Local loud act

Godsmack

Still drawing on deep roots

Wish I could think up something nice to say about Godsmack that didn't reek of faint praise, snobbish self-satisfied condescension, or just plain ol' curmudgeonly contempt. But I can't. Godsmack (Universal), formerly the self-released All Wound Up, is one of the dumbest, most cynical hard-rock albums I've heard in a long time. That Godsmack managed to find the gold at the end of the Active Rock rainbow with their smash hit "Whatever" just proves that anyone who's mercenary enough to steal other people's maps can do the same: march through Korn's bottom, take a detour into White Zombie's industrial swampland, slink around in Alice in Chains' baroque melodies, and remember to grimace when they hand you the check.

Godsmack took this category overwhelmingly; no one else even came close. And I'd gladly have handed this plum assignment to someone who liked the band if such a person could be found in our offices. Believe it or not, I liked it more than anyone else here -- which is to say that there have been times when "Whatever" has come on the radio, and I've switched to other stations on the dial ("Marcy Playground -- ugh; Eminem -- ugh"), and then switched back to Godsmack instead of just turning the damned thing off. And I think it's kind of cute how they're a people's band and everything. But that's as far as it goes.

-- Carly Carioli

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Official Godsmack Web site

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