Godsmack : "Lighting Up the Sky"

The fact Bush's last album kicked so much ass is what inspired me to check out the new one from another late 90s post -grunge band. A departure from the more nu-metal earlier work, and a groove oriented rock album, that finds the vocal melody full of Led Zeppelin influence despite Sully's husky baritone. There is some great guitar work and a pretty solid chorus so the first song is exceeding my expectations. "Red, White & Blue" has a more syncopated grit, though the lyrics are about America, "Surrender" has a palm muted groove, making it  marginally darker, as the crunch is added to the guitar tone. Lyrically it's juvenile, like they are dumbing it down. Erna's voice sounds pretty good, there has yet to be the kind of Alice in Chains harmonies that colored their earlier work. 

The guitar line to "What About Me" kind of picks up where the previous song left off.  Lyrically it sounds like it from a self help book sold at a truck stop. There is a warmer rock sound, but that finds the band also shedding the darker metallic crunch of yester years. Larkin's drumming is pretty straightforward so far. The album begins to lose it's way when it veers into piano based power ballads on "Truth".  "Hell's Not Dead" is an improvement with a more AC/DC like guitar dynamic. It's the kind of hard rock NASCAR can use when it's time to transition into a word from their sponsors. The opening riff to "Soul on Fire' reminds me more of the Cult. I am not sure what Larkin is trying to do on the verses. It is more like the Cult covering the Foo-Fighters.

I am not sure what inspired this album beyond classic rock radio. I do appreciate the fact these guys went in the studio with one producer and not outside songwriters and busted this out for better or for worse. However I am sure that is why the machine that is the music business doesn't allow pop artists these liberties is the results can be unpredictable. The boogie of "Let's Go" is hard to make it through. They sound more like themselves on "Best of Times" The chorus could be better, but the verses are in the right direction. "Growing Old" explains a lot of the album's problems as it tries to be Bad Company. This problem is allowed to fester more in this direction with the title track that closes the album, it's like they forgot how to be heavy. I'' round this down to a 7, it started strong and lost more gas with each song.