| The Sound of Madness | ||||||||||||||
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| Studio album by Shinedown | ||||||||||||||
| Released | June 24, 2008 | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | 2007–2008 | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Alternative metal, alternative rock, hard rock, post-grunge | |||||||||||||
| Length | 41:48 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Atlantic | |||||||||||||
| Producer | Rob Cavallo | |||||||||||||
| Shinedown chronology | ||||||||||||||
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The Sound of Madness is the third studio album by American rock band Shinedown, released June 24, 2008. The album's lead single, "Devour," was released to radio on May 5, 2008.
The album's lyrics explore diverse subject matter as opposed to their previous albums; "Devour" ventures into political territory while "What a Shame" tells a story about lead singer Brent Smith's uncle, who died during the recording of the album, and how Brent and his cousin, professional wrestler Olivia Smith, dealt with his death. The song "If You Only Knew," which is about Smith's then-fiance and newborn child, was the first time that he had written a love ballad for Shinedown.[1]
Shinedown's tour to support the album subsequently started with the band playing a few festival shows before the release of The Sound of Madness.
The Sound of Madness is Shinedown's most successful album, and has issued both one multi-platinum single ("Second Chance") and a gold single ("If You Only Knew"), as well as being certified Platinum by the RIAA in 2010 for shipments over 1,000,000 copies.[2] The Sound of Madness is the first album to feature guitarist Zach Myers and bassist Eric Bass.
Contents |
Brent Smith told Billboard.com, "It's time to just go over the top, literally 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."[3] Smith said the group had more than forty songs written from writing sessions in Atlanta, Nashville, and Los Angeles.[3] Shinedown road tested four "potential singles," "Sound of Madness," "The Crow & the Butterfly," "Second Chance" and "Devour," on a short run of shows.[3]
The band began working on The Sound of Madness after several off-date shows in the summer of 2007. Recording began in Los Angeles on September 20, 2007, with the final CD being completed in early-mid 2008.
On June 17, 2008, the entire original album was made available for streaming on the band's MySpace page. It was removed again a few days later.
In the fall of 2008 Shinedown embarked on their biggest tour of Europe at the time, supporting Disturbed in a number of countries.
In January 2009 the band embarked on a European tour, and most notably toured with Staind in July.
Shinedown supported the highly anticipated "Stimulate This!" Tour with Staind. The tour kicked off July 1 and ran through the end of August. Other acts included Chevelle, Halestorm, and Lo-Pro.
On August 29, 2009, Shinedown performed a free concert at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, NY. The hour and 20 min show brought in just under 20,000 people from all over the state. The size of the crowd was more than hired security could handle, and over 40 state troopers were called in for crowd control. This was stated to be the largest crowd ever drawn for a free concert in NYS fair history.
Shinedown began their fall 2009 headline tour in Baltimore, MD on September 10, 2009, and performed at the Baltimore Ravens kickoff party. The show was free and also includeed Tantric, Cavo, Halestorm and Egypt Central. The remainder of the Headline tour was supported by Sick Puppies, Adelitas Way, and Cavo.
Shinedown played at the Download Festival, held at Donington Park in the UK, in 2009. During an interview with Kerrang at the festival, Brent Smith stated that they plan to play new material when they return in late 2009. In the fall of 2008 Shinedown embarked on their biggest tour of Europe at the time, supporting Disturbed in a number of countries. On December 18, 2008 it was announced via the band's website that lead guitarist Nick Perri would leave the band after that night's show after less than a year with the group. Statements released from Smith and Perri both cited personal reasons as the main factors in Perri's departure, with Perri's statement highlighting that his decision had "nothing to do with the band". Zach Myers was announced by Smith to be taking over Perri's lead guitarist position.[4]
The album's lead single was "Devour" and it was released on May 5, 2008. "Devour" was the theme song for WWE Night of Champions on June 29, 2008.[5] It is featured as the title song for MTV's Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Island.[6] It is also featured on the games Madden 09, Rock Band as a downloadable track, and the song is part of the Shinedown track pack in Guitar Hero 5 along with Second Chance and Sound of Madness.[7] This song also featured in The Final Destination which was released in August 2009.
The album's second single was "Second Chance" was used in promotion for Season 2 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and is the second single. The band performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on September 5, 2008.
On December 27, 2008, "Second Chance" hit the number one spot on the U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Chart and held the spot for ten weeks, losing their number-one streak to Nickelback on March 7, 2009. Two months later, the song hit #1 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks, making it their first #1 on the at chart, and held the spot for 3 non-consecutive weeks. "Second Chance" reached the number one position of Billboard's Hot Adult Top 40 Chart on June 20, 2009.
"Second Chance" was Shinedown's biggest hit to date, being their first single to reach the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100, where it has reached #7 as of the June 20, 2009 issue.
"Second Chance" was certified as a Platinum single on May 27, 2009, and has since been certified 2x platinum by the RIAA.
The titled track, "Sound of Madness" was released on February 23, 2009 as the band's third single[8] and hit number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Chart in the US. It was used for the Wrestlemania 25 replay on NBC.
"If You Only Knew" was released as the fourth single from "The Sound of Madness" on August 31, 2009, with an accompanying music video released on October 6, 2009. Brent Smith wrote the song about himself and ex fiancé while she was pregnant with their child.
"The Crow & the Butterfly" was the album's fifth single and it received radio airplay on April 6, 2010.[9] Frontman Brent Smith explained on the radio interview program Rockline that while the band were writing the new album, he had a dream about a mother whose son passes away. He wrote the song about the mother dealing with the death of her child and trying to move on.[10]
All songs by Brent Smith and David Bassett, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Devour" | 3:50 |
| 2. | "Sound of Madness" | 3:54 |
| 3. | "Second Chance" | 3:40 |
| 4. | "Cry for Help" | 3:20 |
| 5. | "The Crow & the Butterfly" | 4:13 |
| 6. | "If You Only Knew" | 3:46 |
| 7. | "Sin with a Grin" | 4:00 |
| 8. | "What a Shame" | 4:18 |
| 9. | "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide" | 3:11 |
| 10. | "Breaking Inside" (Smith, Bobby Huff) | 3:51 |
| 11. | "Call Me" (Smith, Tony Battaglia) | 3:43 |
|
Total length:
|
41:48 | |
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Devour" | 3:50 | |
| 2. | "Sound of Madness" | 3:54 | |
| 3. | "Second Chance" | 3:40 | |
| 4. | "Cry for Help" | 3:20 | |
| 5. | "The Crow & the Butterfly" | 4:13 | |
| 6. | "If You Only Knew" | 3:46 | |
| 7. | "Sin with a Grin" | 4:00 | |
| 8. | "What a Shame" | 4:18 | |
| 9. | "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide" | 3:11 | |
| 10. | "Breaking Inside" | 3:51 | |
| 11. | "Call Me" | 3:40 | |
| 12. | "I Own You" | 3:37 | |
| 13. | "Energy" | 3:28 | |
| 14. | "Son of Sam" | 3:38 | |
|
Total length:
|
52:26 | ||
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Devour" | 3:50 | |
| 2. | "Sound of Madness" | 3:54 | |
| 3. | "Second Chance" | 3:40 | |
| 4. | "Cry for Help" | 3:20 | |
| 5. | "The Crow & the Butterfly" | 4:13 | |
| 6. | "If You Only Knew" | 3:46 | |
| 7. | "Sin with a Grin" | 4:00 | |
| 8. | "What a Shame" | 4:18 | |
| 9. | "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide" | 3:11 | |
| 10. | "Breaking Inside" | 3:51 | |
| 11. | "Call Me" | 3:40 | |
| 12. | "Energy" | 3:28 | |
| 13. | "Son of Sam" | 3:38 | |
| 14. | "I Own You" | 3:37 | |
| 15. | "Junkies for Fame" | 3:26 | |
| 16. | "Second Chance" (acoustic version) | 3:40 | |
| 17. | "The Crow & the Butterfly (Pull Mix)" | 5:27 | |
| 18. | "Her Name is Alice" | 3:50 | |
| 19. | "Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)" | 5:36 | |
| 20. | "Breaking Inside" (feat. Lzzy Hale) | 3:49 | |
|
Total length:
|
1:17:14 | ||
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Devour" | 3:50 | |
| 2. | "Sound of Madness" | 3:54 | |
| 3. | "Second Chance" | 3:40 | |
| 4. | "Cry for Help" | 3:20 | |
| 5. | "The Crow & the Butterfly" | 4:13 | |
| 6. | "If You Only Knew" | 3:46 | |
| 7. | "Sin with a Grin" | 4:00 | |
| 8. | "What a Shame" | 4:18 | |
| 9. | "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide" | 3:11 | |
| 10. | "Breaking Inside" | 3:51 | |
| 11. | "Call Me" | 3:40 | |
| 12. | "Energy" | 3:28 | |
| 13. | "Son of Sam" | 3:38 | |
| 14. | "I Own You" | 3:37 | |
| 15. | "Junkies for Fame" | 3:26 | |
| 16. | "Second Chance" (acoustic version) | 3:40 | |
| 17. | "The Crow & the Butterfly (Pull Mix)" | 5:27 | |
|
Total length:
|
1:04:59 | ||
It is unclear which members of Shinedown (aside from Kerch and Smith) actually recorded the tracks on The Sound of Madness due to multiple lineup changes during the time the album was being recorded. The album booklet gives credit to many studio musicians for guitar and bass, leaving open exact track credits.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [11] |
| IGN | [12] |
| About.com | [13] |
The Sound of Madness received mixed to positive reviews. Ed Thompson of IGN wrote a positive review, stating that "There really is nothing new or Earth-shatteringly original included here. But likewise, there really isn't a weak track on the record."[12] However, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave a mixed review, noting that "Shinedown serve up what they always have: active modern rock embodying the sound of post-grunge in the new millennium without offering much that is memorable, either for better or for worse."[11]
The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at Number 8 and Number 3 on the Billboard Rock Albums chart. The Sound of Madness sold 50,000 copies in its first week. As of March 3, 2010, the album has sold 955,695 copies.[14]
The Sound of Madness went on to spend 120 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 chart starting from its June 24, 2008 release & ending in late October 2010. The album returned to the Billboard 200 chart after leaving it for two months & has now spent more than 134 weeks on the chart.
| Year | Single | Peak positions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Hot 100 | Mainstream Rock | Modern Rock | US Rock |
U.S. Pop 100 | CAN Hot 100 | ||||||
| 2008 | "Devour" | 114 | 1 | 13 | — | — | — | ||||
| "Second Chance" | 7 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 29 | |||||
| 2009 | "Sound of Madness" | 85 | 1 | 5 | 2 | — | — | ||||
| "If You Only Knew" | 42 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 21 | 64 | |||||
| 2010 | "The Crow & the Butterfly" | 97 | 1 | 6 | 1 | — | 51 | ||||
| "Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)" | 111 | 1 | 17 | 7 | — | — | |||||
| Release date | Chart positions | US sales | RIAA Certification |
International Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Albums |
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| June 24, 2008 | 8 | 1,200,000+ | Platinum | 1,300,000+ |
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