April 8, 2003 - Faceless

Two weeks since my last release and three and a half years since "Awake", Godsmack released their fourth album "Faceless" on April 8, 2003. Drummer Tommy Stewart has left the band since their last album and replacing him is new drummer Shannon Larkin. This is my only full album by Godsmack and it's their best-selling record by far with several succesful singles. Let's dive in!

The album kicks off with one of it's singles "Straight Out Of Line" and it opens with the sound of gunfire and helicopters before Larkin comes in with a solid drum beat. Robbie Merrill and Sully Erna build off of it with a nice heavy rhythm section and Tony Rombola completes the riff with some slow but epic lead guitar. Erna sings a solid verse in his typical instantly recognizable voice and he holds some nice long notes in the chorus, which is also solidly heavy. After another predictable but decent round it's solo time and Rombola plays a very distorted and pretty epic solo that sounds pretty cool. Then it's back to the main drag to predictably close things out. A solid opener, just a tad repetitive. Up next is the title track "Faceless" and Rombola leads the way with a distorted and cool lead guitar riff, and the rest of the band falls in nicely to back him with a loud rhythm section. Erna sings nlanother typical verse that matches the mood nicely and the main riff is decently catchy, but once again it's just a little repetitive and lacking in spiciness. Rombola delivers another short but distorted guitar solo, then it's a final chorus to wrap things up. We're all ready starting to notice a template on this album: establish a heavy and distorted and pretty cool main riff, Erna sings some very typical post-grunge vocals that are decent but not amazing, and they seem pretty content to stick to the main drag, aside from a short guitar solo. Track 3 is "Changes" and words don't do proper justice when I say that it follows the template once again, but as I love to say, it's another unique and solid main riff led by some nice guitars by Rombola and Erna. My head is banging along, but Godsmack just seem to lack that extra bit of oomph or greatness that might push them above the mainstream majority. Rombola delivers his longest solo yet and it has a couple pretty cool shredding parts, and Erna even gives us a half-scream that makes me want much, much more! Instead it's a final chorus, and then another short solo to interestingly spice up the ending. The next track is "Make Me Believe" and it's got another main riff that fits the template perfectly; another decently heavy and catchy guitar riff that leads the way. Erna sounds pretty good belting out the loud chorus but after another round they slow things down with what I think is supposed to be an "epic" new section, but it falls pretty flat for me. Rombola spices up the end with a cool little solo, but like a lot of these songs, a length of over four minutes is a little too long to jam out the main riff so much. Track 5 is probably Godsmack's biggest song, the lead single "I Stand Alone", and it's driven by a pretty cool lead guitar riff by Rombola, with Erna playing a cool super distorted rhythm guitar behind it. Merrill and Larkin complete this chorus riff nicely with some cool drums by the latter, then they move smoothly into a catchy stop-and-start verse with Erna sounding pretty good singing overtop. It's no wonder this was the lead single, it's not just very accessible and catchy, it's easily the best of what Godsmack has to offer. After a couple rockin' rounds they slow things down, but it's a pretty cool slow riff with some more solid drums and it sets the stage nicely for a solo that is honestly pretty anticlimactic. It could've made the whole song, and instead it's the only weak point, everything else sounds great! Up next is a much less popular single called "Re-Align" and unlike the previous song which had high energy the whole way through, this one falls perfectly into the template with a very typical Godsmack main riff. Yes it's some more decent guitar, but this time I think the words do justice, they have a sound on this album and they're sticking to it. The solo on this song is actually pretty sweet; it's long and matches the mood perfectly, but rhe rest of the song is so God damn predictable, it starts to drag early on and by the end a length of 4:20 seems like much longer, which is not a good sign. Track 7 is "I Fucking Hate You" and it fits the template for the album, driven by another pretty cool main guitar riff by Rombola. Erna gives his best vocal performance on the album (in my opinion) as he sounds great holding some long notes in the verse and yelling a nice, heavy chorus. They stick to the main drag for this one, but it's a pretty cool main drag and I didn't find that it wore on me. The next track is "Releasing The Demons" and it's another song that falls into the formula pretty perfectly. When Erna speeds up his singing he sounds pretty good, but most of the song is like most of the album: decent for sure, but just nothing that elevates things past the main riff and things start to drag a bit by the fourth chorus of the song. Track 9 is "Dead And Broken" and Rombola starts things off by himself, then the rest if the band falls in pretty predictably behind him for another decent, but very formulaic main riff. Erna sings a pretty standard verse and he raises the volume in a better but still very predictable chorus. This one is way too repetitive. Up next is "I Am" and Rombola leads the way with a pretty cool stop-and-start guitar riff that gives things a bit of extra life and energy! Erna sounds pretty epic, there's some cool drums in the background and the chorus is pretty damn similar, but things sound pretty good overall. Track 11 is a short song called "The Awakening" and Erna plays the conga-like drums that we hear that sound pretty cool and he also sings some wordless vocals that sound like a Native chant of some kind. The vocals aren't my favourite, but the drums are pretty sweet and this song sets the stage for the album finale "Serenity". Rombola plays a slow but very smooth and solid main guitar riffand Erna continues to play percussion in the background and he continues to play some cool stuff. Erna's voice fits this mood very nicely and it's an unbelievably smooth and catchy verse and chorus, so it's no wonder that this was another succesful single. A nice tidy way to wrap things up.

That is the end of "Faceless" and I thought it was a decent album, but an extremely formulaic one for the most part. There are some cool songs on here for sure, and none of them are even bad, but it's a pretty low bar all around and Godsmack seem content to jam along to their template. I still think it's their best album, but that tells you how I feel about them since this is my only full album.