Should've Bought It Sooner
I was pretty excited when I first heard a new album from Shinedown was coming, because I discovered them with their latest release, "Us and Them," a CD I completely fell in love with. However, I was extremely disappointed with its first single, "Devour." It lacks something greatly in my eyes that I can't exactly pinpoint. But to my good fortune, I finally decided to give "The Sound of Madness" a shot a month or so ago. My opinion on "Devour" remains unchanged, but almost all of the rest of the album is amazing. With superb lyric writing, songs such as the title track and "Second Chance" should absolutely blow you away. I almost find the way that the title track seems to poke fun at "socially diseased" people to be comical, although I'm not entirely sure that it was meant to be that way. The tracks "The Crow and the Butterfly" and "If You Only Knew" are much softer in comparison, but are absolutely amazing lyrically and musically. The only other songs from the album that I tend to skip other than "Devour" are "Cry For Help" and "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide," but that's because I'm not really a hard rock person- if you are, I'm sure those songs will deliver. If you haven't purchased "The Sound of Madness," you need to!

Shinedown
It is a great CD. I recommend it to anyone that likes their previous releases.

Shinedown shines bright
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!

Fabulous Listening
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.

The album Shinedown had in them all along.
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.