| CD REVIEW Shinedown |
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Band : Shinedown After having successfully conquered the United States with their two first albums, which respectively sold 1,5 million and 800,000 copies, Jacksonville Hard Rockers Shinedown are stretching their necks out towards Europe to enlarge their territory. The band was started in 2001 when singer Brent Smith got a development deal with Atlantic Records. He was at the time already playing in another band, but they were not included in the deal, in stead the singer was given a free hand to write with other people, develop his songwriting craft, and find the musicians that he wanted to work with. He met bassist Brad Stewart through a mutual friend, and the two immediately hit it off. Next to join would be guitarist Jasin Todd, whose girlfriend happened to own the studio where Brad and Brent were recording demos. Fed up with his former band, Jasin was given the opportunity to join, as he was exactly the kind of person and musician the two wanted to work with. After seven auditions, the choice of drummer fell on Barry Kerch. The four continued to record demos, and were then given the okay by the label to record their debut album Leave A Whisper, which was released in July 2003. It got a warm reception thanks to such successful singles as "Fly From The Inside" and the more emotional "45" (which was banned by MTV). One year after the initial release, it was given a re-issue (with an acoustic version of "45" and an alternate mix of "Burning Bright" as bonus tracks) to capitalize on the strength of a new single, a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man", which the band dedicated to their friend Dimebag Darrell, who died in 2004. Touring rigorously to support the album, the band gained respect within the Hard Rock community, even more so when they opened for Van Halen. The band entered the studio in early 2005 to record their sophomore album, released their Live From The Inside DVD (documenting a full-length concert done in South Carolina)in August, and saw the release of the Us And Them album in October. By that time, the debut had gained platinum status. The new album (released in 3 versions: the regular 13-track one, a deluxe edition with 3 bonus acoustic songs, and a store-specific edition with two bonus tracks) produced three singles, "Save Me" maintaining the #1 position of the Active Rock Charts for 12 consecutive weeks, the other singles getting similar success. "I Dare You" was performed by ChrisDaughtryat American Idol. The release was again followed by a rigorous touring schedule, the band (now enhanced for the road by rhythm guitarist Zach Myers) taking part in 2006's SnoCore Tour with Seether, Flyleaf and Halestorm; the Equinox Tour with Trapt; playing their first overseas gig at the London Astoria in early June as support to Alter Bridge; then returning to the US to open for Godsmack and Rob Zombie on their North American tour. In December the band recorded a concert in Knoxville to video, intending to have a new DVD released in 2007, but the plan was then stopped by Atlantic. Then trouble came to paradise, as Myers was suddenly asked to replace Stewart on the bass on tour. After taking some time off (during which apparently between 40 and 60 songs were written), the band re-entered the studio in September 2007 to start recording this third studio album. First single "Devour" was released in May of last, charted in the Top 10, and was the theme song for the WWE pay-per-view Night Of Champions 2008. One week before it's US release, the complete album was posted at the band's MySpace page for listening. Meanwhile further line-up changes occured when Todd was ousted, leaving only Smith and Kerch remain from the original formation. New lead guitarist is now one Nick Perry, and with one Eric Bass recruited to play the bass, Zach Myers is now the permanent rhythm guitarist. As far as the material on the album is concerned, it should be of a somewhat heavier texture than on the previous albums. As Smith stated in an interview with Billboard.com: "It's time to just go over the top, literally to go above and beyond what a human being thinks they're capable of recording. We want to do a huge Hard Rock record that has a lot of crossover potential, but also some of the most insanely intense and heavy material that this band has ever tried – and see if we can pull it off." From the 11 tracks on the album (there's also a limited deluxe edition with 14 tracks) you can now only listen to the 3 first (besides one song off each of the first two albums) at myspace.com/shinedown, which gives you two truly explosive tracks with "Devour" (also available as video) and "Sound Of Madness", plus the heavy "ballad" (with additional strings) "Second Chance". Actually that doesn't really give a fair representation of the album, as the "ballad" factor is really 5 to 11...but then most of these "ballads" still have a rather heavy undertone to 'em! Which is just as well, because thàt is what might pull over a lot of European music fans into becoming fans of this band! Leading Dutch Rock & Metal magazine Aardschok already dubbed The Sound Of Madness as their "Album Of The Month" in their October issue, and I have to say I fully agree, because each and every one of the songs on this album (no matter whether the undertone is balladesque or on the contrary quite Heavy) is catchy as hell, containing melodic guitar passages and the masterly versatile but distinctive voice of Brent Smith! This is a winner folks! Go see the band play live if you can! They've joined Disturbed on their worldwide tour, and will be passing by at Brussel's Ancienne Belgique on October 11th (for other dates, check myspace.com/disturbed). 98/100 Tony. |