Godsmack - When Legends Rise album review

On album number seven Godsmack bring a welcome maturity to the fore

By Malcolm Dome
( Classic Rock )
published

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Godsmack - When Legends Rise

1. When Legends Rise
2. Bulletproof
3. Unforgettable
4. Every Part of Me
5. Take It to the Edge
6. Under Your Scars
7. Someday
8. Just One Time
9. Say My Name
10. Let it Out
11. Eye of the Storm

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More than two decades and seven albums into their career, Godsmack are not trying to compete with younger, tougher bands. While they might have begun in the nu metal sphere, When Legends Rise exposes a band who are not afraid to develop and show how experience has coloured their style. 

When Legends Rise is more of a pop/rock album than anything else, with songs like Bulletproof, Under Your Scars and Unforgettable based on finely honed melodies which allow Sully Erna to accentuate the fact that he is an emotionally charged, charismatic vocalist. 

There’s also a richness to Tony Rombola’s guitar sound that adds immeasurably to the overall impact. 

There are still hints of the band’s harsher earlier years, such as on Take It To The Edge and Eye Of The Storm, but overall this is an album which shows musical growth and finesse.

Malcolm Dome
Malcolm Dome

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021.