We played this cover at my father’s funeral, and I still have to fend off tears when the song plays. “ 45”, “ Burning Bright” and “ Left Out” are other great tracks worth investigating. Fast-forward to high school, when I “discovered” Shinedown, I had no idea that “Fly From the Inside” was their song until I poked it into YouTube.
Anyway, at times I would start the game up just to listen to the music on it. I first heard it playing on a baseball videogame on my PlayStation 2 before I realized that I didn’t like sports. The opening track, “ Fly From the Inside” was my introduction to Shinedown. Leave a Whisper also has a more raw and youthful vibe, where Amaryllis feels smoother and mature. To me, this album kind of resembles Amaryllis insofar as it has a commercial rock feel. The band’s sound has evolved tremendously since their debut release. If you love Shinedown’s recent work, listen to this record. Additionally, I think Leave a Whisper more energetic and unique than Us and Them. Wait, how can Us and Them be penalized for not having the same sound as later albums while Leave a Whisper is ranked higher, when it certainly doesn’t have the same sound as any of Shinedown’s other records? I prefer the songs on Leave a Whisper to the songs on Us and Them. Us and Them also lacks the odd, yet very delightful poppy feel of Threat to Survival. The roots of this sound are certainly there however, they aren’t capitalized on.
It doesn’t have the heavy, full sound of The Sound of Madness nor does it have the cleanly produced sound of Amaryllis. The biggest drawback I found with the album is that it lacks the sound that Shinedown developed in later albums. So far, it is the band’s longest tune, creeping just beyond the seven-minute mark. I found “ Lady So Divine” an intriguing tune, however, the length might put some people off. “ I Dare You” and “ Yer Majesty” are two more tracks worth investigating. It resembles the classic Shinedown sound that is found on later albums. “ Heroes”, the next song and first proper tune, is wonderful. I enjoy the first track, which isn’t even a song. There are a lot of enjoyable songs scattered across the record. As always, this doesn’t mean it isn’t worth listening to or seeking out. It has achieved this lovely title thirteen years after its 2005 release date. Could this mean it is Shinedown’s “best” record? Not necessarily and most certainly not in my case.Īccording to the RIAA, Shinedown’s second record was certified Platinum in March of this year. It was labeled Platinum faster than any of the band’s other records. For example, The Sound of Madness reached the coveted status of “Double Platinum” in June of 2016, eight years after it was released. Needless to say, this information firmly backed up what I discovered on Reddit.Īt this point, I could analyze the RIAA data a little more and come to some conclusion.
According to the RIAA, Shinedown has two records certified Gold and three certified Platinum. With this in mind, I started looking through the Recording Industry Association of America’s website. Older albums could rack up sales over time and claim the desirable “platinum” title and thus have an advantage.
I don’t think it is necessarily the best way to judge how good an album is, but it couldn’t hurt. Still a little unsure of my ranking, I dove into research mode. Throughout the post, every album was placed on top at least once. I was a little shocked to see how diverse the rankings were. I looked at a Reddit post before starting this list just to see how other people would rank Shinedown’s albums. Other times, bands have a lot of awesome albums, packed with wonderful songs. I find the trajectory of the albums fairly clear and consistent.
For me, it is easy to rank the albums of certain bands.