Godsmack: IV

I picked up Godsmack's latest album, IV, on Tuesday. First off, I want to say what a brilliant name for the album they chose. I don't mean that facetiously since it's so simple, but because a lot of the all-time hard rock greats have named their 4th album simply by the number, including Led Zeppelin, Danzig (both of which titled theirs simply IV even though their prior albums had the band name with the number), and Black Sabbath. The statement is, "We're good enough to just give our album a number, we don't need a catchy name." Well, Godsmack lives up.

This is the first effort where band members other than frontman Sully Erna have contributed to the writing. Honestly, the songs that he wrote himself are as a rule better than the others, but it contributes somewhat to the band's evolution. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but I think Godsmack fans want consistency, and it works for Slayer, so why not the smack?

All in all, it's simply another solid effort by Godsmack, and like all their other efforts it doesn't disappoint. It's simple, great, American heavy metal music.