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Awake

by Godsmack

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Godsmack play their ghoulish hard rock with such a straight face, they make Metallica look like the Insane Clown Posse. For proof, look no further than heavily pierced frontman Sully Erna, who is not only a practicing Wiccan but the author of melodramatic declarations such as "Can't you see what this pain has fucking done to me." It's too bad the follow-up to the Boston band's triple-platinum self-titled debut rarely delivers with the desired intensity. Instead, the disc offers anodyne takes on the same old themes of aggression ("Sick of Life"), alienation ("Bad Magick"), and hocus-pocus ("Vampires"), with the all-too-familiar buzzsaw of nu-metal guitars and elastic bass grooves tearing throughout. --Aidin Vaziri