The Other Side

1	Running Blind 3:59
2	Re-Align 4:23
3	Touché / Lee Richards 3:37
4	Voices 3:44
5	Keep Away 4:48
6	Spiral 5:21
7	Asleep 3:58

Barnes & Noble

This aptly titled EP allows one of metal's more menacing acts to unplug and show a more subdued -- if not necessarily more mellow -- aspect of their musical mien. The Other Side offers up a mixed bag of new material and acoustic versions of songs from the band's earlier releases. The fresh stuff is the most intriguing, since it allows Sully Erna and company to start with a blank slate, particularly "Running Blind," which finds Erna dipping into a bag of world music tricks, emerging with a quasi–Middle Eastern vocal drone. "The Other Side" is similarly brooding, extracting maximum emotion from an exceptionally dark, brooding guitar riff from Tony Rombola. The disc's passel of remakes is a bit more scattershot; "Asleep" (a revision of the hit "Awake") falls a bit flat, but the pared-down "Spiral," with its combination of Arabic and Spanish flourishes, makes for fascinating listening. While The Other Side could've been just a time-killer, Godsmack put enough effort into the EP to make it stand on its own merits. David Sprague

All Music Guide

The Other Side is Godsmack's first acoustic offering. Totaling seven songs, it's not quite a full album. But fans will note its mixture old and new material, as well as the departure from Sully Erna and co.'s normal metallurgical sonic signature. The primary influence here is Alice in Chains. New track "Running Blind" is dominated by the high-low harmony sound that's become Alice in Chains' legacy, as is "Re-Align," which otherwise doesn't drift very far from Faceless' electrified version. The guitars -- and guitar solos -- are acoustic throughout Other Side, and the percussion is lighter and more refined than the normal 'Smack pummel. As for the rest of the new material, "Voices" suggests the more subdued work of the band's peers (Seether, Staind, etc.), while "Touché" crosses threads of the Allman Brothers with the usual post-grunge throttle. It's also a little free advertising for Erna's vanity imprint and its new signing, Dropbox, whose Lee Richards and John Kosco guest. In a way, The Other Side feels like a vanity project for Godsmack itself, the sort of thing a band releases in between official studio records, or just because it can. But that doesn't mean it's a bad trip for fans, who will no doubt get a kick out of this more jangly side of a band that's made a tidy career out of going for the jugular. Johnny Loftus