Shinedown

Early in 2007, producer Rob Cavallo asked Shinedown frontman Brent Smith about his goals for the band's new album. Smith didn't hesitate.

"I said, 'You know what -- when I'm dead and gone, when everybody in this band has passed or what have you, I want the world to remember this as a record that needed to be made, and that there was a reason for it,' " Smith says. "That was the motivation behind this album.”

Welcome to THE SOUND OF MADNESS, Shinedown's third album -- and the Florida rockers' boldest effort to date. Like its two predecessors, 2003's Platinum LEAVE A WHISPER and 2005's Gold US AND THEM, THE SOUND OF MADNESS offers a brave and unsparing look into the soul and psyche amidst a fierce musical attack that, even in its quieter moments, vibrate with the passion, energy and focus of a band with high-minded ideals and limitless ambitions.

Smith and company began the recording process for THE SOUND OF MADNESS with the formidable task of following up two massively successful albums that yielded a staggering seven consecutive Top five rock and alternative radio hits that included "Fly From the Inside," "45," the chart topping "Save Me," and a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man," along with a reputation as a hot live band with an insatiable appetite for the road. However, after one listen, it’s clear that the band didn't shrink from the task. Where THE SOUND OF MADNESS differs most is in its growth; it’s the product of a group that has developed an even clearer vision for how it wanted to impact an audience.

On THE SOUND OF MADNESS, Shinedown express those thoughts and ideas in ways they never have before. The group's hard rock muscles flex on songs such as the first single, "Devour," "Cry For Help," "Sin With a Grin" and the title track. But the likes of "The Crow and the Butterfly," "Breaking Inside" and "Second Chance" incorporate more sophisticated, emotional dynamics (enhanced by a 20-piece string section), while Smith counts "If You Only Knew".

THE SOUND OF MADNESS also contains Smith's first-ever political song “Devour,” which he says was inspired by Shinedown's visits to troops in Iraq and his feelings about the end of George W. Bush's presidency.

By the time Shinedown first met with producer Rob Cavallo -- whose own Grammy award winning, multi-platinum track record includes work with Green Day, My Chemical Romance, the Goo Goo Dolls and Kid Rock -- the frontman had a number of songs already together and further dazzled the producer by improvising a new composition during their discussion.

"I was just taken with (Smith)," Cavallo says. "He was really just on fire to do well. He's a guy driven to win. He wants to make the best record he can make and spent a lot of time writing ...making sure it all mattered."

Smith says that Shinedown "wanted it loud and wanted it big and heavy and grandiose. For the heavy songs, we wanted it as heavy as it could be, but using different kinds of styles with a lot of different guitar tones." Incorporating synthesizers and the aforementioned strings, Smith notes that, "we used a lot of really unique sounds and different variations underneath the music that you wouldn't necessarily know were there, but, if they were gone, you'd miss them."

That bigger sound on the album is mirrored in the new lineup of Shinedown, a quintet edition of the band that, along with drummer Kerch (or ‘the almighty Barry Kerch’ as Smith likes to say), includes former Silvertide member Nick Perri on guitars, Eric Bass on bass, and former touring guitarist Zach Myers as a permanent fixture.

Smith plans to take keep this "new reincarnation" of Shinedown on the road for quite awhile, too, making sure THE SOUND OF MADNESS is heard worldwide.

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