(blushes)

Time to YouTube a few of these performances.

Album Rating: 3.0

good idea.

This live version of Diamond Eyes might be better than the original. The acoustic If You Only Knew is great too.

Album Rating: 3.0

agreed on both accounts. as average as i thought this was, it def. got me into the band again

After some further sampling this seems really hit and miss.

And the lack of What a Shame = FAIL

Album Rating: 3.0

You should have just said:



And the lack of What a Shame, what a shame

lol

Ilu SS.

I didn't want to plagiarize your puntastic summary.

Album Rating: 3.0

Thanks Irving, you know it is always reciprocated



And its ok Ties, when the opportunity is there you gotta just take it, plagiarism be damned

Wow, really, really good review. As much as I find this band to be extremely boring to listen to and
as much as I often bash them for being another post-grunge band (with admittedly more talent than
anyone else), you got me excited about their stuff and about seeing them live. That's really
something. Hell, I may even go re-listen to their albums just because of this review.

I also admire the length of your review but the way it's all neat and tidy and you don't over-extend
your sentences or thoughts. By and far one of the greatest reviews I've ever read. I wish I could Pos
more than once.

the first albums the only good one tho so don't bother with the last 2

Album Rating: 3.0

thanks napalm, even though I am certain that I have written better reviews than this



and uhhkris, they are all good (at least 3.5 worthy) but you are correct that the first one is the absolute best

This is where I would usually step in and disagree, but their albums are all really close for me at this point.

Album Rating: 3.0

To me, Sound of Madness is their catchiest and best for ballads. Us vs. Them is kind of a stepping stone between the two, but it never really gets heavy enough for my liking, and Leave a Whisper is heaviest and most emotional.

I love Us and Them because musically it's their best by far. The southern rock sound is awesome, and it's the only album by them that I can't pinpoint the weakest track because they're all so solid. It would be my favorite album of theirs if it had a few more powerhouse Leave a Whisper vocal moments in it.

Album Rating: 3.0

Pretty much any order of liking for these albums is respectable IMO. Personally though, I think Us and Them is a signifigant step down from either of the other records. I mean Leave a Whisper is so moving, and in my opinion Smith's vocals are the best on it...he doesn't sound like he is trying to force a certain type of voice for a certain type of song like he sometimes does on later records, and it is by far their heaviest album. Sound of Madness has their catchiest, most well-crafted material and it is almost impossible not to like...'Sound of Madness', 'Second Chance', 'Crow & The Butterfly', 'If You Only Knew', 'What a Shame', 'Call Me'....I mean that's a serious force to be reckoned with.



Then there is Us & Them, which starts with some great songs like 'Heroes', 'Save Me', and 'I Dare You', but they all feel kind of empty. They aren't heavy enough or lyrically poignant enough to make me feel anything, they are just kind of catchy midtempo rockers that I would listen to if all the other songs I mentioned on Sound of Madness accidentally got deleted. I'll give you this though, Us & Them definitely has some of Shinedown's best slow rockers/ballads: 'Beyond the Sun' and 'Shed Some Light' are absolutely phenomenal. Oh, and 'Some Day' is a great closing song (although not quite on the level of 45 or Call Me).

Can't really disagree with most of that. Us and Them's just a seriously fun album to listen to, and
it's had great replay value for me. When I joined I rated their albums 2.5, 4, and 5. Now it's 3.5, 4,
4.5, so I can understand any ranking of the 3.

Album Rating: 3.0

Mine started: Leave a Whisper 3.5, Us & Them 3, Sound of Madness 3.5...I used to have this mindset that I was only going to rate my favorite album of all-time a 5...I even had TDAG at a 4.5 because I anticipated that something would someday top it.



Then I loosened up: Leave a Whisper 4.5, Us & Them 3.5, Sound of Madness 4 (although sometimes I think about sporadically 4.5ing and 5ing all these; there are times when Shinedown, especially The Sound of Madness, appeals to emotional memories I have attached to the band...but then I refrain because if I rated it all based off of that then there's a few very very bad pop albums that I'd have to award the highest honor...)

I'm a sucker for good radio rock (like Stone Sour) so I will check this band out... Where should I start?