Shinedown
Us And Them

THE REVIEW

A few years ago, while browsing the U.S. charts, I noticed a name I had never heard before: Shinedown; the song was titled "45." When I listened to it, I was very impressed; a beautiful grunge ballad, adorned with a splendid lyric on the theme of suicide. Precisely because of the theme addressed, the song was subject to fierce controversy from the puritanical Americans.

Searching for information about the band, I discovered that the track was taken from the band's debut album, "Leave A Whisper," which I never had the chance to listen to in its entirety. Today: Shinedown is out with their second work, this "Us And Them", which has generated quite a bit of anticipation in the States, considering the good commercial success of the group's first full-length album. The album presents itself as a successful amalgamation of grunge and seventies-style rock sounds, even reaching some nu-metal nuances.

The Jacksonville quartet can boast a highly charismatic frontman like the leader Brent Smith, endowed with a beautiful "Cornellian" voice (forgive me the neologism) and author of lyrics committed like Eddie Vedder's and a guitarist with the so-called, the great Jasin Todd, author of robust but never banal riffs and terrific solos. It's hard to find a drop in tone, a failure; "Us And Them" is solid, massive like the sound of some of its tracks: from "Heroes" and "Save Me", reminiscent of the best Audioslave, to the rough "Fake" and "Atmosphere", reaching the splendid ballads "I Dare You", "Some Day" and the acoustic "Shed Some Light".

"Us And Them" was, for the writer, a very pleasant surprise, undoubtedly candidating Shinedown as one of the best rock bands of the moment. Let's hope that, riding the wave of American success, the Shinedown cyclone also sweeps over the Beautiful Country...