New music by Godsmack will be released in 2027 – Sully Erna confirms it

During this weekend’s Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma, Godsmack frontman Sully Erna confirmed that he and his bandmates are working on new songs as a follow-up to 2023’s “Lighting Up The Sky” album in an interview with Cameron Buchholtz of Rock 100.5 The KATT FM, as per Blabbermouth.

Oh, yeah, yeah. It’s gonna happen for sure. We’re gonna finish this year out. We have a pretty busy schedule all the way up to New Year’s Eve, and then I’m gonna take a minute off, and then we’re gonna start writing a new record. And I’m sure you’ll hear some new Godsmack by the summer of ’27.

Erna also discussed the current lineup of Godsmack, which includes former Dream Theater drummer Mike Mangini, bassist Robbie Merrill, guitarist Sam Koltun, and vocalist Sully. After Wade Murff’s sudden resignation, Mangini made his live debut with Godsmack on June 12 at the Morton Amphitheatre in Riverside, Missouri.

Wade joined Godsmack in early May after long-time drummer Shannon Larkin and guitarist Tony Rombola left the group in late 2024 because they no longer wanted to perform. When asked about Godsmack‘s newly released live CD, “Live At Mohegan Sun,” which honoured the band’s iconic lineup of Rombola, Merrill, Larkin, and Erna, Erna responded as follows.

It was the perfect way to retire [Larkin and Rombola] as they wanted to and kind of close that chapter. But me and Robbie had a conversation. We were, like, ‘We’re not ready to give it up yet. We still feel young. We still feel good. We wanna play music. We love it.’ We got two monsters in the band now — Mike Mangini and Sam Bam Koltun. And I gotta tell you, the band’s just as strong now, if not stronger than ever. So I’m happy.

Erna mentioned that Mangini was hired to take Larkin’s place.

Well, that goes to show you how good Shannon was, and is, because you need someone at Mangini’s level to be able to cover what Shannon does. There it is.

Sully also talked about “Battle Of The Drums,” which began in the mid-1990s when he was still behind the kit and developed into a full-fledged rhythmic duel after Larkin joined the band. It has long been a pivotal point of Godsmack‘s live show. What started out as Erna playing congas with early drummers developed into a high-octane show with two complete drum kits, revolving risers, and a show of strength and accuracy that won praise from the rock community. Erna responded as follows when asked about her experience performing the “Battle of the Drums” with Mangini.

It’s been great. I mean, he’s still settling into it, and we’re still finding each other. But it’s going really well, man. And he’s very fun to play with, very fun to watch. I’m learning things from him because he has a whole different angle on stuff sometimes, and I’m, like, ‘Okay, nice one, dude.’

When we and Shannon built the solo, we built it so it has its foundation and the parts that we kind of stick to that are staple parts. But then we always left these big holes where you have the freedom to improvise. But we did it that way because we wanted to be off the leash once in a while and just create. And it’s pretty cool ’cause once in a while you nail this amazing riff, and then once in a while you stumble or you drop a stick, and it’s a mess. And watching Mangini come into the same thing — there’s some nights where he does this brilliant fill, I’m, like, ‘Wow, dude, that was amazing.’ And then some nights, he chokes a little bit and knuckles up, and I’m, like, ‘Welcome aboard, dude.’

Erna responded as follows when asked if Mangini is currently a permanent member of Godsmack.

I can never predict the future, but I can’t see him going anywhere. We love him. He’s an old friend of mine. He’s doing great. He’s a high-level player. I have no reason why I need to replace the guy.

In other parts of the conversation, Sully discussed how some musicians employ backing tracks to enhance the sound of a live performance, add additional instrumental or vocal recordings, or more nearly mimic the instrumentation heard on a recording. Erna responded as follows when asked if he and his Godsmack bandmates had ever been tempted to use some of such technologies during live concerts.

No, never. And we never will. I can’t wrap my head around that. EDM, sure. But musicians who spend tens of thousands of hours practicing to get great, and then they record a record, and then they go out and play computers so they can fill up the sound? No. That doesn’t fly with me. I’m sorry. It’s never going to.

I try to have a mutual respect for all artists, but when it comes to rock, comes to metal, those kind of things, I really feel like if you’re layering your music that much, then you shouldn’t be either performing the song or you shouldn’t layer the album so much that you have to run track with you. Especially if you’re that good of a player.

Listen, that’s just my opinion. Everybody has their own opinion, I come from an older school, ’70s, ’80s background of music. We’re just groomed a different way, and we’re groomed to play our instruments and practice our ass off until you get it right. That’s just where I come from. That’s what it’s supposed to be. And that’s what it’s always gonna be for us, and the Foo Fighters, and Metallica and the [Red Hot] Chili Peppers, and all the people that come from that same era.

There’s still bands out there that they just — I don’t know — they wanna sound perfect, or they wanna sound fuller, or they don’t have enough musicians to fill up the extra layers they put on the album. So I understand it; I just don’t agree with it. There’s ways around that stuff.