Leave A Whisper - Shinedown

Shinedown sprung to my attention with the haunting song 45, which tells the tale of someone who is on the edge staring down the barrel of a gun, contemplating suicide. This first album is full of hard rock songs which are given direction courtesy of the strong vocals of the lead singer. However it's not hard rock for the sake of it, the riffs are powerful but have a direction to them and gel nicely with the lyrics. The album flows between songs which are fast and furious from the very start, to those who have a much softer melody which is only broken by the more insistent bridge and hook. I don't like to categorise songs because I think it overshadows the ...