Hey guys, I've been a lurker here on the Shinedown boards for a pretty long time now, and this is the first time I've ever posted here. In fact, I never really thought anything would prompt me to post on this forum, but I really can't help but express my thoughts on The Sound of Madness.

I was as pumped as anyone about the new album, and when I heard Devour I thought maybe Shinedown was going along a different path to greatness. But after hearing every song on the album more than once, there are a lot that I can't believe Shinedown took the time to record and release. It really makes me wonder how much worse the other 30 or so songs were that weren't chosen for the CD.

Here's my run down of the album:

-Devour: Great first single, rather catchy and pretty awesome for a faster-paced tune. I was expecting something a little more epic for a first single... Fly From The Inside, anyone? Thumbs up, but barely.
-The Sound of Madness: Definitely one of the best songs on the album. Great chorus, verses, and whatnot. The opening really kicks a lot of ass. Thumbs up.
-Second Chance: Here's were things get kind of bleh for me. It's an okay song on its own, but the chorus is so plain. I don't think this song was creative at all. Thumbs down.
-Cry For Help: Pretty sick intro, but everything else to me sounds... and I hate to say it... kind of sell-out fashion. What's this "one-two, one-two-three!" bullshit? Thumbs down.
-The Crow and the Butterfly: I really don't like this song at all, and if I chose right now, I'd say it's the worst on the album. I don't see what's great about it, unless you're the type of person who listens to music only for the vocals. Thumbs down.
-If You Only Knew: There's not much I can say about this song that I haven't already said about Second Chance. Pretty plain and I'm not sensing the Shinedown feel to it. Thumbs down.
-Sin With a Grin: This one's kind of on the outside for me, so I'll have to listen to it more. I just don't sense any particular stand-out moments and opening is kind of weird. Thumbs... Right, I guess. 0_o
-What A Shame: I see a lot of people really liking this song. I like it too, and I can see it being released as the second single. Thumbs Up.
-Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide: I'll admit that I laughed at the lyrics when I read them (before listening to the song). "Snorting cocaine through a suicide note"--WTF? But believe it or not, I think it's the best cut on the album. The lyrics are pretty insane, but everything else is really awesome sounding. Thumbs Up.
-Breaking Inside: Again, there's something about this song that seems sell-out to me. Shinedown is loaded with talent and I just feel like it isn't being exploited nearly enough. Thumbs Down.
-Call Me: There aren't a lot of songs I can get into that are really soft, but this one is quite epic. Thumbs Up.

I really, really don't like where this is going as a whole. Shinedown has been my favorite band since 2003, and seeing this kind of effort is pretty feeble in my eyes. I almost can't believe I'm saying it. Like my friend said, who is/was another Shinedown fan, "I'm finding it hard to beleive that this is the same band that wrote Fly From the Inside, Better Version, Stranger Insinde, Left Out, and so many other greats."

So there's my two cents. Thoughts?

Well i guess everyone has their own opinion.
However, I'm not sure exactly where you're coming from.
Yeah it sounds different, but it's supposed to.
I don't want every album to sound the same and I'm sure the band doesn't either.
They're evolving into another direction they feel comfortable with and as a whole, i think most of us fans are appreciating that.
Also, with the new members that's gonna add some changes to the sound as well.
Not everyone is gonna feel the same way and that's fine. But i've said in several other posts that the crow and the butterfly is one of my favorites off the album. It's incredible. I'm just not sure exactly what it is you don't like about it. The entire sound of that song, and no, not just the vocals, is amazing.

Ok that's my thoughts for the night.

I'm sorry you don't like some of the songs on the album, but from your review it's sounds like you want another LAW album. I don't see a point to that to make the same sounding album. Also a lot of your review says sell-out. What does that mean exactly? You kept saying every slower type song is sell-out. Doesn't make sense. I for one am a fan of bands that come out with different sounds, not the same every record and this to me, without even owning the album yet is well worth the wait and will probably be my 1 of my favorite albums ever. And I only listened to it once. I played a couple songs twice and already knew the words. The lyrics are amazing, the music sounds great-a great mix of heavy, light, and in between. I think we longtime Shinedown fans have something very special here and know the rest of the world will hear what we already knew. What a great band this is. My only disappointment is when I was listening to some of the songs I couldn't help but feel like Jasin put a lot of himself in this album and I wish he was still with them. Not to take away anything from Nick who many have said holds his own at the live show and i'll see for myself at summerfest in WI. I just feel like he deserves to be there for the success this album is going to have.

quote:

Originally posted by ms.mindless:
Well i guess everyone has their own opinion.
However, I'm not sure exactly where you're coming from.
Yeah it sounds different, but it's supposed to.
I don't want every album to sound the same and I'm sure the band doesn't either.
They're evolving into another direction they feel comfortable with and as a whole, i think most of us fans are appreciating that.
Also, with the new members that's gonna add some changes to the sound as well.
Not everyone is gonna feel the same way and that's fine. But i've said in several other posts that the crow and the butterfly is one of my favorites off the album. It's incredible. I'm just not sure exactly what it is you don't like about it. The entire sound of that song, and no, not just the vocals, is amazing.

Ok that's my thoughts for the night.

I don't think Tish was implying that she wanted Shinedown to stay the same, just that she doesn't feel the full extent of their talent is utilized throughout the album.

While I don't agree with many of the things she said, some of it does make sense to me...I can see where she is coming from on a few tracks. Breaking Inside, If You Only Knew, and even What A Shame to some extent are pretty power-chordy radio-friendly songs, which isn't necessarily bad...but after hearing the masterpiece that is LaW and the technical proficiency of tracks on UaT (Lady so Divine, Heroes, Yer Majesty, etc), I think we all know Shinedown is capable of a lot more. On some songs, I do feel like they may be copping out a bit...for instance, a number of songs have perfect spots for SICK solos from Jasin...and we get nothing, except for the occasional uber-fast picking on a single note. That was one disappointing aspect of the album for me...it's nowhere near as technically proficient as I know Shinedown is capable of.

Not to say that proficiency is all that matters; most LaW stuff is pretty easy to play, but it's all fantastic material. I just don't think Shinedown has managed to hit either side very well on SoM.

That said, I still regard it to be a great album. Devour, SoM, Crow and the Butterfly, Second Chance and Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide are all spectacular songs IMO. Great feel to them, I like what the band is doing...CatB in particular has a fantastic mood to it, as ms.mindless indicated.

Everyone has their own opinion. Mine is that while SoM is a fantastic album, I don't believe it to be as flawless and inspirational as everyone else seems to think. Shinedown could have done a lot more in some areas.

I personally love it when a band decides to continue to transform themselves. I was an uber fan of Saliva after Every Six Seconds, but hated every CD until Blood Stained Love Story because it all just sounded the same. I am a fan of all music so here are some other examples:

The Killers change with Sam's Town
Linkin Park's change with Minutes to Midnight
Panic at the Disco's change with Pretty.Odd. (hated Panic before, absolutely love this album)

I can listen to a cd over and over again, but that does not mean I want to hear a band give me the same cd over and over again. I understand you may feel that there could have been so much more, but I, like others, have to disagree. Copping out is not making a few tracks that sound like "radio material." Copping out is a band making an entire album radio friendly. I too do not just listen and judge strictly for vocals, and I am simply blown away from this album. To me Shinedown has always been a band that has created music for the fans, and what I mean by this is nearly every song of theirs not only I but pretty much any fan can relate to them. With SoM I feel the same once again. LaW was great, there is no denying it. But to me when listening to this CD I feel different. I feel that the guys really went all out for it. The energy and the passion in the music just shoots out at me. I will be singing the praises of this CD for a long time to come

i like every song on this album, the ones you dislike are my less liked ones but i still like if not love all these songs.

my only disagree is that the crow and the butterfly to me is amazing, its definately one of my top 3 on the album, guitar is great vocals are great, drums and bass arent really stand out but they fit the song well.

I agree on some points, as I said before LAW is still tops in my book. But this is fantastic. If you look at the writing and lyrics on this album, compared to LaW, it's way more meaningful. (Except for 45 of course.)

I think it was necessary for them to make the album. I didn't like Us and Them very much when it first came out, but now I can't imagine their second release being any different. It was great, looking back, that they went the way that they did with it.

I think the only thing SoM lacks in comparison to LaW is a completely solid lineup of awesome songs. They could have done that here easily I'm sure, but they chose to experiment with different sounds. Breaking Inside, Call Me, and If You Only Knew could all be replaced with harder songs and I'd be much happier for it.

I think they went for epic and still nailed it. It's an extraordinarily deep album no matter what way you look at it. I think the big thing Shinedown is going to have to realize that they have done their experimenting, tried a bunch of different sounds, and that now they owe the fans another LaW. They could easily do it if they weren't trying new things.

Until then, I'm perfectly content to have this as my Shinedown fix for a few years.

Well this is Shinedowns slowest album, and from your review you dont like SD's slower music. Its good if you dont like it there is still 2 shinedown albums you do like.

quote:

Originally posted by "Morgoth":
I agree on some points, as I said before LAW is still tops in my book. But this is fantastic. If you look at the writing and lyrics on this album, compared to LaW, it's way more meaningful. (Except for 45 of course.)

I think it was necessary for them to make the album. I didn't like Us and Them very much when it first came out, but now I can't imagine their second release being any different. It was great, looking back, that they went the way that they did with it.

I think the only thing SoM lacks in comparison to LaW is a completely solid lineup of awesome songs. They could have done that here easily I'm sure, but they chose to experiment with different sounds. Breaking Inside, Call Me, and If You Only Knew could all be replaced with harder songs and I'd be much happier for it.

I think they went for epic and still nailed it. It's an extraordinarily deep album no matter what way you look at it. I think the big thing Shinedown is going to have to realize that they have done their experimenting, tried a bunch of different sounds, and that now they owe the fans another LaW. They could easily do it if they weren't trying new things.

Until then, I'm perfectly content to have this as my Shinedown fix for a few years.

I think this is a great way to put it. It isn't a LaW, but they are experimenting and trying out new things...it's definitely a step in the right direction. But I would have also been ok with trading in If You Only Knew, Breaking Inside and Call Me for some heavier, rockin tracks. But who am I to complain, you know?

LOL Lemme just throw this out: I'm a guy.

It's not that I wanted another Leave A Whisper, but rather more of an executed promise of the best Shinedown record yet, which this comes no where near.

Sell-Outs are bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco; in other words, the bands with little to no talent.

I don't mind the slower stuff to be quite honest. I really liked Lost in the Crowd, Lady So Devine, Someday, and a few others. They had stand-out moments, which is something quite a few songs on The Sound of Madness lack in my personal opinion.

I guess when you're like me and you listen to bands like Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, and the like (all bands who manage to "sound the same" but present new, really awesome material), you're likely to expect more out of a band like Shinedown. And it's especially disappointing to me when this record was promised to be heavier than Leave A Whisper (or maybe I heard that differently?).

I agree w/ most of your statements, although as a whole, I feel it's a good album. It's not LAW but it is 100x better than U&T, hands down. I'm really enjoying it and I can't wait until I get my CD in the mail w/ the bonus tracks.

quote:

And it's especially disappointing to me when this record was promised to be heavier than Leave A Whisper (or maybe I heard that differently?).

A heavier album isn't necessarily restricted to the mere audio. I feel it has to do with the lyrics as well. Every time I listen through the album, another phrase or lyric jumps out at me.

I still will never get all the hate for Us & Them. I really like it.

quote:

I still will never get all the hate for Us & Them. I really like it.

Ditto.

i agree, i loved Us vs Them, it had great songs such as Save Me, I Dare you, Trade yourself in, Lady So Divine, Someday, Shed Some light, Hereos, and one of my favorite shinedown songs, which never made the CD, Carried Away, which was a bonus