Well, think about it at the time it came out.
Long time fans were growing sick of the band being more concerned with commercial antics VS true musical ability (IE - the whole Public Enemy collaboration, TV appearances such as Married With Children, etc).
SOWN was less cartoonish than previous efforts, in terms of subject matter and imagery. Add in Bush who was a well respected underground metal frontman.
Was the album great? No. Though it gave hope to long time fans who were getting tired of the shtick, I suppose. The problem was that all subsequent releases were poop. They became too good of friends with Pantera..