Godsmack's Next Chapter Reads Powerfully

Powerful chords predominate. This is the stuff seas of lit video cameras are made of. Godsmack needs to take a bow. Nary a sliver sounds watered down about "What's Next". Strong riffs crackle in every nook you can place them. On the tempo tip it's delivered just right. Drums explode propulsively. Sully Erna has pipes meant to make you quiver from the top down. What's more, Godsmack remembered to not get stuck in one guitar chord. That makes "What's Next" stand out from the rock pack. These guys waste no time immersing themselves in the fray. Shannon Larkin brings the skin bashing octane early and doesn't give an inch. Tony Rombola carries out pulsating guitar driven in that rock god manner metal enthusiasts embrace heartily. Robbie Merrill isn't light in the loafers when it comes to zeroing in on the right bass notes. Such vast rumblings from a guttural place. True to the form for many practitioners of the metal genre, musings on Death grab center stage. Chief among the questions is the familiar "Is this world all there is?" The opening freezing imagery details nothing short of corpses and rotting bluish skin. Godsmack isn't making history posing these time honored questions but the gusto with which it asks refuses to be denied. Don't look for any overtures towards machismo elevating guitar solos. "What's Next" gets its crunch from the steady punishing bulldozer relentlessness embedded in the lyrics and high wattage instrumentation. Godsmack has its sensors set to wrath and how grandiose are the goosebumps that setup generates. Existential questions are in great supply. Sully has us rooting for him to track down some trace of an answer. His James Hetfield-esque snarls are primarily responsible for how smooth purring this engine runs. Each man clearly gets his turn in the spotlight. No in your face drum solos. This marriage screams "equal partnership". If only most marriages worked that well. Why are we blind from our certainty? That's a probing question. Proves all we really know about this life is we know far less than we'd like to let on. "What's Next" defines right now immediacy.