "Call Me" (Smith, Tony Battaglia) – 3:42

***all songs written by Brent Smith unless otherwise noted


This week we wrap up the Audio Excellence by Decade series with a look at Shinedown's 2008 offering, The Sound Of Madness.  This is Shinedown's third studio effort, and in my opinion, their best overall work.  Don't get me wrong, I really like their debut album, I just don't think it's as consistent overall as this one.  Quite simply, Shinedown is my favorite post-grunge band.  They play rock and roll music and aren't afraid to cover classics (like their awesome cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Simple Man).  The keys to this band for me are the songwriting, almost exclusively handled by lead vocalist Brent Smith, and Smith's vocal abilities.

Singles:

Devour
Second Chance
Sound Of Madness
If You Only Knew
The Crow & The Butterfly

All five of these singles are top notch songs.  Devour and Sound Of Madness are heavier tunes, with the other 3 being ballads or something like ballads.  My favorite thing about the tune Devour is the drumming.  It is very stout.  Second Chance is Shinedown's biggest hit to date reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, which isn't too bad for a true rock band these days.  My favorite of these four would be If You Only Knew, which is an acoustic driven song, and fits my reference above to something like a ballad.  The surprise of these five songs, for me, would be The Crow & The Butterfly.  This is just a beautiful song that, according to Wikipedia, was written by Smith because he had a dream about a mother dealing with the death of her son.  The guitar solo, though not terribly complicated, fits this song so well. 

Album Cuts:

I also happen to think that all of the album cuts are excellent songs.  They can be divided up into the heavy songs and the ballads (Shinedown seems to do about 50/50 in these 2 categories).  Cry For Help, Sin With A Grin and Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide are the heavies.  The best of these three would be Sin With A Grin.  It has a great hook and is just an explosive song.  The ballads are What A Shame, Breaking Inside and Call Me.  I hate to sound like a broken record (shouldn't that saying be a scratched record), but these three ballads are also excellent.  What A Shame sounds to me like he is singing about an uncle or some father figure that he dearly loved.  I'm not sure if I like that song better or Call Me.  I just can't make up my mind.

Conclusion:

So there you have it.  I really feel like Shinedown will be around for the long haul, especially if Smith can continue coming up with brilliant songs, musically and lyrically.  By the way, Shinedown has an excellent song on the new movie "The Expendables" and had a superb song (Her Name Is Alice) on the recent Alice In Wonderland movie with Johnny Depp.  The even left a very good song (Son Of Sam) off of this album, but I think we may be getting a deluxe version with quite a few of these tracks in November.  I will recommend this album to anybody who likes melody driven music with exceptional vocals.  Of course, it's only 2 years old so you can actually still find it at Best Buy, but if you like it and don't already have it, I recommend that you wait on the deluxe version, it will be well worth the money. 

Cover Art:

Nothing Special

Hidden Gem Award:

This one is difficult for me, as I like every album cut.  But, having to pick one, I'll go with Sin With A Grin.




If you want to hear The Sound Of Madness, please click here.

[Niels (Mod)]

I was going to post a Shinedown-video on VOTW, either "Sound of madness" or "The Crow and the Butterfly", but changed my mind, when I saw the Shinedown group-page, because I try to post "unseen" video's, but who knows, maybe one of them will apear after all?

[Scott]

I really liked this for the most part. Second Chance is really fantastic! I liked Cry For Help as well, that track really sounded like Nickelback though, also If You Only Knew. Really strong stuff, I liked it and will listen again...

[Niels (Mod)]

I really like this album. It's (for me) surprisingly good.