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As GODSMACK‘s pointed, personal songs make instantly clear, lead singer SULLY ERNA is not one to say what he does not mean. So when the main guy states, in his firm Boston accent, that AWAKE will “kick a new ass in this planet,” you’d better take him seriously. “There’s no rap, no techno, no gadgets; it’s a hard, loud rock record. Period. No tricks,” explains SULLY, who produced the album with Mudrock. “AWAKE digs a little deeper into what GODSMACK is about, and is changeable, from rockers like ‘Awake’ [the first single] to moody tunes like ‘Spiral.’ Maybe some of the lyrics are rough, but they’re not bad.” And, concludes the drummer-turned-singer, “there’s no doubt it’s us!” . And that “us”–SULLY and GODSMACK members guitarist TONY ROMBOLA, bassist ROBBIE MERRILL and drummer TOMMY STEWART–made major inroads with their 1998  debut album, creating a sound and vibe that is at once spiritual, hardcore and full of heavy, meaty, dark themes and amazing melodies. It’s a sound and trip that found amazing success in the music market. The New England-bred lineup earned triple platinum status with GODSMACK, while the disc’s first single “Whatever” holds the record for the longest running single in the Billboard Top 10 (33 weeks) and ruled for over a year on the Active Rock chart. Subsequent songs for the hook-laden, primal-groove of “Keep Away” (which spent 53 weeks on the charts!), the hypnotic “Voodoo” and “Bad Religion” (marking the album’s fourth active rock Top Ten smash) coupled with hard touring and raging live shows, proved the hit singles were no fluke and thatGODSMACK‘s charisma was real and lasting.

AWAKE goes a step further and cements GODSMACK‘s status as one of rock’s most aggressive bands. “On AWAKE, we’re just more of what we were,” begins SULLY. “The writing matured, and the aggressiveness is nothced up a bit more. We have the same groove, but this album is tougher, more raw, more in your face.” That’s due in part to the fact that much of AWAKE was created during the band’s annual touring of the last several years with pent-up emotions and experiences on the road instigating the writing process. “We’ve been touring nonstop since August of 1998,” relates SULLY. “So most of AWAKE was created while on tour when we were travelling between America and Europe, building up the band. Ozzfest was actually the only big tour where we rode under someone else’s wings; we did a lot of work on our own.”

That’s the way it’s always been: After forming in 1995, a year later GODSMACK was recorded for $2,500 as an independent record. Thanks to radio success in the band’s Boston hometown, Republic had snapped up the regional favorites and the band was on its way by 1998…but not overnight. “People seem to think we made it so big so quickly, but they should see it from our eyes,” relates SULLY. “We went through years of flyering cars, selling CDs out of our trunks, booking the band ourselves, playing in front of 20 people on the road. When you’re out there doing that, it seems like forever.” When their hard work turned to success, GODSMACK were more than ready to document the journey with new songs and emotions that had been fomenting for years. “I was dying to write… oh, man, you don’t even know!” confesses SULLY, who tends to be a man on the verge, as he explains: “If it wasn’t for music… I write music because I love being a musician. As the songs on AWAKE were written as inspiration came, GODSMACK wanted the recording process to reflect that immediacy. So? “We recorded it at this smelly-assed dump warehouse in the middle of crack-ville Massachusetts,” recalls Sully. “There was a boxing gym downstairs, if we were hungry, we’d run out and get a crappy fast-food cheeseburger. We didn’t want to be surrounded in luxury, we wanted to keep the edge on.” Clearly from the sounds captured–the propulsive, intense drums and the urgency and clarity of ROMBOLA‘s guitar work–they succeeded. And “awake” is what people will be when they hear the first incendiary notes of GODSMACK‘s sophomore release, the album title as much a statement of purpose and intent as a song. It’s clear the music-loving world is awake to GODSMACK‘s presence, which might have caused lesser bands to second-guess themselves. But there were no worries from within the band about following up the tremendous success of their Republic debut. “We don’t see it like people see it from the outside,” SULLY explains. “We just work, work, work. I mean, there have been marks in our path that have made us really proud, like getting a platinum record for GODSMACK. Actually, the gold record was a bigger deal, it was the first milestone,” SULLYrelates. “It’s that sweat and blood of your life. You can have 50 million gold records after that, but the first one will take center spot on the wall.” That first gold a done deal, GODSMACK are ready for round two.But I write lyrics because it’s a way for me to vent my anger, so I don’t have to use it toward people directly. Whether you’re a musician, actor or waitress, you’re going to have your good days and bad days,” he observes. “You have confrontations and bullshit relationships, whether you’re famous or not. On AWAKE, and in our music, it’s a way of being able to say ‘fuck you’ without hurting someone. I have the opportunity to jump up and down and yell and scream through my music, which humbles me in life. If I didn’t have GODSMACK as an outlet, I don’t think I would be as mellow as I am.” Indeed, lyrics written on the road convey the immediacy of SULLY‘s emotions. “I wrote day by day, by my moods, a lot on the Voodoo Tour in early 2000. There were days when I couldn’t write because I was in a really good mood, so when things were going well, I did more music than lyrics,” explainsSULLY. However, one of AWAKE‘s cuts, “Greed,” was the result of a drawn-out time of drama. “It’s about this kid who was a tight friend of ours, who lent us the money to record our indie version ofGODSMACK and didn’t want any money back. But in return we paid him back, and then another 10 grand on top of that as a thanks! Then he tried to sue, saying he owned 10 percent of us. He put me through a year of hell negotiating with lawyers.” But it also inspired a great song in “Greed.” Several tracks, including “Mistakes,” “Bad Magick” and the instrumental cut “Vampires” are older, and have their genesis in ’97-’98, while “Sick of Life,” the last song written forAWAKE, was done in April 2000. If the stark lyrics are any indication (“dragged down / rubbing my face in the ground / I wanna know why I’ve always felt alone”), it must have been on one of the frontman’s darker days. “I was having personal problems, and those are my inner demons,” he confesses. “It’s also generalized; everyone gets sick of life, tired of the bullshit. You’re tired of trying to do the right thing, but getting kicked around, like nothing is ever good enough; that roller-coaster of life.” Those up and down emotions and commensurate quest for peace and clarity are equally conveyed byAWAKE‘s music and lyrics. And one of the songs SULLY is most proud of is “Spiral,” with Egyptian musical insinuations and guest vocals from Katrina of New York-area band Luxx. “It’s the curveball on the record,” is how SULLY terms the track, which features sitar-like guitar from Rombola and influences from one of SULLY‘s favorite bands, Dead Can Dance. “Spiral’ begins with a sound like a jewelry box opening up….It’s awesome!” enthuses SULLY. “And it ends the same way. And since the song is about reincarnation, the song is like a cycle of life, and a spiral is an infinity symbol.” With literally no time off between records, the band returned as a mainstage attraction on Ozzfest 2000 several months before AWAKE was even released, and have touring plans stretching into infinity. GODSMACK, workaholics? “I don’t like to stay home too long,” says SULLY. “Sure, I like to re-energize my body. But if I’m home too long, I drive everybody around me up a wall,” he confesses. “And I love the road; I want to be touring all the time.” And with AWAKE‘s stellar songs, there are clearly many, many records yet to be lived…. and written.