445. Godsmack / Godsmack. 1998. 2.5/5

The formation of the band Godsmack, and their rise prior to and following the release of their official first album is worthy of recollection. Because few would have expected what came about during those early days of a band that has gone on to find mainstream success in a world that seemed so unmade for them.
The initial formation of the band came in 1995, with Sully Erna, who had been a drummer all his life, wanting to be lead singer out the front. He brought in Robbie Merrill on bass, local guitarist and friend Lee Richards on guitar, and Tommy Stewart on drums. Playing in the Boston and New England areas of the north-east of the US, they found a cult following through their constant gigging. After recording a demo and moving that in those circles, and then a couple of changes in the band’s lineup, they entered the studio in 1997 to record their debut album, “All Wound Up....”. The CD was recorded in just three days for $2,600 and was self-released in February 1997 through the band's own record label, E. K. Records Company. Over time, this CD found its way to a night time DJ on a Boston radio station, and played the song “Keep Away” on a constant rotation, which allowed it to rise to the number one spot on that station’s playlist. Along with this, Newbury Comics, a New England record store chain, agreed to sell the CD on consignment. All of this led to the band getting a rush of publicity. In an interview Sully Erna stated, "We had been selling maybe 50 copies a month at the time WAAF picked up the album. All of a sudden we started moving over a thousand records a week.”
In June 1998, Universal/Republic Records signed the band to their label. The decision was made to upgrade “All Wound Up...” as the band’s first release. This required some subtle editing in order to remove some of the unlicenced samples that had been used at the beginning of some of the songs, having the whole album fully remastered, and given new artwork and layout. There was also the addition of the single “Whatever” that had been recorded after the album had been released. Thus it was that Godsmack made their major label debut, and to see if their success in their local province could be transferred nationally and internationally.
Godsmack has always seemed to have a love/hate relationship with music listeners, mostly over their sound and the way that this album was written. There are a lot of influences coming through in the songs on the album, something that the band seems to be hung on by the semi-fans.
The opening of “Moon Baby” and “Whatever” move along in a nu-metal kind of fashion, utilising those kinds of rise and falls that were beginning to become more prevalent in the music scene.
“Keep Away” definitely summons in an Alice in Chains vibe, along with a then-current Metallica drive in the song. Other songs have a similar sound to them which led to some people labelling them an Alice in Chains ripoff, which they patently are not. It is hard not to notice the similarities in places, but that is not unlike other bands in history. It also seems superfluous here to mention the harmony vocals and guitars of Alice in Chains that are definitely not present here. “Time Bomb” intensifies the aggressive nature of the music and follows along a similar path. “Immune” flows down the path of what should be considered alternative metal, along with tracks like “Get Up, Get Out!” and “Now or Never”. The ring between the heavy guitar to the tinging of the back ended guitar tones screams late 1990’s metal tunes. If Metallica had done a third album on the ‘Load “Reload’ writing trail, then “Now or Never” probably would have been theirs.
It is interesting to read forums and chatrooms in particular when it comes to this album, where fans (or critics) actually break down every song on this album, and reference which band and/or song they have ‘ripped off’ in order to record it. I certainly won’t be going into those depths here, but from one side of the argument about the worth of this album they are an interesting read. What does come across on this album is that it is an acquired taste. Godsmack has a lot of angles they are coming from and their music reflects that. The first half of the album feels more proactive than the second half. “Bad Religion” has a great guitar/drum riff to get into the start of the song, but doesn’t advance past that. “Now Or Never” feels as though it is building to something, and then never quite arrives. “Stress” feels like it is going to explode, but it only has an incendiary burn. These songs are enjoyable enough, but it just feels unfulfilled, as if the next stage of evolution doesn’t arrive.

I decided to look up Godsmack after their exceptional Judas Priest medley performance at the “VH1 Rock Honours” in 2006, where they performed "Electric Eye," "Victim of Changes", and "Hell Bent for Leather" in honour of that band. Look it up, it’s worth it. What had already caught my ears was their cover of Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf” that kicks of the “Nativity in Black II: A Tribute to Black Sabbath” which is also particularly awesome. Driving back from Utopia Records in Sydney in my mates car with that album, he put it on, and that first riff powered out of the car and shattered windows in nearby buildings, and we both looked at each other with wide eyes and just went... “woah!”
So I downloaded a couple of their albums and began to indulge myself. Obviously their own material is different from those amazing cover songs that had attracted me in the first place. Like everyone else, though, I guess I initially picked up on the similarities (in some areas anyway) that they have with that era of Alice in Chains. That’s not to take away from their music – because they aren’t a cover band. The grunge/nu-metal/alt metal scene has dozens of bands that sound the same as each other, and that doesn’t make them a copycat band nor does it make them bad. Necessarily...
When I first got this album, I did enjoy most of it. Sure, by the end of the album I would sometimes feel like I had been listening to the same song a few times over, and the guitars are probably not as powerful as they could be given the progression of some of the material. To me, they could have really amped it up, and made these songs better with a bit more grunt – but most of them stay in that same rhythm throughout. In the long run, at that time I wanted to hear the energy and power that they had put into those cover versions of songs where I first heard them play, and I didn’t find that.
I’ve been back over the album a few times now in the past few days, and I find that my initial reactions haven’t changed much. The first few songs still grab me, but by the end of the album I feel as though it comes across as a bit of a mesh. It also feels as though they are building to something, to where they get to the top of the hill and then career down the other side in glory, but don’t really ever get to it. It didn’t stop this album being a success, reaching #22 in the US, so there are plenty of people out there who love this album. For me, average is probably the best description.