Godsmack

I've heard this name bandied around now on the 'net for a few months, so I thought I'd check it out. First impressions? Cover with girl featuring "trendy" piercings. First track, Moon Baby, has those "guitar effects" which are becoming synonymous with the "new metal" sound. Uh-oh. But then as we progress through, a different thought emerges. James Hetfield is in the house. But I told him to leave and come back when they've recorded another decent album. So he buggered off to Godsmack. There's definitely touches of the H man's roar in there, along with an Alice In Chainsy drawl thing, round off by a nice bunch of samples. See, it's everything new but without falling into the pool marked "overly generic, dangerous waters". And by the time we reach Bad Religion, things are beginning to settle down quite nicely thankyouverymuch. Get Up Get Out brings to mind Rob Zombie more in the use of the "yeahs" than anything else, but when you consider the samples that are going on here, maybe it's not that bad a reference.

Not a bad album then. Lacking originality in places. So that means it fits in quite nicely with the current state of affairs then.

Available on