Godsmack – Awake

Mark this comment as helpful if you want to see this album pressed on vinyl: Lets manifest it

I'd definitely buy a vinyl, or something with better dynamics than the standard CD; pretty solid album imo—the title track is actually probably my least favorite lol; I don't necessarily hate it, but I think many other songs have way more personality—Going Down and Bad Magick immediately come to mind—both of which have earlier versions from the self-titled/All Wound Up era(check the Japanese edition)—I like the mix of some groovy vibes in those tracks, but while keeping with the darker/heavier overtone; dope guitar leads and I love stuff like the bass line opener in Going Down—simple stuff, but aspects that deliver a mood and paint a unique aesthetic. Mistakes and Trippin' are perfectly worthy follow-ups in a tight sequence of tracks—I think these 4 songs together are my favorites on the album. At nearly 6 minutes, Mistakes is sort of a semi-epic; kind of indulgent into some guitar riffage—definitely in a good way imo; with the right amount of repetition with drum fills and breaks to set a good stage for exploration into variations and adjacent riffs. Very tastefully written—especially between guitar and drums. Trippin' is pure moody goodness—the sorta song you wanna throw on at that certain time of day, or place, or during that certain weather...etc; it's got atmosphere; a vibe; some raw humanity flowing seamlessly, while delivering a metal punch—and I would call it overall a metal song/metal album; albeit a mainstream metal album (for lack of a more specific term); a more simplistic metal than your Opeths or 80s Metallica, but not what I would really call nu-metal, and certainly an exceptional album when compared in that era, and a quintessential of what I'd want to take away from it. I also think Sick of Life and Greed are solid tracks, and overall, I'd play the album from start to finish, despite not loving the title track lol. I'm very curious if any other songs on this album were written in '97 or earlier, like Bad Magick/Magik and Going Down—there's still good songwriting on this album, and I mean that, 'cause I'm not really a fan of any of their stuff past Faceless, and I mostly just like stuff before that album, and I'm not even talking s***—they put in a good share of solid songwriting between a few solid albums, and they seem like a great live show. What more do you want from a band, really? ...Besides not doing commercials for the military empire? 🤣🤢🤮🤮🤮

In any case, a solid album that's definitely worthy of a vinyl, or anything with the unsquashed, dynamic master. Honestly 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 of these 24bit flac "HD Tracks" releases, that do have dynamic masters, are some of the best versions of albums I've heard (speaking generally..Van Halen have some releases like that, for example). I've seen a lot of albums released in that "HD" digital format that still has squashed dynamics, but when they're done right...suffice to say, I'd buy th s*** out of this album if it were put out like that—maybe as an "audiophile mix" or something. Seems like a simpler/easier way to release + easier to include "Why" and their cover of "Sweet Leaf" and whatever else. But in any case, Vinyl, dynamic HD Tracks, DVD-audio, SACD, HDCD with peak extension...I don't care, as long as it's that sweet, dynamic master—that's what we need. This album deserves it.
I'd be interested in other versions of their self-titled/Wound Up besides just the vinyl (which at least that one has, luckily) but I won't digress into that here.

*update*
-I read that indeed, at least one more song, "Vampires," was also written in '97-98ish (didn't find a precise date), but I haven't been able to find any older version of it from that period.
-And also, I read a little further into it, and from what I recollect, the military used one of their songs in a commercial...or they made the commercial and retroactively asked Godsmack's permission, to which Godsmack consented, but then Sully—I believe it was—put out a statement that Godsmack doesn't support any war (thank fuck). I mean, I wouldn't have consented to the military using my music at all...and my message in a given song would be 'fuck the military' lol...but ayyy...I don't need my nostalgic 90's groove metal band to necessarily also be revolutionary leaders... perhaps that's why I listen to Rage Against the Machine a bit more than Godsmack lol. I just wanted to come back to give a lil' credit for at least kinda bein' like...'fuck war' lol because I had long presumed that they were at least mildly...pro military and/or pro war, and it didn't stop me from listening to the albums I discussed here, but doesn't it just hit a...liiittle better when your nostalgic, 90s groove metal aren't pro-imperialist fucks? lolol... hopefully someone out there got a chuckle or a some kind of useful info out of this