I've heard the new Metallica CD...

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

As mentioned in another post, my radio station played the thing in full. A few random notes...

 

In about 3 different songs, Hetfield curses more than he did through the first 7 albums. In one of him he went Fred Durst with the f-bombs, it was tremendous.

 

He also screams more than ever before. Which is easy today considering he never really screamed in the first place but those tortured moans are in full effect here.

 

They really should give Korn their guitars back on some of this.

 

I may have not been paying enough attention, but I ain't heard shit that could be considered a solo. I'm hoping i just missed them.

 

The drums are REALLY FUCKING LOUD.

 

And finally....the fake nu metal wanna be anger is just pathetic.

 

A sad sad piece of unintelligable crap.

 

Go on, everyone else take a shot at the audio punching bag that is Metallica's St. Anger.

[Guest Sandman9000]

Loud drums? Guess Lars wanted more attention.

 

I'm guessing this album won't even be worth pirating.

[Guest Memphis]

Loud drums? Guess Lars wanted more attention.

 

I'm guessing this album won't even be worth pirating.

Yes, I believe that's Lars Anti-Priate strategy number 608 - Making an album so repuslive, pirates won't even bother.

 

Genius.

 

M

[Guest El Satanico]

I get it now...

 

People bitch about them being slower calmer Mettalica.

 

This is their answer to that.

 

"See man look we can't be fast and angry anymore...we're old and we suck at it now so stop asking us to do it"

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

I get it now...

 

People bitch about them being slower calmer Mettalica.

 

This is their answer to that.

 

"See man look we can't be fast and angry anymore...we're old and we suck at it now so stop asking us to do it"

BWAHAHAHAHAHA...ah...aaa, thats not funny, thats more true than anything. Good Lord.

[Guest redbaron51]

Bought it.

 

Worth it.

 

Better than And Justice For All

[Guest Nevermortal]

Got it.

 

Better than I expected.

 

Can't touch anything before Black, but it kills Load & ReLoad.

[Guest Black Lushus]

I bought it yesterday..it's like they totally changed their style AGAIN...i'd call it Nu-Metal with a hint of old school Metallica stuff in there from time to time...kind of reminds me of Mudvayne's type of music...there were definently no solos in any song...other than St. Anger and Frantic, I liked this album...

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Hell fucking NO is it better than ANY of the first four albums. But, it's a lot better than ReLoad, and kicks that overrated piece of shit The Black Album right in its balls.

 

James' voice for the chorus of "Invisible Kid" (I'm okaaaaaaaay...etc.) are very good. Lars seemed to remember how to drum. Rob's basslines can actually be heard in some songs. But the complete lack of solo's is what kills this album for me. It really does. The songs are all about 5-7 minutes long, and not a single solo in any of them. The only thing that comes close to a solo is part of the intro to "Dirty Window."

 

Basically, this album sounds like Slipknot covering Load/ReLoad. Better than ReLoad and The Black Album, but doesn't touch the first four albums, and isn't even as good as Load. *** is my rating.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

Looks like I'm on my way to Crow's Nest to get the new Metallica album. I own all of their other stuff, why not include this as well?

[Guest redbaron51]

I nevered like AJFA for some reason. I mean I found Load was better than AJFA and Kill Em All. Hell actually i found Load the third best album Metallica actually released.

 

Tremendous album IMO

[Guest Ray]

overrated piece of shit The Black Album

 

Heh! The black album was awesome.

 

What exactly was wrong with it?

 

 

 

Don't give me that "sellout" crap.

 

Enter Sandman was overplayed, obviously, but what makes it a "piece of shit" ?

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

It was the album that signalled the turning point of Metallica's career, and that turning point isn't good. It was the turn from "awesome semi-known band that had a big hit and high-profile tour, but still had tons of energy" to "hey, we're rich, so let's just revel in overproduced muck."

 

Honestly, Metallica doesn't stand a chance against any other album but Load. Its songs just FEEL like they were constructed to please rock radio instead of the band themself. If you listen to it at the right time, you can hear the ghost of Cliff Burton weeping. The only above-average tracks on the entire album are "The Unforgiven," "My Friend Of Misery," and "The Struggle Within" (the last of which feels like it belongs more on ...And Justice For All than it does on The Black Album).

 

There's nothing to really separate The Black Album from the other albums. No great stand-out tracks, no excellent guitar mastery, the timing was slowed down, the riffs were simplified, the lyrics were toned down...the band seemed to stop caring.

[Guest BAR]

I got it this morning. I'm really digging it, especially 'Frantic', 'St Anger' and 'Dirty Window'. Me and my buddies left school around 11, went back to the guys house and started learning that shit. Even though I was playing his sister's strat through a 10W amp.

 

Here's how I rate it...

 

1. Master of Puppets

2. Ride The Lightning

3. ...And Justice For All

4. Live Shit: Binge & Purge

5. Kill 'em All

6. Load

7. Metallica

8. Garage Inc

9. Reload

10. St. Anger

11. S & M

12. The $5.98 EP

Edited June 14, 2003 by BAR

[Guest Sturgis]

I get it now...

 

People bitch about them being slower calmer Mettalica.

 

This is their answer to that.

 

"See man look we can't be fast and angry anymore...we're old and we suck at it now so stop asking us to do it"

I think it's more like:

 

People Bitch

 

Metallica trys to please the people.

 

And People STILL BITCH

 

Is there a term for music smart marks yet? If not we need one.

[Guest La Parka Es Mi Papa]

There's a difference between trying to please people, and actually doing it.

[Guest HHH123007]

I bought it today, and still have yet to listen to it all....

 

The 11 track 75 minute run time scares me a bit.

 

The first song rules IMO....I think St. Anger is the weakest song on the album that I've heard..

[Guest redbaron51]

i whole heardly agree that St. Anger is a really really weak song

[Guest Ray]

It was the album that signalled the turning point of Metallica's career, and that turning point isn't good. It was the turn from "awesome semi-known band that had a big hit and high-profile tour, but still had tons of energy" to "hey, we're rich, so let's just revel in overproduced muck."

 

Honestly, Metallica doesn't stand a chance against any other album but Load. Its songs just FEEL like they were constructed to please rock radio instead of the band themself. If you listen to it at the right time, you can hear the ghost of Cliff Burton weeping. The only above-average tracks on the entire album are "The Unforgiven," "My Friend Of Misery," and "The Struggle Within" (the last of which feels like it belongs more on ...And Justice For All than it does on The Black Album).

 

There's nothing to really separate The Black Album from the other albums. No great stand-out tracks, no excellent guitar mastery, the timing was slowed down, the riffs were simplified, the lyrics were toned down...the band seemed to stop caring.

Meh.......that's just too harsh.

 

"Unforgiven"

"Wherever I May Roam"

"Nothing Else Matters" and

"Sad But True"

 

Are all great songs.

 

"Don't Tread On Me" and

"Enter Sandman"

 

are also good.

 

Sure, it's slowed down compared to earlier work, but it's not that bad.

[Guest redbaron51]

actually all the songs on the Black Album are excellent IMO, but the album didn't gel well.

[Guest Doyo]

The only above-average tracks on the entire album are "The Unforgiven," "My Friend Of Misery," and "The Struggle Within" (the last of which feels like it belongs more on ...And Justice For All than it does on The Black Album).

 

There's nothing to really separate The Black Album from the other albums. No great stand-out tracks, no excellent guitar mastery, the timing was slowed down, the riffs were simplified, the lyrics were toned down...the band seemed to stop caring.

 

"Enter Sandman" is probably the most popular metal song ever and is by far the most

popular Metallica song. That doesn't necessarily mean that the song is good, but the album

will always stick out over the others to many people because of this.

 

You say "The Unforgiven" is above average but not "Enter Sandman" and then you complain about

slowed down timing and simple riffs. "The Unforgiven" is almost like a ballad. There are many

Winger and Poison songs more musically complex than "The Unforgiven".

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

If the album wasn't DIRECTLY responsible for them seemingly caring less about the fans that made them who they were, I wouldn't hate it as much. I can easily pop it in and groove to it. But the music's not nearly as good as it is on Load, any of the four albums, and is about equal to St. Anger.

 

BAR's list is similar to my own. Hell...MY order of the albums (including live albums):

1. Master Of Puppets

2. Kill 'Em All

3. Ride The Lightning

4. Live Shit: Binge & Purge

5. ...And Justice For All

6. Load

7. St. Anger

8. Metallica

9. Garage, Inc.

10. S&M

11. ReLoad

[Guest Doyo]

People Bitch

 

Metallica trys to please the people.

 

And People STILL BITCH

 

If they were trying to please the people that have been bitching then

they would have released an album with more complex songs that have

guitar solos.

[Guest mesepher]

no solos? you're kidding me... did they kick Kirk out of the band then???

[Guest Lethargic]

God I can't believe I'm gonna defend Metallica but....

 

The fans can go to hell. New fans, old fans. Screw them all. The ONLY people Metallica should try to please is themselves. That is what any good band should do. Write songs THEY want to write and play, if people don't like it, whatever, they're already millionaires, they don't need your money. They're not gonna cry if we all hate St Anger cause we all bought it anyway. (Well, I downloaded it, but I had to buy a blank CD!) The Black Album sellout crap is so old and boring and tired. Get over it. If you can "pop it in and groove to it" then that's all that matters. Who cares if it was their radio album, or if they started acting like dicks after it? If they had to change their style a bit to become one of the biggest bands in the world, my hats off to them because they did it. It's what they SHOULD do. I would much rather hear them writing the music the way they do now than hear a group of 40 year old men trying to write songs the same way they did when they were 17.

[Guest La Parka Es Mi Papa]

Amen to that.

[Guest Doyo]

Write songs THEY want to write and play, if people don't like it, whatever, they're already millionaires, they don't need your money.

 

Part of the criticism against them is that they only do what they think will get

them more money. They could have picked any bands to tour with them and they

picked Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. If they didn't care about the money that much

then they would have picked a newer band or some old friends like Slayer or Anthrax.

 

Also, if they were truely happy with the amount of money they had, then they wouldn't

have crusaded against napster so hard. I'm sure they have enough money to buy

anything they want, but they must get some kind of ego boost by making more.

[Guest redbaron51]

actually to the music and the aggression of the CD, I actually think that Solo's would seem out of place IMO.

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

Aggression? I dunno, sounded like some good ol studio processed anger. Then again, I thought a lot of their old stuff sounded like that as well, so whatever.

 

In any case, I'm glad I always thought they for the most part sucked. Some people seem to lose sleep over them because of the lack of whatever they wanna see the band do and thats so depressing on many levels.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

I don't. For one thing, there are so many times on St. Anger when a solo would have made the song that much better. I still feel this album is just Slipknot or KoRn or whatever random "FUCK FUCK I HATE LIFE FUCK SHOP AT HOT TOPIC FUCK FUCK!" nu-metal band pretending to be Metallica.

 

And Lethargic, for that, I say this: fuck you.

No, that's not flaming. I'm not attacking you personally. I'm attacking that mindset. Metallica has, for the past 10 or so years, been doing exactly what Vince McMahon is doing now: saying they care about the fans, when they know they can put out whatever bullshit piece of merchandise or music with their name on it, and it will be a big seller, because they think the fans are dumb enough to buy it. The Black Album was the testing ground for this, and they saw record sales go up. What did they do? They decided to take a new route with Load. However, fans were in an uproar. Was it because of the band cutting their hair, or dressing like pimps for the album's photo shoot, or making music videos that weren't just the band playing live somewhere with spliced in footage? No. It was because the fanbase wanted the Metallica that released Kill 'Em All, the Metallica that released Ride The Lightning, the Metallica that released Master Of Puppets, the Metallica that released ...And Justice For All, and the Metallica that released The Black Album. It's not about the fact that they want to grow as artists, because even the most hardcore of fans can accept that. However, everything after The Black Album, including a large portion of St. Anger, is simply NOT METALLICA.

 

When the word "Metallica" is said, most people think of "Enter Sandman," "The Four Horsemen," "Fade To Black," "Master Of Puppets," and "One." They tend to try to forget Load, the atrocity that is ReLoad, and I think the negative feedback for the song "St. Anger" speaks for itself. Metallica's spirit died with Cliff Burton.

 

Once again, I don't hate The Black Album because it's a "radio" album, or because it's a "sellout" album, or any stupid elitist reason. I hate The Black Album because, aside from it just being "good" instead of the "outstanding" moniker given to the previous four releases, it signified Metallica (to borrow another pop-culture reference) jumping the shark. No longer were they the angry four guys that wanted to show the mainstream how to do heavy music. They became what they once slandered: a corporate machine. The Black Album is when it happened, and so it only makes sense that I, a loyal Metallica fan, would try to ignore when Metallica went from "approachable band you could probably see walking around whatever town they were playing a show in that night" to "riders of limousines, drinkers of expensive champagne, and diners of high-class restaurants."

 

...oh, and fuck Lars.