Metallica's New Album

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Load was a great album...just not a METALLICA album. Too bad so many people fail to realize that...

 

Hell, even the Black Album was damn good...but it just didn't feel like a Metallica album. Gone were the days of the anger, the sorrow, the many different riffs in a song, and the at least somewhat-intelligent lyrics. In were the days of pop stardom.

 

...say what you will, but I think James looks pretty fucking cool in that pic. Then again, I've always though James looked pretty fucking cool...except for his Cuban Pimp era, and when he grew his hair a tad bit longer for S&M.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

Problem is I don't know if what I'm downloading is even really a song from the new album.

 

I downloaded what I thought was the first track and I got some song with a guy making croaking and screaming sounds.

[Guest IDrinkRatsMilk]

That type of thing happens when an album is first coming out, but if you wait a bit, you can find the real tracks without much difficulty.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

People have said they've found real tracks. All the ones I've downloaded have sounded nothing like Metallica.

 

What are the names of the "real" tracks? I'm guessing they would have the same names as the real tracklist, but I've tried that and that's how I got the croaking.

[Guest El Satanico]

I downloaded what I thought was the first track and I got some song with a guy making croaking and screaming sounds.

Maybe that was James

[Guest DARRYLXWF]

They had 4 years for this Album and only churned out 11 songs...?

They 've 'churned out' about 35+ tunes and have chosen the best 11.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

I downloaded what I thought was the first track and I got some song with a guy making croaking and screaming sounds.

Maybe that was James

I sincerely hope he doesn't sing like that on the new album. I am not a fan of the primal grunting sound at all.

[Guest DARRYLXWF]

I downloaded about 7 demos which were meant to be Metallica. The best being 'Serenade of Fire', which sounded a tad like Metallica, but w/out vocals. I also downloaded a really cool ballad 'Valley of Misery' but later learned that it was by Holocaust. The vocals sound REALLY similar to James, but with a touch of Kermit the Frog in them.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

Yeah I heard the Kermit the Frog sounding one and knew that wasn't Metallica.

 

Whomever mentioned the Sandman II earlier.....that one is fake...I'm pretty sure.

[Guest El Satanico]

The singer kinda sounded like kermit the frog?

 

You sure it wasn't Motorhead.

[Guest TheBlurricane]

No it wasn't Motorhead that's for sure.

 

This guy really sounded like Kermit.....it was pretty bad.

[Guest DARRYLXWF]

And here's the new cover art...

 

[Guest TheBlurricane]

That's pretty cool........kinda looks more like something you'd see on a "punk" album though.

 

Whatever happened to Pushead?

[Guest DARRYLXWF]

That IS pushead. I was suprised too.

[Rendclaw 0]

I've always said how can you be angry and hard when you're turning 40 with a wife and kids, and have managed to be successful AND the music is no longer a release for rage but you have FUN playing it.

 

I never blamed Metallica for getting mellow.  It was bound to happen.

Exactly. And after they got their contract hammered out and they are pretty much set for the rest of their lives, they just could not maintain that angry, "Fuck you" attitude that the band had for their first three albums. Megadeth was harder and faster than they were and even Mustaine couldn't maintain that level once he got married, had kids, got clean and got his money.

 

Few bands can maintain that level with increasing popularity and success. It was only a matter of time.

 

That being said though, I always thought that the radical change of Load and Reload was a big mistake on their part, and the attitude of Hetfield was "we'll make them like it!".... prick.... hell Hetfield and Lars are such control freaks that Newsted finally got tired of being held down and joined Voivod. Good for him, he was too talented to not be allowed to be more creative on bass.

 

I will buy St. Anger when I have proof positive that its a return to their older days, if not older ways.

[Guest Choken One]

Is there a Meaning Behind

 

Saint Anger?

 

STANGER? I'm failing to see a connection/meaning...

 

It is just a really pathetic sounding Name that sounds like a Sum 41/NFG/GOOD Charlotte album...

 

Maybe that's indicative of something? Eh?

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

What are you talking about? Metallica was never heavy in the first place? ... To say Metallica was never heavy is like saying Stevie Wonder was never blind.

Oh, it's completely different. Compare how heavy their sound was to their contemporaries. We're they really heavier than Slayer? Yeah right. Megadeth? 'Tallica was weaker. Motorhead eats 'em for lunch. Maiden? Nope. Pantera? No. Anthrax? No.

 

We'll exclude all the various niche genres of metal, since pretty much every band involved in one is HEAVIER than metallica. You know who isn't as heavy as metallica? All the bands they're touring with this summer....and Bon Jovi. That's about it.

[Guest Johnson1620]

What are you talking about?  Metallica was never heavy in the first place? ... To say Metallica was never heavy is like saying Stevie Wonder was never blind.

Oh, it's completely different. Compare how heavy their sound was to their contemporaries. We're they really heavier than Slayer? Yeah right. Megadeth? 'Tallica was weaker. Motorhead eats 'em for lunch. Maiden? Nope. Pantera? No. Anthrax? No.

 

We'll exclude all the various niche genres of metal, since pretty much every band involved in one is HEAVIER than metallica. You know who isn't as heavy as metallica? All the bands they're touring with this summer....and Bon Jovi. That's about it.

Slayer is a speed metal band so of course Metallica wasn't as hard as them. Motorhead, same thing. But Megadeath and Iron Maiden were about the same as Metallica back around the mid 80's. Metallica was hard and heavy up until Cliff died. Even on Justice they were still pretty heavy, but Cliff wrote or co-wrote just about every song on that album. When Cliff's influence was gone so was their hard and heaviness.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I'm not ENTIRELY familiar with all of Maiden's material, so I'll let someone more versed in their stuff tackle that more in-depth. I'll just say that they were FAR more technical, which supercedes the alleged equality in heaviness.

 

Megadeth I've still got to completely disagree with you on. Compare Peace Sells, Youthanasia, and Countdown to the first few Metallica cds. Mustaine did everything Metallica did, only did it better. HE was their creative force, IMO, until push came to shove, he got kicked out because everyone else in the band couldn't handle his booze and anger.

 

Cliff's a different matter altogether, as he could only do so much, and didn't effectively carry the band in terms of having a harder edge.

 

My whole point can best be summarised like this: They might've been a little tougher than the pop hair-metal acts that were on top at the time, but they used a similar formula, with more distortion, and less spandex. Instead of being happy about all the coke and liquor, they were grumpy about it. Mustaine had that over them in spades though, as did pretty much all of their contemporaries, and all of the bands they blatantly ripped off.

[Guest redbaron51]

don't try to agrue with AoO. He's a death metal extremist, and loathe's Metallica. So him trying to like Metallica is like having a Black Jewish Gay Guy joining the KKK.

[Guest redbaron51]

I'll say this.

 

Cliff is an adequate bassist at best, and over-rated too.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Cliff will come back from the dead and own your ass. His mystique is that he made his bass solo's sound like guitar solo's.

 

Arguing with AoO about Metallica is like arguing with a fundamentalist bible-thumper about homosexuality: it won't go anywhere. He has his views, you have your views. Metallica wasn't as heavy as their peers, but their stuff was a lot more classical-oriented, which made them masterpieces of music for all time periods, whereas the music of Megadeth and Slayer is strictly thrash metal, and thus will always be inferior in the grand scheme of things to Metallica's. That's my opinion, based on years of listening to the "Big 4" of US thrash (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer), and taking music theory.

[Guest Dace59]

Taking music theory.

*Makes a note of that fact*

[Rendclaw 0]

I'm not ENTIRELY familiar with all of Maiden's material, so I'll let someone more versed in their stuff tackle that more in-depth. I'll just say that they were FAR more technical, which supercedes the alleged equality in heaviness.

 

Being a huge Iron Maiden mark since 1985, I'll handle this one.

 

In terms of metal hardness and heaviness, its apples and oranges. At the time, I loved both bands for different reasons. Maiden's playing was a lot more melodic (thanks to the radically different yet complimentary playing styles of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith), but no less heavy than Metallica's in its own way. Metallica on the other hand was starting to explore a little more musically, getting more melodic themselves, but staying close to their blistering style while doing it. I point to the song "Fade to Black" as the perfect example.

 

Metallica in the Lightning/Puppets days were constantly in the top five metal bands in terms of popularity, arguably #1. When Lightning came out, they were brought out into the spotlight, the dismay of so-called metal "purists" who wanted to keep them underground and keep them pigeonholed into "playing 1000 miles an hour the whole time" as Cliff was quoted in the classic "Cliff 'Em All" video.

 

Maiden's sucess was also peaking from 1982 to (I believe) 1986, due to not only the eternally classic albums "Number of the Beast", "Piece of Mind", "Powerslave", and "Somewhere in Time", but also their worldwide established popularity. As a Maiden fan, I do say that things were never the same after Somewhere in Time, although their popularity never waned in Europe, Asia, and other countries around the world, they started to lose popularity here in the States, because of the fickle nature of music popularity here (which has only gotten worse and worse as time has gone on).

 

That's why Maiden can still play to 100,000 people anywhere in the world, but can't get more than 10,000 here in the States, which is a shame.

 

But anyway, in my mind, you really can;t compare Maiden and Metallica back in those days, because they were equals.

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

I'm sure from a technical standpoint Metallica was superior to a lot of bands...but in the end, I don't care about such things, I simpyl care if it sounds good and Metallica outside of Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets, has always sounded like absolute shit to me. Just my opinion though.

 

I'm not particularly into Slayer either. But theres a passion there that I just never really got from Metallica. Mainly from the vocals to be honest though, Hetfield's voice has always just been...boring to me.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

I always liked "Kill Em All" too because of the cool guitar parts. Like how they make it sound like galloping horses in The Four Horsemen.

 

Just little things like that made me really like that album.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Metallica wasn't as heavy as their peers, but their stuff was a lot more classical-oriented, which made them masterpieces of music for all time periods, whereas the music of Megadeth and Slayer is strictly thrash metal, and thus will always be inferior in the grand scheme of things to Metallica's.

 

 

That's my opinion, based on years of listening to the "Big 4" of US thrash (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer), and taking music theory.

Minor points: Megadeth is more than just straight thrash. They do ballads as well. "Tout Le Monde," for example. So does Pantera, so did Randy Rhoads, Slayer has "Seasons in the Abyss," Maiden did tons of them. Metallica was far from alone when it came to doing slow songs with similar structures.

 

That's my opinion, based on years of listening to the "Big 4" of US thrash (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer), and taking music theory.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

don't try to agrue with AoO.. He's a death metal extremist, and loathe's Metallica.

 

Correct on the second point, incorrect on the first. While I have a deep appreciation of death bands, If I were to list my five favorite bands...

 

1.Black Sabbath

2.Slayer

3.Pink Floyd

4.Tool

5.Primus..

 

There wouldn't be a death band among them.

 

I listen to all kinds of stuff.

[Guest Johnson1620]

I'm not ENTIRELY familiar with all of Maiden's material, so I'll let someone more versed in their stuff tackle that more in-depth. I'll just say that they were FAR more technical, which supercedes the alleged equality in heaviness.

 

Megadeth I've still got to completely disagree with you on. Compare Peace Sells, Youthanasia, and Countdown to the first few Metallica cds. Mustaine did everything Metallica did, only did it better. HE was their creative force, IMO, until push came to shove, he got kicked out because everyone else in the band couldn't handle his booze and anger.

 

Cliff's a different matter altogether, as he could only do so much, and didn't effectively carry the band in terms of having a harder edge.

 

My whole point can best be summarised like this: They might've been a little tougher than the pop hair-metal acts that were on top at the time, but they used a similar formula, with more distortion, and less spandex. Instead of being happy about all the coke and liquor, they were grumpy about it. Mustaine had that over them in spades though, as did pretty much all of their contemporaries, and all of the bands they blatantly ripped off.

I can't understand, even not being a real fan of Maiden, how you can say they were more technical. The earlier albums from Metallica I agree. But Puppets and Justice were very technical.

 

This is where we are just different, so I will agree to disagree. But Dave sucked as a singer. He was a very great songwriter and if he'd kept his nose off of the mirror, Metallica would have been great, there was no jealousy there. I think Dave just imitated Metallica. Metallica was first and Dave got kicked out and started Megadeath, trying to be like Metallica.

 

I also disagree with you and a few other people on here about Cliff. His solo's were the best bass solo's I have ever heard. He is by far the best bassist ever,IMO. But he, believe it or not was the real driving force behind Metallica, even for an album after he died. But after that it was straight down hill.

 

I don't think Metallica ripped anybody off, and that hair band comparison was just funny. But like I said we have different opinions on this but at least the discussion is good.

[Guest NoCalMike]

As far as the Slayer/Metallica comparison goes, Slayer has slowed down a bit in the recent years, however there is still the heavy feel to it and there is much more passion in it. So I as I see it. Slayer's Reign in Blood is superior to Metallica's Master of puppets and for the slower times, Diabolus in Musica is light years better in quality than Load/Reload combined.