Well, not everyone in Europe knows Godsmack, so I guess the first priority will be to tell you that in their biography it is clearly stated that "the sound of grunge continued to live on in the late '90s thanks to Godsmack". That is something that is not going to give any join to many of you reading this review. God knows how much I dislike most of the grunge scene. But hold on, it gets a bit more interesting... Godsmack started out as an unknown Boston-based band, whose first album release started out as a self-released CD the band recorded in 1996 for about $2,500 with money they borrowed from friends. Godsmack regularly performed on the Boston club scene and soon drew the attention of Paul Geary, manager of the group Extreme, who inevitably signed the band to his management company. Before long, sales of the self-produced debut album escalated at a rapid rate, selling in excess of 1,000 copies weekly. By 1997, as the band's popularity increased and Godsmack invited original drummer Tommy Stewart (ex-Lillian Axe) back, just as the band began to experience greater success with the combination of Sully Erna's (gruff lead vocals...btw Sully apart from playing the guitar, was originally a drummer and a rather very good one at it) and the band's heavy, sludge-like instrumental attack. Fueled by such songs as 'Keep Away' and 'Whatever' and a prestigious slot on the OzzFest tour, Godsmack signed a deal with Republic Records/Universal in July 1998. During the same year the band re-released their first album as a self-titled disc, with a few new tracks and new cover artwork. After another stint on the OzzFest tour in 2000, Godsmack continued to rise in popularity. Their second album 'Awake' debuted at No.5 in the U.S. national sales chart, and spawned further rock radio hits, including the chart-topping title track. The band scored their first Grammy Award in 2002 for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the Awake track 'Vampires'. Two years later, Godsmack experienced further success with the hit single 'I Stand Alone' that appeared on 'The Scorpion King' movie sound track. By April 2003, Godsmack returned with their third studio album, 'Faceless', and followed in 2004 with a collection of acoustic renditions of their hits titled 'The Other Side'. During the same year, they also contributed the song 'Straight Out Of Line' to the Vin Diesel drug cartel action movie, 'A Man Apart'. Since 1998, Godsmack has been one of the most successful rock bands in North America, selling in excess of 7 million records across three studio albums, including one of the biggest No.1 best selling albums of 2003, their third album Faceless, 11 Top Ten singles and 3 Grammy Award nominations. So, after all this success it was a matter of time before a DVD would be released. Changes is the best possible representation of the band on film as it gives an intimate portrayal of life on tour with Godsmack. Shot throughout the band's 2003-2004 Faceless Tour in such a way that the viewer has two different modes to experience the DVD footage. The first way to enjoy the DVD is to view it as a feature film (their songs performed live, along with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage directed by Andrew MacNaughtan, who were the directing team behind last year's 'RUSH in Rio' DVD). All this comes down to approximately 103 minutes in running time ["Backstage With Godmack " Behind-the-scenes documentary (approx. 45 minutes)+ Live in concert song performances shot with 14 cameras in High Definition(58 minutes)].

The second mode to experience the DVD is 'Concert Mode', without having to see the documentary, which features in-depth interviews with all four band members and behind-the-scenes material. That's a good thing of course because you can enjoy the music without interruptions. So what about the music then? Well, when they go on playing their "regular material" they sound as a mix of a grunge, nu metal, modern Rock band that has some elements of later day Metallica. Hardly what I usually enjoy listening to, but everything is well played and executed. However when they deviate from the "regular material", they really do shine. Take the example of the great ballad Serenity for example or the Dead Can dance influenced 'Voodoo' which has some excellent percussive tempo and some hypnotic, almost mesmerizing melodies on the top. And then you get 'Batalla De Los Tambores' which is an instrumental piece with Shannon Larkin on drums and Sully Erna on drums and percussion, playing at the same time. To me this is the absolute highlight of the DVD. These guys play two different huge drum sets facing each other. They basically play the exact same rhythms but they sound like a powerhouse as they are both very good and solid drummers and they have chosen very, very interesting drum patterns to play. Those include their own stuff but also segments from 2 Rush songs, a Led Zeppelin song and 'Walk this way' by Aerosmith. Truly great stuff there. Actually those 2 guys steal the show throughout the DVD with their energetic performance. The other two guys (guitarist and bassist) are rather very quite and they are not moving too much. I hope that the new stuff that they record in the future is more close to stuff like the 3 songs that I have mentioned, because their conventional songs are OK, but their one off's are truly much better, almost unique!! Before I go, I need to mention that these guys grew up on proper Hard Rock and Metal (hence the bands mentioned on the 'Batalla De Los Tambores' segment). Not only this is apparent in this song, it is apparent in the interview where the singer correctly mentions that the grunge bands took a lot out of the visual aspect of the live shows. In sharp contrast he mentions that the Metal bands were always very careful to give big emphasis on the visual aspect of their appearances on stage. I could not agree more and especially the drummer is doing his absolute best to revive the good old habbits. You can tell that his background (Lillian Axe - Metal scene) has influenced him a lot and he comes along as by far the most energetic musician in this band. Thankfully the on stage visuals are cool too (great lights, pyros, etc.) and the presentation of the DVD down to the covers and the booklet is truly amazing.

TRACK LISTING

1. Straight Out of Line
2. Awake
3. Faceless
4. Bad Religion
5. Moon Baby
6. Changes
7. Re-Align
8. Serenity
9. Keep Away
10. Voodoo
11. Batalla De Los Tambores
12. Whatever
13. I Stand Alone

Rating: 6.5 out of 10