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Epicurus.com - The Sound Of Madness
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List Price: $18.98
Our Price: $9.99
Your Save: $ 8.99 ( 47% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Atlantic
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0075678993244
Format: Enhanced
Label: Atlantic
Manufacturer: Atlantic
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Atlantic
Release Date: 2008-06-24
Studio: Atlantic
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Editorial Reviews:
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Shinedown’s highly anticipated third album, The Sound Of Madness, is due out on Atlantic Records on June 24, 2008. The record opens with lead single "Devour." Its heavy onslaught of ripping guitars and relentless drums would not sound out of place on a Guitar Hero soundtrack. Of the album, frontman Brent Smith says "In the seven years of this thing called Shinedown, I’ve seen a lot of different things - what we’ve all gone through on the road, things in our personal lives or witnessed firsthand through the fans that we’ve made and the relationships we’ve built with our audience. I think the biggest thing was I didn’t want to sugarcoat the way life can be sometimes." Their face-melting rock comes as no surprise, considering that the band hails from sultry Jacksonville, Florida. Their 2003 debut album, Leave A Whisper, and sophomore follow-up, Us And Them, have been RIAA-certified platinum and gold respectively and they have had songs featured on the WWE, ESPN and in various video games. Shinedown will be out on the road this spring and summer, playing a handful of radio shows and outdoor festivals including Rock On The Range before setting out on their own headlining tour.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Shinedown shines bright
Comment: I am a big Shinedown fan from the beginning and loved the first CD, but tepid about the second one. I had read reviews about this CD not sounding like either of the first CD's and I was a little aprehensive purchasing it, but went ahead anyway and let me tell you, I am very happy that I had. The CD rocks!! I have listened to it at least 20 times completely through since I purchased it and I really love every song. There is more musically going on than the first two CD's and the vocals are stellar and I feel there are at least 4 or 5 singles from The Sound Of Madness. Enjoy!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Listening
Comment: Everything about this album is wonderful. Listening to the lyrics will cause you to stop and think about life itself and where you may be in life. Enjoy the music.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The album Shinedown had in them all along.
Comment: Shinedown's first album since 2005's Us And Them marks a major change in creativity for this band from Jacksonville, Florida. Combining the somewhat softer sound of that album with the slightly harder-edged style of 2003's Leave A Whisper, which spawned hits such as "45," "Fly From The Inside," and "Burning Bright" and amping up the "rawk" factor tenfold, The Sound of Madness truly is the best of all worlds. The band's lineup has changed quite a bit since their last release: Original bassist Brad Stewart has been replaced by Eric Bass (interesting name for a bass player, yeah?) and founding guitarist Jasin Todd has been replaced by two guys, Zach Myers (a touring guitar player for the band between 2005 and 2007) and Nick Perri. Lead vocalist Brent Smith and drummer Barry Kerch are the only two original members that remain, but that fact does nothing to negate the quality of music on this album.
From the moment you hear the opening verse of "Devour," you can tell that this is a different band from three years ago. A lot of hubbub has been made about Shinedown going "political" with this song, but it is the only track on the album that smacks of anything anti-Bush. The lyrics are simple yet effective, and perfectly complement what has to be the band's most rocking single to date. The title-track comes next and while it isn't as fast-paced as "Devour" it's still a great song with a message for those who enjoy wallowing in self-pity. "Second Chance" is one of those ballads that only Shinedown can craft, and it's a damned good one at that. The pre-chorus is particularly touching. "Cry For Help" is another upbeat rocker in the vein of the first single. As some other reviewers have mentioned the "1, 2, 3!" lines are a tad annoying but they don't detract from the song's overall quality. "The Crow and The Butterfly" is one of the most beautiful songs Shinedown have ever written, and quite possibly one of the most beautiful songs written period. Musically and lyrically it just flows so well and puts the listener in a light-hearted state of mind. "If You Only Knew" is a bit similar in sound to the previous track though I prefer Brent's vocals (which are among the most powerful in any genre today, in my opinion) on this one to that one.
Things take a slight turn for the worse with "Sin With A Grin." Maybe it's just me, but I really can't find anything I like about this song. It is definitely one of the weaker tunes on the album, not unlike "All I Ever Wanted" from Leave A Whisper and "Begin Again" from Us And Them. Just very, very average. The album picks back up with "What A Shame," however. This is one of those songs where Brent is really in his element, telling a profound story about the human condition and doing it with unrivaled vocal passion. "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide" sounds rather different from anything else the band has done in the past, but I don't particularly care for it. The chorus is decent but lyrically the whole song just sounds too tailored for the Hot Topic audience, as it were. "Breaking Inside" is slightly reminiscent of some of their Leave A Whisper-era work and that is certainly a good thing in this case. Brent's lyrical delivery in the verses is great and the chorus is as powerful as any in the group's catalog. The album closes with "Call Me," a spine-chilling piano ballad that ranks right up there with "45" and "Shed Some Light" from Us And Them, only I believe it's better.
As my review's title indicates, I think this is the album that Shinedown has been waiting to hit us with, and the wait was more than worth it. Even with missteps such as tracks seven and nine that could have easily been replaced by much better songs, this is a great release that all fans of the band can find something on to enjoy.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: This album is truely half bad... and half good.
Comment: First off, I think Brent has probably the best voice for rock ever, and I absolutely loved the first two albums. Unfortunately half of the tracks on this album are TERRIBLE. Not just poor or otherwise unexciting, but flat out ridiculously horrid.
1) "Devour" has idiotic lyrics to go with it's pop-like sound. This song makes me want to swing my arms back and forth and do the "Happy Days" dance, and this dance isn't out of pleasure but mocking the song and the brain dead lyrics. It makes me want to point and laugh at wanna-be renegades. This song says "Look at me, I'm such a rebel!" ACK!
2) "Sound of Madness" - Mediocre song.
3) "Second Chance" - Pretty decent. I can kind of get into it, even though again the lyrics are kind of dumb, but who cares this is ROCK right?
4) "Cry For Help" - Would have been better without the counting (Personal pet peve: I hate when artists count in songs)
5) "The Crow And The Butterfly" - Great feel-good song. Could do with less repetition of words, as with many of the other songs. Lots of repetition. It's like hey, let's just repeat ourselves again. Repetitively.
6) "If You Only Knew" - good song.
7) "Sin With a Grin" - Finally some good lyrics to go with good rock.
8) "What A Shame" - BRILLIANT. This is an amazing song. Easily the reason enough to buy the album.
9) "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide" - Another very good song coming from a completely different direction. I love that they've mixed it up a bit.
10) "Breaking Inside" - ehh, good lyrics but the song never quite gets to a point that I would call "good"
11) "Call Me" - A pretty EPIC ballad. Not the hard core rock that I would love to hear from Shinedown but a very good song none the less.
I had read from the band 6 months ago or so that they were going to be more hard rock on this album, which I was eagerly awaiting. I would say this album was a supreme let down. There are a few redeeming songs however. I would reccomend to only by the few songs that are good or buy the CD if you get a good deal (under $11)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Awesome CD
Comment: I loved their first 2 CDs and this one, IMHO, now ranks at the top for me! Great songs that I listen to over and over. Thank you Shinedown!!
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