Awake

While it may seem that in the wake of bands like Limp Bizkit, Korn, and the Deftones, anger has suddenly become a rather successful cottage industry, in truth, bands have been spewing and selling this metallic rage for years—it has just taken mainstream America awhile to catch on. Godsmack firmly established themselves as feeders at the trough of nonspecific angst with their 1998 triple-platinum debut, Godsmack, and their sophomore effort is evidence that selling three million records hasn’t cheered them up much. Frontman Sully Erna’s demonic croaking makes him a dead vocal ringer for Metallica frontman James Hetfield and the stuttering, bottom-heavy guitar riffs that drive tracks like “Sick Of Life” and “Greed” push the Metallica comparison further than it probably should’ve gone. Godsmack wisely avoids the cartoonish rapping that makes Limp Bizkit so laughable, but there’s really not enough here to separate this band from the dozens of other unrepentant metalheads fighting for space in the public consciousness.