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Godsmack Awake (double vinyl edition) Review by Gary Hill Godsmack recently released this first vinyl pressing of their second album. I have to say that I've been a fan of the band since their first album. I know that they are perhaps considered a little "less cool" these days than they were back in those times. Personally, I think their music still holds up well. In fact, I think I like this album better now than I did at the time. If you like their brand of angry, metallic rock, this disc is still a real winner. I should mention that I previously reviewed the CD release of this. For the sake of consistency the track reviews here are either taken from or modified from that review. Also, this is a three-sided, record, meaning that only three of the four sides have music on them. The fourth side had this cool etching, graphic of the band's symbol. That's so cool that it earned this release one of our Music Street Journal bonus videos. Here is that MSJ video youtube.com/watch?v=4h8FQy3C_Pw This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2024 Volume 3 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2024.

Track by Track Review

Side A

Sick of Life An ambient sort of building process starts this cut, then it shifts into high gear. This feels a lot like something from the first disc, but with a harder edge.

Awake The title track comes across as a triumphant and defiant sounding hard edged number that rocks out quite well. It is one of the strongest tracks on the disc and the first single. The tune features a cool guitar solo. This does include some definite parental advisories.

Greed Very hard edged and gritty, this is pretty typical Godsmack angst. This one features a very cool instrumental break.

Bad Magick With an intro texture that feels like a stripped down, punky take on the classic sound of Black Sabbath, as the vocals enter this one becomes more standard Godsmack. It is one of the weaker tracks on the disc, but has a very catchy chorus and interesting bridge.

Side B

Goin' Down Starting with a cool bass line, this cut has an awesome guitar sound and great texture. This is definitely a stand out track, with the chorus being particularly catchy.

Mistakes Dark effects sounds form the intro on this cut. As it enters the song proper, a killer dark metal sound overtakes. This one is a scorcher. The break, with its spoken word samples and great jamming is particularly strong. This segment serves as both an extended outro and a segue into the next number as it dissolves down to feedback dominated weirdness.

Trippin' This one is a dark, mellower jam that almost feels like part of the previous song. It drops to ambient effects to end.

Side C

Forgive Me "Forgive Me" is a fairly generic sounding Godsmack cut. It dissolves into effects that serve as the intro to the next number.

Vampires This is a very cool jam with the only "vocals" being a sampled track of a treatise on the phenomenon of the vampire legend in our society.

The Journey This is a very brief instrumental piece of weirdness that serves as intro to the next cut.

Spiral Starting with world percussion, this one evolves into a great sort of jam with a wonderful rhythmic flow. It is quite a nice change of pace and a solid jame with Eastern sorts of modes.

You'll find concert pics of this artist in the Music Street Journal members area.

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