This is it then for Godsmack – according to Sully Erna at least, because you can never know in the music business – a band whose multi-platinum career is undeniable, but that could have achieved even more in my opinion, if they’d taken some more risks creatively speaking.
The more… light flavors of ‘When Legends Rise’ had me a little worried before the first listen, but ‘Lighting up the Sky’ is clearly superior. It doesn’t sound like its predecessor, nor like classic Godsmack either for that matter. Obviously no one expects the group to come up with another ‘Faceless’ in 2023, but, voluntarily I believe, this is the more classic hard rock stylistic approach they’ve ever taken. Where ‘When Legends Rise’ featured exclusively three-minute fit for radio material, these songs have been allowed to breathe enough for ideas to develop, in songs like ‘You and I’, ‘Let’s Go’ and good ballad ‘Truth’; maybe there won’t be any mega-hits to come out of this one, but hey, we’ve already got a truck load of those anyway. The real winner here is none other than guitarist Tony Rombola who plays more solos than on the previous two records combined.
Will Godsmack finally, even at this stage of their career, tour Europe enough and extensively, to conquer the market as they’ve already done in the US? Remains to be seen.
