Album Review: Shinedown - Amaryllis [Rock/Metal]

Rating: 9.0/10

Coming off the platinum release of The Sound of Madness in 2008, which included the mega-hit "Second Chance," Shinedown had some high expectations for their fourth studio album Amaryllis.   Those expectations were exceeded.  This is probably my favorite of their four offerings.  The tracks are catchy, hit hard, and get you all sorts of PUMPED UP.  This can be said about pretty much every Shinedown release, but this one is different in that it lacks the depressing, self-deprecating lyrics, and instead focus (for the most part) on rising above, overcoming, and proving people wrong.  Nowhere is this more the case than with my favorite track on the album "Unity."  The name may seem a little corny, and maybe the song is too, but it just gets me excited, pumped up, and ready to go.  It's the kind of a feel-good, motivational, radio-friendly hit that made "Second Chance" so successful three years ago (Watch the video on the right.)  The whole album gives me an attitude of "Fuck you, I like who I am," and they pull off this overall message very well for the most part.  The one exception would be "Bully," because it seems kind of childish for a band that's been around for this long to still be singing about school bullies. Plus, Three Days Grace had a near-identical song on their last album.  Even so, for being the worst song on the album, it's still a damn decent track.
          Of course, Brent Smith's vocals are on point;  he has one of my favorite voices in rock music.  A lot of the songs on Amaryllis include strings which just make them feel... bigger.  They maintain a good balance of heavy, fast tracks with the slower tracks, because the slower tracks on this album tend to hit me the hardest. In conclusion, I've always liked Shinedown, but was never a HUGE fan.  After this album, they are definitely in the short list of my favorite metal bands.

Favorite Songs :
1. Unity - Catchy, motivational track
2: Through The Ghost - Slower track, no drums, way different from the rest, but still a near perfect song.
3. Amaryllis - Brent Smith really lets his voice shine on the title track

Least Favorite Songs:
1. Bully- Kind of childish lyrical content

"Hooked" Explained plus thoughts on Energy and Climate Change

If you haven't seen our new music video "Hooked", check that out here:


When F5 hit me with the final product of "Hooked", I thought the message was conveyed exactly how I wanted it, and was hopeful that most viewers would get it.  A lot of people I've talked to seem to have taken something from it other than what I intended, which is fine for most of my songs because I like them to be open for interpretation, but this one really isn't.  The message is cut and dry and very important to me, so I wanted to write a little bit about it.

First of all, it's not about drugs.  The drug addict in this video is a metaphor, or symbol, for the United States.  The drug in this video is motor oil, which is a literal metaphor for petroleum.  I think the metaphor holds consistent for all lyrics and scenes in the video.  You have the drug dealer, which represents foreign oil companies.  An added scene could have included the addict mining his own "drug" as well, and destroying his own house or "habitat", but we kept that out.  In the video, the dealer jacks up the price of the drug, just as the addict needs more and more of it, making it difficult to obtain enough.  This holds true for the US/Petroleum parallel as well.  The "intervention" scene represents the many experts telling us that we need to curtail our oil dependence, and although we know that is true, we are unable or unwilling to do so.  You can see the effects that the drug has on the addict's body (puking, shaking, altogether instability), which is similar to the dire consequences the oil addiction has on the nation, especially the environment (and the economy once the addiction has destroyed enough.)  The addict's violent behavior and thefts of the drug represent U.S. military aggression that results in either taking oil or ensuring that we can get it somehow.  The chaos at the end of the video is more of a peek into the future than a direct historical parallel.  I believe if this country doesn't do more to switch off of oil and regulate big oil corruption and pollution, the consequences will be fierce.  The addict in the video dies from it.  Over dramatic? Maybe, but at this point I think we need to overemphasize some things to get this important point across.  I've included the lyrics at the bottom of the post if you'd like to analyze the parallels more in depth.  I also want to note that I know that the United States is not the only country with an oil problem.  It's the entire world.  It was just easier to portray the metaphor by using one country.

This is an issue that I'd like to dive into more in my music.  Regardless of what these Chevron commercials tell you, renewable energy needs to be the main goal.  Maybe it's not the most cost effective right now, but we should be focusing efforts to get it there.  Switching to renewables is a POSITIVE move for the economy long term, despite what your candidates paid for by Oil companies would like to tell you.  It's going to have to be done sooner or later, and the longer we wait and squeeze every drop of money we can out of oil and coal (another topic for a later date), the more damage that will be done.  The best thing we can do is support new green initiatives with your money and your vote, and make it known to the powers that be that the future matters.  Companies like The Heartland Institute, who use Big Oil money to fund fake scientific think tanks to give people reasons to doubt man made climate change, should be protested vehemently for their role in trying to destroy the future of our global climate.   I'm going to be bringing this fight to my music and also make some lifestyle changes, and hopefully some of you can join me in that.  If there are any resources that you think touch on this subject (articles, reports, anything) send them my way, I'd be happy to read them and increase my knowledge on the subject.

Here is a very optimistic article I read today.  Maybe some wishful thinking, but still some good indisputable numbers here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/are-we-wildly-underestimating-solar-and-wind-power/2012/06/19/gJQAh4GMoV_blog.html


"Hooked" Lyrics:

Never for a second did he think it’d come to this

A man as young as this, you’re thinking why’d you Run the risk?

You call it simple life, he called it punishment

With his future In the vice it’s the high he’s gonna get

Blood pumpin

Let the drugs come in

He wants nothing

But the rush again

And then he never thought twice

when they told him it was safe

now Its weaving through his life

Flowin through his veins

He loves it

Fill him up again

And the comfort

It could usher in

He felt weak and he needed a doctor now he’s

elite and it’s cheaper than water

all a sudden, caution

this addiction isn’t slowing

watch it man

the fixes still are growing

it’s taking more and more

hits, more to get him going

the worst part about it

really isn’t knowing

what’s the consequences for not stopping the progression?

will he just get taught a lesson will this go to far to step in new directions?

and now the price goes up, and so does the use

but he wants the finest cuts and doesn’t know what to do

or how to buy the stuff, the nightmare’s coming true

but he’s getting higher up, and he won’t undo

all the time it took, to get the Midas touch

fuck it, light it up! like

Chorus:

It felt so good and it worked so well

But it taints my blood and I hurt myself

I said it felt so good, and it worked so well

But it taints my blood, and I hurt myself.

Put the needle to his skin and inject it

There’s no feelin’ like his head gets

no slowing up its spreading

The gates opened up and the world could get it

He knows he’s got a problem, now, but to solve it

He’s got to want to solve it, but man it feels awesome

These other options are exhausting,

He can’t stop it without getting nauseous

So shoot the mother fuckin’ drug up in the blood stream

He never had enough guts to come clean

But everybody knew he was up to something

An intervention, the result was nothing

Smoke, snort, incision, get that black liquid in him

Doesn’t matter what method, just back in his system

When he can’t pay the dealer, in fact, he would kill him

But his own body would

Chorus

 We’ve never had dope like this

They say we have no crisis

My God but the further down the road life gets

Don’t quit… The more I show my fist

Cuz it kills from the inside, builds on the out

We still wanna get high, and sit on the couch

find alternatives, aim and narrow in

OK here it is Oil is our heroin

Oil is our heroin

Why I Still Hate Lil Wayne (Not Just His Music)

A few weeks ago (or last week?)  HOT 97 DJ Peter Rosenberg dissed Nicki Minaj's music at Summer Jam, prompting her boss Lil Wayne to pull her from the show.  Lil Wayne's response to Rosenberg and why he pulled Nicki? "First and foremost Nicki Minaj is a female, I don’t know what anyone else believes, but I believe females deserve the ultimate respect at all times no matter, when or where or how."   Now Lil Wayne has always been a walking hypocrisy, but this one may take the cake.  Rosenberg's rebuttal to Wayne's response is spot on.  Lil Wayne shows NO respect whatsoever for women in his music.  He has been degrading them and relegating them as an elaborate part of his lifestyle for his whole career.  Furthermore, what Rosenberg said was not sexist in the slightest.  He simply doesn't like Nicki's music.  

I have successfully ignored Lil Wayne for the last year, but this situation just brings up all those old feelings of disgust again.   Music is a matter of taste, I get that. and I won't speak on the quality of Weezy's music.  What I can speak on, however, is the lack of integrity that this dude has consistently shown.  He raps about Bloods, but admits he doesn't know much about the Bloods and Crips.  He brags about his ability to "not write" and freestyle, but his inability to actually freestyle has been exposed several times.  He compares himself to Martin Luther King, and then basically calls Oklahoma City team officials racists for not getting him a courtside seat last minute to a sold out Western Conference Finals game, while never accomplishing anything positive in helping solve racism.  He glorifies drug use, which is not new for rappers, but the extent of which Lil Wayne tries to make sipping lean and smoking weed look cool is insane.  He made songs chastising GW Bush for his inaction after Hurricane Katrina, and when asked what he would ask Bush, given the chance, he said: "I'm a gangsta.  Gangstas don't ask no questions."  What?!  Does he think that makes him sound cool?  Or maybe he was too uneducated on the topic to give a real answer.  

This man is looked up to by MILLIONS of young teenagers around the world and has been absolutely nothing but a terrible influence to all of them.  I understand it is not his job to be a role model, but when he does things like compare himself to MLK or make a plea for women to be respected, it seems like he wants to be regarded as one.  Kids do see him as a role model.   The cheesy "motivational" quotes you can find sprinkled throughout his gigantic catalogue make their way onto Facebook walls and twitter feeds every minute.  People care about what he has to say.  It's too bad he doesn't say any of it from the heart.  This is my problem with Lil Wayne.  It is the embodiment of "Fake", the definition of hypocricy, yet is somehow regarded as "real."  This is why I wince every time I am called a rapper.  I am one, but if Lil Wayne is what people think of when you say the word "rapper", I want no part in that.

All of this brings up a much larger debate about the entertainment's industry's influence over people, and whose responsibility is it (kids, parents, government, artists, etc.).  I don't want to speak on that.  Regardless of who's to blame, there is no doubt that Lil Wayne is a bad influence on our society as a whole.  That sounds over-dramatic, but his lack of integrity and ability to make all the wrong things matter most is a terrible thing for impressionable minds to see every day.  You and I may see a lying, talentless clown, but plenty more people see a cool, well-respected, multi-millionaire who's achieved that status by doing and saying all the wrong things.  To say that has no effect on people, I think, would be false.

My next blog posts will ease off the haterade.

-3

Oh shit... this probably won't go well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B_vbHiUVQV0

So American Atheists put up this billboard, that says "Slaves, obey your masters" in Pennsylvania.  It is a Bible quote from Colossians 3:22, and designed to get attention, point out the immorality of the Bible, and show how ridiculous it is that the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives declared 2012 the "Year of the Bible ".  Clearly, some residents are up in arms over this.

What do I think of it?  I think it does a good job of getting attention and shocking people, which is a good thing, but I think it goes too far in shocking people in that readers will not see the point, or even look for a point.  They will see "slavery" and no matter what, it will be deemed offensive.  In an argument, this example might work well.  It turns the very book that a person follows around on the followers, and shows them how immoral and inconsistent it can be.  On a billboard, however, I don't think the reasoning will get past the "I'm offended" stage for most viewers of the billboard.  Using a different immoral or inane passage would have worked better.  Especially one that doesn't target a specific race.

Do I think the billboard is offensive?  I think the idea of owning slaves is obviously offensive, and for the Bible to condone that automatically makes it immoral to me.  I think the idea of "offensive" must never stand in the way of the truth.  The truth is, the Bible condones slavery.  Pointing that out, in itself, should not be offensive to anyone. However, the goal should be foster understanding of the Atheists' position.  The shock value of this billboard will not foster much understanding from the Christians who pass by it.

An awesome editorial by Dessa of Doomtree

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/141116413.html

My favorite part is when she equates misogyny to racism, and how one is OK in hip hop, but one isn't- but they are basically the same thing.