Godsmack – The Oracle (2010)

Album Review

Four long years after IV, Godsmack’s last effort, fans perhaps had some reason for trepidation about the release of The Oracle. After all, since their 1998 debut, they had moved further afield of the songwriting and recording formula that made it eventually a triple platinum success. Godsmack had taken their post-grunge brand of heavy metal and brandished it into a sound that fluctuated between straight-up riff-heavy plodding and more dramatic sonic ambiences that thundered on Awake and Faceless (the former of these won a Grammy), then mutated on 2004’s The Other Side, which showcased them playing acoustically. Finally, on IV, they employed sound effects to such a degree that they used a vocoder. Each… Read more on allmusic.com

About the Band

The Boston-based alternative metal group Godsmack were originally comprised of vocalist Sully Erna (a devout Wiccan), guitarist Tony Rambola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Tommy Stewart. After debuting in 1997 with All Wound Up, Godsmack signed with Universal, which in 1998 reissued the LP as a self-titled effort with a handful of new tracks; at that point Stewart — who’d left the group in mid-1997 and was replaced by drummer… Read more on allmusic.com

Tracks

				Title	Composer	Time
		1		Cryin’ Like a B**ch	Erna, Larkin, Merrill, Rombola	3:22
		2		Saints and Sinners	Erna, Larkin, Merrill, Rombola	4:09
		3		War and Peace	Erna, Larkin, Merrill, Rombola	3:09
		4		Love-Hate-Sex-Pain	Erna, Larkin, Merrill, Rombola	5:15
		5		What If?	Erna, Larkin, Merrill, Rombola	6:35
		6		Devil’s Swing	Erna, Larkin, Merrill, Rombola	3:30
		7		Good Day to Die	Erna, Larkin, Merrill, Rombola	3:55
		8		Forever Shamed	Erna, Larkin, Merrill, Rombola	3:23
		9		Shadow of a Soul	Erna, Larkin, Merrill, Rombola	4:44
		10		The Oracle	Erna, Larkin, Merrill, Rombola	6:22