Shinedown don’t list their musical influences in the sleeve of their latest album, but my guess is that Metallica would rank at number 1 if they had done so.

Shinedown’s music sounds like the sort of thing you’d hear blaring at a smoky pub full of bikers. It is leather jacket, long black hair music.

The album, The Sound of Madness, begins with all guns firing. A marching drum fades to the surface, followed by a shrieking guitar riff, then several hits on the drums, until finally a wall of fuzzy music knocks you in the face. And the singer bellows: “Take it and take it and take it and take it all… Smash it and crash it and thrash it and trash it / You know they’re only toys.”

It wouldn’t provide a bad soundtrack for a platoon rolling into battle in the back of a tank either. It is music which will fire you up. And sounds that will have you psyched in no time. If you have a football grand final coming up, I suggest you buy this CD and play it loud through your headphones.

Given that the band are basically trying to rock your socks off and not much more, the lyrics provide a nice outlet for the singer to yell really loudly. The actual words though are of little importance. This is a face-value album which won’t be listened to by many people interested in analysing the words. It is an album for buying and head banging your way through.

One song though, titled ‘Sound of Madness’ has some telling words:

“I created the sound of madness
Wrote the book on pain
Somehow I’m still here to explain
That the darkest hour never comes in the night
You sleep with a gun
But when you gonna wake up and fight
For yourself”

It is a song of self made hope and success. A song of trailblazing your own path through a dangerous world. It speaks of a lifestyle opposed to rules and regulations, reaping misery and chaos. And an existence where you own your own pain.

I can only imagine then what the Shinedown crowd must think of Christianity. Or church for that matter. I reckon they’d think of white robes, candles and incense, and lovely people with big smiles – a place they’d never dream of touching.

However they’re a crowd who have no less need for the gospel than anyone else. Perhaps they just need to know of the great trailblazer who defeated darkness for us. The one who fought a battle bigger than our biggest fist fights, and overcame the world on our behalf.

It’s an album for those who don’t want to think too much. But even that is something to think about.