“I broke down a lot of walls on this record and a lot of barriers and was a lot more blunt on this album,” stated Smith in a 2008 interview with Always Acoustic. Smith, dealing with a lot of change in his life, channeled some of his experiences into what is arguably his most personal recordings to date. He continued, 'At the same time, Brent was about to have his son and he was going through his things with drugs and alcohol, so it was a very difficult time, but I think what was holding us together is that we knew we were sitting on something very special.' Jasin actually came to the studio to record The Sound of Madness with us, but then his problems overtook his ability to do the record as well, so it was Brent and I looking at each other, like, 'OK, we have a singer and a drummer, how are we going to do this?'' at that time we were honestly falling apart. In our chat with Kerch about the 10th anniversary of the album, the drummer recalled, 'To be honest, I was holding on for dear life. So, as writing began for the new album, Smith and drummer Barry Kerch remained the two holdovers. A public announcement came in April 2008 shortly after the guitarist was arrested in Jacksonville on charges of disorderly intoxication and resisting an officer, though the decision to part with Todd had come prior to the public statement. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Shinedown made the decision to move on from Todd. Smith learned he was going to become a father and made the decision to kick his drug habit.

Bassist Brad Stewart had become dissatisfied, while Smith and guitarist Jasin Todd had substance abuse issues coming to the forefront. It turns out the time was needed as Shinedown were undergoing some significant internal changes.

The label relented, granting Smith the time he wanted as the band started in on The Sound of Madness in early 2007. While it looked like a solid career with radio success lied ahead, things seemed less than guaranteed for the band considering what was happening behind the scenes heading into the creation of their third release, The Sound of Madness.īeing pushed initially for a quick turnaround of their third album by their label, singer Brent Smith balked at working under time constraints, feeling less than happy with the experience during their sophomore set, Us and Them. In the early 2000s, Shinedown emerged as one of rock’s bright young stars, delivering the platinum-selling debut Leave a Whisper and the gold-selling follow-up Us and Them.

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