GODSMACK Frontman: 'I Never Really Thought Of Us As A Pure Heavy Metal Band'

March 8, 2019

In a brand new interview with Metal Underground, GODSMACK frontman Sully Erna was once again asked about the band's seeming insistence on being called a "hard rock" act instead of being lumped under the "heavy metal" tag.

"I don't think we ever considered ourselves a heavy metal band to begin with," Sully said. "We were kind of lumped into that category because we got signed right in that era when KORN and LIMP BIZKIT and all these 'nu-metal' bands were kind of coming up, and we got sucked into that 'nu-metal' category. Where I feel like, when you listen to our music, we were never some kind of unique 'nu-metal' sound. We were just a hard rock band. And there was certainly influences from a lot of different bands that we were listening to at that time in the first album and in that music. It was a bit of a salad of different influences that we were listening to. But I never really thought of us as a pure heavy metal band."

He continued: "When I think of heavy metal, I think of SLAYER and I think of JUDAS PRIEST and I think of SLIPKNOT and I think of the bands that deserve that title and wave that flag a bit higher and prouder. Where we ride the line at times that we certainly have drifted into… But for the most part, I think more of our catalog is a little bit more hard rock than it is metal."

Erna's latest comments echo those he made last year when he told Metal Injection that doesn't have "a whole lot of interest in being a screamo band anymore. I don't really enjoy that," he said.

"I don't know if it's maybe where I'm getting older or just regressing back to the things that I loved about music and the songwriters that I loved, like Elton John and Michael Jackson and ALICE IN CHAINS, or whoever they were.

"I don't think we belong in a metal fest, to be honest with you," he added. "I think if you create a metal fest, you're going to hear some real metal bands that deserve those props. I don't think we're that. I just feel like we're a hard rock band."

GODSMACK's latest album, "When Legends Rise", was recorded at GODSMACK's headquarters (GSHQ) in Derry, New Hampshire and produced by Erik Ron and Erna.

GODSMACK is currently on the road in Europe, to be followed by a North American headlining tour with VOLBEAT.

Photo credit: Troy Smith

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