“Don’t be delicate. Be vast and brilliant.” These words resonate inside the new Shinedown CD “Amaryllis.”
This week, Shinedown released their fourth studio album, a follow up to the successful “Sound of Madness” 2008 album. Don’t let the pretty cover fool you. This album is anything but delicate. “Amaryllis” is edgy while maintaining a few ballads (for which Shinedown is best known).

Shinedown is a four-man band from Jacksonville, Fl. Their success in the past is largely influenced by founding member, Brent Smith. His powerful vocals and wide range of musical talent continue in “Amaryllis.” To Smith’s left is lead guitarist Zach Myers. Myer provides great sounding consistency to Shinedown and rocks out some signature guitar solos in this new album. Shinedown’s bass player, naturally named Eric Bass, offers a fluent sound to many songs. The other founding member is drummer Barry Kersh. He is a beast behind the band, constantly on perfect key to provide amazing beats for Shinedown.

“Amaryllis” gives listeners of all types a blending of sounds. For fans seeking straight up sound, there are a number of songs which kick your teeth in. For “Amaryllis”, these tracks include “Enemies,” “Nowhere Kids,” and “My Name (Wearing Me Out)”. For isteners who are seeking a more classic Shinedown ballad, this release does not disappoint. “Unity” and “Miracle” are both great examples of this. “Amaryllis” is complete in its sound and delivery, plain and simple.

The first track on this album, although promising, seems to be ho-hum for Shinedown’s standards. “Adrenaline” begins with some banging drums and hard guitar riffs, but fails to capture the complete sound. “Bully” is a lot better, and is the first released single of this album. Everything begins gelling with the next two tracks. This is thanks in large part to the song writing abilities, and with the sound complimenting Smith’s very beautiful voice. “Enemies” jolts the listener from the ballads and rocks from beginning to end. The following three tracks provide lots of variety. One is a melodic, upbeat track. The next is a more frantic, powerful track, and the song “Miracle” is one of the trademark new ballads Shinedown has to brag about. “I’ll Follow You” sounds like it would be a stalker song, but in fact is a love ballad and is one of the two songs I cannot stand on here. The other song I really dislike is “Through the Ghost.” This song wraps up the album in a perfect bow, but to me is too slow. The tracks in-between the ones I despise are very decent.

Though I do not like a few tracks of this album, I highly recommend this album to anyone looking for something fresh and new. For Shinedown, “Amaryllis” is their most complete album to date. For any type of music fan, “Amaryllis” cannot be wrong.