There is a term in the music biz called "sophomore jinx". It refers to the phenomenon of bands with very strong debut efforts having a hard time matching the quality of that first release on the follow-up. With the Halloween release of Awake, Godsmack have opened themselves up to their sophomore jinx debate. How did they fare? Well, honestly, they have not done badly. Is Awake as potent a CD as the self-titled effort? In a word, "no", however, the disc is quite strong and up with the vast majority of albums out there. Also to its credit, it finds the band not content to rest on their laurels, but trying to cover new ground. Obviously the temptation when your first disc has sold as well as theirs did is to simply duplicate that release. While there is some material here that fits into that category, the CD does show a band that is in the process of refining and stretching their musical style.

There are some cuts that definitely equal anything from the first offering ("Awake", "Vampires", "Goin' Down" and "Mistakes"), but there is some weak material here, too ("Bad Magick" and "Forgive Me" come to mind. There are only two real complaints about the album, though. One is the length of the disc. Weighing in at a mere 45 plus minutes, it is easy to see that they could have added more songs to the mix. The second problem is a bit more serious, and carries over from the first album. Listening to that debut release, one tends to notice that Sully has a tendency to rely to heavily on his "yeah"'s. The trend continues here, and begins to wear a bit thin after a time.

All that being said, Godsmack (Sully, Robbie, Tony and Tommy) have produced a disc that is quite entertaining, and moves the band's sound forward, while still staying true to their roots. For those uninitiated in the Godsmack realm, I would recommend the first disc as the best starting point. However, for all those who already have that disc, this one is a great addition to your collection.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: The Early Years Volume 3 at garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-The-Early-Years.