Godsmack coming to Alabama on heels of new album, ‘Lighting Up the Sky’

Godsmack coming to Alabama on heels of new album, ‘Lighting Up the Sky’

Good news for Godsmack fans in Alabama: The band has a new album set for release on Feb. 24 and a tour that’ll stop in the Birmingham area.

Godsmack is set to perform on May 17 at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham, with opening act I Prevail. Tickets go on sale Friday, Feb. 17, at 10 a.m. CT via Live Nation/Ticketmaster. Prices are $49.50, $59.50, $69.50, $79.50, $99.50 and $125, plus service charges, according to promoter Red Mountain Entertainment, a Live Nation company.

Various pre-sales start at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 14, and end at 10 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16, according to the Live Nation ticket listing.

Godsmack, a hard rock band fronted by Sully Erna, will be touring in support of a new record, “Lighting Up the Sky.” It’s the followup to 2018′s “Legends Rise,” and has already spawned two singles, “Surrender” and “You and I.”

In a September interview with Audacy, Erna described Godsmack’s next album as “high-voltage, high-energy, hard rock album, packed with melodies, packed with good hooks, big grooves, great guitar solos.”

Erna also said “Lighting Up the Sky” could be the final studio release from the band. “It is a true hard rock record and we are really, really proud of this body of work,” Erna told Audacy. “I really think it may be the last piece of Godsmack music you’re ever gonna hear. This could be the last one for us.”

Instead of releasing new music in the years to come, Erna has said, Godsmack could continue to perform, playing signature songs and greatest hits.

“We’ve had a great run and we’re so grateful for it, but we also have other things that we wanted to do with our lives,” Erna said during an appearance in September. “We’re not announcing a breakup or anything like that, but this could be the last music that we put out, and we’ll go out there, and we’ll tour, and we’ll create a greatest hits show.” (Hear more from Erna in the video below.)

Godsmack, a Boston-area band formed in 1995, has seven studio albums to its credit — “Lighting Up the Sky” will be No. 8 — and hit singles such as “Awake,” “I Stand Alone,” “Bulletproof,” “Speak,” “Under Your Scars” and “Straight Out of Line.” The band was nominated for three Grammy Awards and won a Billboard Award in 2001 as Rock Artist of the Year.

Aside from singer Erna, Godsmack includes bassist Robbie Merrill, guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin. The band has performed in Alabama several times, in cities such as Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile. Right now, the Oak Mountain show is the only Alabama date on Godsmack’s 2023 agenda.