The sophomore release from the Boston foursome. A bit more experimentation on this album, in terms of their use of samples and whatnot. This one has a dark feel to it, very heavy, gloomy.
Sully Erna - Vocals
Tony Rambola - Guitars
Robbie Merrill - Bass
Tommy Stewart - Drums and Percussion
The Tracks:
Sick of Life (3:52)
Opens with an eerie sample, reminds me of a dark swamp or something at night. Bass opens it up with a deep riff which becomes the basis of the song. Guitar joins in a second later, breaks into chords, followed by some cool harmonics, then back to the main riff. Sully seems even more anguished on this album, if that's possible. Main riff on guitar alternates from the heavier, lower riff, and a higher end riff. There's no real chorus riff here, and the chorus itself is pretty short. Repeat verse/chorus structure, enter the bridge section, which sees a trademark Tony guitar solo in it. I kinda wish they wouldn't add the rhythm track under it, or at least not make it so loud. Oh well. Another chorus or two, throw in some more harmonics, end on the heavy intro riff
Awake (5:04)
The title track...I love this song, and apparantly, so does the US Navy, as they use it in a promo commercial. Hm. Oh well. Opens with a riff that's more melodic than Sick of Life...the intro is rather long actually, composed of the first riff, a B section, then goes back to the original riff...but modifies it slightly. Verse is the main riff, but it's not constant...Chorus is opening riff, then back to the little break with the distorted talking in the background. Repeat the cycle. A bridge section, with the main riff chugging along...Sully adds vocals to this bridge section...bridge number 2, which involves a guitar solo...starts off sounding like a shred solo to me...then he changes it up and does his trademark bending/wah...love it...another chorus or 3 ends this one...and since the chorus is short, they can get away with it.
Greed (3:28)
Gets right into it with a chugging main riff....chorus riff changes things up a bit, actually, alot, considering the main riff is the same chord over and over, but I digress. Repeat verse/chorus section. Anyone who doesn't like cliche lyrics probably won't like this one too much...I never said Sully was a lyrical genius, but I do love the way he sings whatever he writes, even if it is "Hey little bi
tch!". Bridge section with guitar solo. No shredding this time...well, it's a shorter song, so it's a shorter solo, so...anyway...another chorus or two ends this one.
Bad Magick (4:17)
Opens up with a fade-in of percussion, and a pretty cool riff...there's even a walking or semi-walking bassline under it, which is cool. This is not, however, one of Godsmack's better songs...this one is overly, overly repetitive...a chorus which consists of "Feels so bad...bad magick laying into me" and another line or two...about four times. After the second chorus...even far more repetitive..."Getting back, get back on track...get off of my back"...for...uh...I lose count...there is a guitar solo at 3:10, but it's not good enough to redeem the repetitiveness of this song. I like the first verse/chorus, and the intro...and I like the fact that the bass is doing a little something underneath it all, but that's about it.
Goin' Down (4:17)
Opens up with a nice, deep bassline, which sets the tone as the main riff. Actually, there isn't any steady guitar in the verse...it does weird tremolo strikes every now and then, which is kinda cool. They don't do a chorus, but do another verse here...chorus riff is changed up for the first part, plays main riff for the second part. I think Sully ran out of good ideas for a chorus, since he basically says he's "Goin down!" a few times...oh well...another verse, followed by a chorus...bridge section follows with a guitar solo...trademark wah stuff, with some trem. effect in there somewhere I think...it's not as good as some of his other solos...another chorus ends this...
Mistakes (5:58)
The longest, and one of my favorite tracks...this one opens with eerie distortion, and an eerie...?bass? riff...I don't know what it is, but it's very haunting. Guitar comes in with that ? riff, drums come in a few seconds later, bass joins to complete it after a nice double bass fill...this song has a slower pulse to it, but...it's not
very heavy, but has this...feel to it...yeah...like it's trudging along...whatever...another verse/chorus...I like the use of double bass in this song, it's not constant or anything, but it's cool. Now, we get a bridge section...it's different from the rest...guitar does some riffing, then..what I think is distorted bass. They change to a different, heavier riff after that...with some dialogue behind it all...some guy, I don't know what he's saying...something about..."It's the corruption in the human heart"...hm...add to it several howling/screaming sample things that go on at various intervals...creepy sounding...that ?bass? riff ends it...the last 20 seconds are so...weird distortion, samples, etc...that bleed into...
Trippin (4:56)
Opens with some serious flange...then a deep bass riff, with intermittent guitar semibends behind it. This song is bass/percussion driven, with that steady pulsing main riff as the foundation of the song. Chorus riff involves some higher guitar chords, sounds evil. Repeat verse/chorus section...bridge and guitar solo at about 3 minutes through...trademark stuff...fits the piece very nicely, lots of sustain and bend...another chorus, and an outro which involves some different guitar work over the same bassline...end with some odd samples and that deep bassline...
Forgive Me (4:19)
Opens right up with a heavy main riff...guitar goes back and forth from main riff to some sustained/bent/vibrated note(s)...Chorus riff isn't modified too much from the main riff...repeat the cycle...Sully sings with alot of reverb on this song for some reason...it's not bad, seems to give him a larger presence or something...hm...he sings about 2 more choruses before breaking into the bridge section...riff is palm muted here...it doesn't hook me like any of the other songs...no solo, a riff that's subpar. This isn't BAD, but it's not one of my favorites...however...
Vampires (3:47)
An instrumental...with some dialogue about vampires/supernatural stuff going on. This one is a headbanger, unlike Forgive Me, which bores me. Two tracks of guitar going on, which seems to be a standard...Tony changes it up on the second track at times, adding some higher register chords, flourishes, bends, etc, at times. This song has a 'verse' riff, and a 'chorus riff' which are different from one another, and I like them both. A bridge comes up, with a third riff pattern...and here comes the guitar solo...shred fest..well, a minor shred fest...it's not Petrucci or anyone, but it's cool sounding...although it was rather short...repeat the intro section, complete with some more dialogue.
The Journey/Spiral (About 6:24)
This is two songs rolled into one. The Journey is a :49 interlude sort of piece that leads into Spiral...Journey is some synth piano, which will actually become the main riff to Spiral...some woman sings in the background, and you'll hear her on Spiral too...there's some tribal-like drums...which come in...a bass slide and we enter Spiral. The tribal percussion still comes through, and it sounds really cool...Sully uses some chorus or reverb in his singing, creates a nice harmony...there is a bridge section which gets louder and heavier...doubled guitars, use of double bass, Sully sings louder/screams, etc. There's a guitar solo afterwards...but it's not distorted...well, I think it's guitar...it's very middle-eastern/tribal sounding...the woman comes back in and sings a bit more over it all...repeat the heavier bridge section thing...more of that non-distorted guitar/whatever it is after that...fades out on that note, bleeds into the synth piano part, and ends on that note.
Likes:
Decently heavy riffs
Guitar solos in all but...2 songs, I think
Basslines that mix it up
The Journey/Spiral
Dislikes:
Repetitiveness, (Bad Magick, Forgive Me)
Some cliche lyrics
Overall: 4/5
A four? Yes, I gave it a four. Why? Because I think the good outweighs the bad here. If Bad Magick didn't have that da
mn "Get back" section, and if Forgive Me had a guitar solo...I'd rate it higher. Songs like the first three are good rockin pieces, Mistakes/Trippin is interspersed with industrial-like samples and screams, giving them, and the album as a whole, a dark, gothic*, sort of feel. The Journey/Spiral is a great ender, talking about how life is a cycle of life/death/rebirth, and the foreign percussion adds alot to it. Yeah, some of the lyrics in the first 3/4 songs aren't so great, but it gets better from there. Besides, when you want to be angry, you write angry lyrics, period. How you interpret that anger is your own...and Godsmack does it well here. I'll follow up with their most recent album, Faceless, in a few days or so. :wave:
*By gothic, I refer to the old, middle-ages type of gothic...in terms of gothic literature, and gothic-style construction, such as cathedrals, some of which still stand today. I do not mean idiot gothic kids in the mall who think that painting one's nails black, even if you're a guy, is hXc.
