ALBUM REVIEW:
Sully Erna
Hometown Life
September 2016

Godsmack frontman Sully Erna is back with his second solo album, Hometown Life. The six years since the release of his first album, Avalon, has seen Sully perform solo tours, as well as record another album with Godsmack, headlining shows around the world with them.

Avalon was a huge change in style from what we’ve come to know of Sully with Godsmack. With Hometown Life, we see yet another shift in style. Avalon had a lot of experimentation, with a world music/tribal feel to a lot of the tracks. While still an acoustic album, Hometown Life is much more accessible to mainstream audiences. That said, there’s still a great variety in the styles of music on the album. The title track opens the album, with a very grand, powerful feel, as an orchestra thunders in with big drum hits. Orchestral parts can be found on several tracks throughout the album.

Meanwhile the first single, “Different Kind of Tears,” was written with songwriter/producer Zac Maloy, who has worked with Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood. After the county feel that comes with that songwriting combo, the last thing you expect is the track “Turn it Up,” which has a grooving bassline and big band sound that brings the feel of Motown.

Sully has proven himself to be a great songwriter, whether writing the heavy songs he’s known for with Godsmack, or the variety of acoustic sounds across his two solo albums. Hometown Life has shown his songwriting abilities continues to grow.

The “Hometown Tour” starts tonight in Atlanta, and carries on until the night before Thanksgiving, wrapping up in Sully’s “hometown” of Boston. Tour dates can be found below, as well as a the lyric video for “Different Kind of Tears.”

Sully Erna – Hometown Life
1) Hometown Life
2) Your Own Drum
3) Different Kind of Tears
4) Take All of Me
5) Don’t Comfort Me
6) Turn It Up!
7) Blue Skies
8) Forever My Infinity
9) Father of Time
10) Falling to Black
ALBUM RATING: 8/10

Tour Dates