It's not a result of the recording method. The album was actually recorded really well. Instead, it's the result of mastering, which is a process done after the album has been recording and mixed by the engineers and producer.

The loudness war is the result of a mistaken belief amongst idiot mastering engineers and record executives that the louder an album is, the better it sounds. From a technical standpoint, it's the use of digital tools like dynamic range compression and hard limiting to boost the quietest parts and squash the loudest parts of an audio recording to maximize its overall perceived loudness. 20 years ago, CDs were a lot quieter, but they sounded a lot better because there was no artificial boosting and compression going on after the recording and mixing was finished. You could turn up the volume of a well-mastered CD and it would sound fuller and fuller. Popular music today does not do this. Turn up a CD that's been loudness mastered, and it gets shrill and overblown and can even damage your speakers or headphones.

The problem with an artificially loud recording is what's known as ear fatigue. Modern recordings literally tire out the brain.

Here's a simple explanation of the process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

Now compare the title track from Blacklisted on top with "People Got A Lot of Nerve" from Middle Cyclone on bottom.

See how only one peak reaches 0 dB on the top track? On the bottom, practically every peak hits the ceiling. That's the loudness war. The mastering engineer has limited the peaks so he can maximize the album's volume. Means when I crank my stereo, Middle Cyclone craps out a lot sooner than her earlier albums.