Shinedown

Bands like Florida's Shinedown have a purpose. That's to write hooky, yet crunchy songs that hover around the three-and-a-half minute mark and that take up prime real estate in the listener's brain for hours, days and weeks at a time. The Sound of Madness exacts a formula to dominate the commercial radio airwaves and that's certainly an understandable pursuit. No band makes music that they hope no one else hears. On The Sound of Madness, Shinedown just so happen to be talented at hitting their mark of writing memorable songs.

The first single "Devour" resonates with a gritty, hard rock vibe that begs to be blared from speakers in rigs plowing down any US interstate, to be the soundtrack for kids ripping donuts in a field in Kansas or to be loved by coastal rawkers who aren't quite down with the bluster of metal, yet yearn for something a bit more bitchin' than what pop and urban radio offers up on a heavily rotated basis. The constantly repeated chorus of "Devour! Devour! Devour" sticks to the ribs and retains a singable, instantly memorable quality. This song could define the rock n' roll dog days of summer, if it takes off on the FM dial.

While Shinedown camps out comfortably in the middle of the road, turning the amps to 11 and utilizing razor sharp riffery, it also pleases the ear of anyone who likes to rock out and watch Nascar races. With "Sound of Madness" and "If You Only Knew," Shinedown can sink their fangs into a large quantity of the population's neck with their balanced blend of tunefulness and their ability to bring the rock.

— Amy Sciarretto
06.19.08

On Shinedown's third album, The Sound of Madness, the Jacksonville-based band hits every post-grunge expectation: winding up the guitar riffs with thin, flattened distortion; pumping up rhythms with steroids; punctuating melodies with familiar fills; and writing vaguely inspirational lyrics that come close to confirming the group's rumored Christian rock origins. Their precision is accentuated by producer Rob Cavallo's pristine production, digitally designed to push Shinedown over into the big leagues where they can have the occasional adult rock power ballad hit without losing their testosterone-fueled audience. Nothing is left to chance, and that's the way Shinedown's fans like it. Some of those fans -- the ones who like to see the band on the WWE, where "Devour," the first song on The Sound of Madness and its first single, is 2008's Night of Champions theme song -- may carp slightly about that slight increase in gloss and almost imperceptible uptick in power ballads, but most won't notice these subtle shifts as Shinedown serve up what they always have: active modern rock embodying the sound of post-grunge in the new millennium. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi