Godsmack is an Industrial metal band that has released four albums and an Accoustic EP with seven covers and an original. They released their Self-titled CD in 1998 and the success started from there. Their next CD, and my favorite, entitled Awake was released on Halloween of 2000. They released Faceless three years later and the EP shortly after that. On April 25, 2006, they released another CD entitled IV. I am going to review their 'Awake' CD. They are a band created by Sully Erna, saying that Layne Staley (RIP) (Alice in Chains), was the guy who got him to start singing. He (Sully) is the only one who can even come close to matching Layne’s voice. Members of the band have also cited Metallica, Pearl Jam, Judas Preist and Black Sabbath as influences. They tend to show more of Metallica than any other. The song, Awake, has been used for many of the U.S. Navy commercials, and it blends in well.
Godsmack is (for this CD):
Sully Erna: Vocals
Tony Rombola: Guitar
Robbie Merrill: Bass
Tommy Stewart: Drums
Sick of Life starts us out, and if any of you own ANY Godsmack album, the first song always takes a VERY long time to get into. It is the same here, but the bass and drum intro is very catchy and leads you into this very cool song. There is a cool solo near the end of the song. Sully does some great screaming on here and it makes this one of the better ones on the album.
Awake, the title track, is the song used in the commercials (as was Sick of Life). It is the first single off of this album, and is shortened for radio play. It is very well done and the solo fits in perfect. The chorus is very catchy as well.
Greed is a song that can get stuck in your head. The only thing wrong with it, is that it just ends at the end of the song. There is no actual ending, if you know what I mean. It just is weird. There is a solo around the 2:30 mark that adds to the song from keeping it very generic and boring.
Bad Magick starts us out with a lyric that will get stuck in your head. The drums start out really good. The line is
Quote:
|
"Gettin' back, back on track, get off my back".
|
It is another great catchy song, the solo near the end is brilliant.
Goin’ Down is a song off of a movie soundtrack, I think it is Fast and the Furious. The bass intro is very catchy, but I didn’t like this song as much as the others.
Mistakes is the longest song on the CD and it builds up for it. Although I don’t tend to listen to it as much, whenever I do, it rocks. It blends into my favorite song, [b]Trippin'[b]. The bass intro is sweet, and the minor second that the guiar uses is very dark. The solo is very easy, but blends right into the song. Probably the best on the CD. This song is almost too short for being so good, that is how good it is.
Forgive Me comes out hard rocking, and stays that way. It gives you that classic Godsmack sound, and reminds me many songs off of Faceless when I listen to it. It gets repetitive after a while.
Vampires is mainly an instrumental piece, but the lyrics at the very first deal with the whole song. The instrumental work is very good and shows the band working as a whole (instrumentally, with no vocals). [b]The Journey[b], which is just a filler instrumental track, leads into the last song,
Spiral. This is another good song, and a great way to end the album. The acoustic version is much better to me, but this version is very good.
The overall sound of this album is incredible, and is a must have for any CD collection. Godsmack started to go downhill after this. This is their best and you should have it, if you dont already have it. I give it a 5/5, a Classic metal album.
Recommended Songs
Sick of Life
Awake
Trippin'
Vampires
