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- 6 years 3 months ago
- Posts: 789
- Globally Banned
Testing this out.
"Ah, Metallica, how you've betrayed us so. Back in the 80's, you were able to make solid, if undeservedly popular, albums like Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets that inspired an entire generation of chaps to pick up a guitar, than the virtuoso Cliff Burton died, and the music all went down after that. Hey, don’t flame me, …And Justice For All is still a good album(probably my favorite of theirs), but the problem with it is that Cliff’s replace, Jason Newsted, didn’t get to be as active of a bass player, well, let’s face it, Jason did jack with his bass, in basically ANY of his Metallica work. Which signaled the beginning of the end of the groups winning streak.
Now, actually, I think that their self-titled Black Album WAS a good idea. If the band DID continue delving into heavier, more complicated material like Justice, at least so soon, they COULD of lost their steam, and going a bit softer SHOULD have been a good change of pace for the group, but instead we got a shitty assortment of radio-friendly heap, with quite possibly one of the most overrated rock singles of all(OFF TO NEVER NEVER LAND) which would have been acceptable if the album was merely an experiment and the group returned to their typical fare. But, no, Metallica was one of the most successful albums of the decade and the group went on tour for about three years supporting it. In 1996, the group finally returned with their new album Load(how appropriately titled…) which dumped the little bit of metal influence Metallica had and had the band embrace full-on generic hard rock, fully in effect with the band cutting their hair. Their follow-up, Reload(once again appropriately titled…) offered more of the same dung as beforehand(OFF TO NEVER NEVER LAND), including the one sequel for a rock song no one ever asked(well, granted, I don’t think Linkin Park will ever make “Still Numb” or whatever shit they normally do, I don‘t know, anime fans, stop doing AMVs to Linkin Park songs. They suck, they really, really, do.) for, “The Unforgiven 2”. Both of these albums are among the epitome of suck, yet inexplicably sold very, very well and only continued to spell success for the group(OFF TO NEVER NEVER LAND).
After that, well, the group acted like a bunch of whiny bitches to stop people from downloading their stuff from Naptser(they may be right, yes, but Lars went overboard), Jason quit to join Voivod, you know, to do something besides standing there, and James went to rehab, postponing their next album indefinitely. Some hotshot documenters were supposed to do an MTV special with the group or something, and apparently they found what was going on, the band experiencing personal difficulties not only with coping with their guitarist/vocalist and bassist bailing on them, but with themselves, and having to deal with all of this with a group therapist, so interesting that they decided to make a movie out of it.(OFF TO NEVER NEVER LAND) Hence the film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, where we saw the trials the group went to get their shit back together, including bass player tryouts and a special appearance by Megadeth’s own Dave Mustaine grieving about his departure from the group just before they hit it big(if you haven‘t heard any of his comments on Metallica, go on YouTube or something. You’ll thank me later). Shockingly enough, watching the group struggle to get their new album out was actually far more entertaining than listening to the waste of compact disc space of their past few albums, with Robert Trujillo taking Jason’s place.(OFF TO NEVER NEVER LAND)
The album they were working on all along? Now we know it as the shit that is St. Anger. Don’t believe me that it’s that bad? As I sat on my computer, waiting for the music to come, on came a loud banging noise. It doesn’t really sound like drumming, but it sounds loud, kind of like a woodpecker banging on your head hopped up on sugar and crack with a crazy guy hitting you with a hammer. Then comes a generic guitar riff uncomplimented with a weak hook. Shortly after, some douche bag is screaming at me for no reason, or at least trying to, kind of like how my dog tries to bark but only ends up sounding like he’s whimpering. Not too long later, I realize that “holy shit, it’s James!”. Shortly after that, “holy shit, it’s James…” Back in the day, Hetfield sang with a cool barking growl that while he couldn’t project himself as well as, say, Ronnie James Dio or Bruce Dickinson, he at least did what he was supposed to well. Here, he just sounds pathetic, especially when the chorus shows up(TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TOCK). To really see a pathetic Hetfield, though, one must watch ”Frantic”, the song in question’s, video. Nothing says FIERCE like a 40-something-year-old growling at a camera. As for Kirk’s solo, wait, there is no guitar solo here. Strange, with this being a Metallica song. Not counting all of this nu shit, but shouldn’t a band named METALlica try to contain a guitar solo in at least one of it’s songs? Well, it is just one song, anyway.
Unsurprisingly, the rest of the song, as well as the album in general, rarely changes speeds, ie needlessly loud and annoying. The next song, the title track, which starts off basically the same as “Frantic”, with a weak riff and drumline to indicate a heavier sound, shows Hetfield supposedly fighting his demons in his lyrics, which should have been a promising idea song wise, but you just can’t take it seriously.(ST ANGERRRRRRRRRR. SET IT FREEEEEEEE), along with few tempo changes and another solo-less finale. After this embarrassing single we head off to “Some Kind of Monster”(procrastinated viral marketing?), lord help me if I have to call EVERY song on this suckfest generic rock.
Well, at least the next track, “Dirty Window” starts off differently. This time, we get a poorly-presented drumline played over with a bland, soulless riff. At least James gets to release an “A-HA” before the lyrics. About a minute into the collusion of suck the foursome bring upon to mankind, we get a new discovery; James Hetfield finally goes death metal. The thing about actually growling like whoever’s leading Cannibal Corpse nowadays is that he just can’t pull it off with this type of music. Chuck Billy from Testament gets away with growling to wits end from time to time because Testament actually plays heavy music, or at least they still do. And could you see Chris Cornell pull off the cookie-monster sound? At this point, yes, James Hetfield, the vocalist for what used to be the pioneering thrash metal group is basically synonymous to the leader of Soundgarden and Audioslave. Wouldn’t be as depressing if either band weren’t so damn bloated.
And here we go. “Invisible Kid”, the song that shows just what is wrong with this album. At over 8 and ½ minutes, the song over stays it’s welcome, uh, well, a good 6 minutes ago. Songs of this length can work well if you actually change up the tempos a bit at various places in the song(see: Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, which clocks in at over 13 minutes, or even the groups own “One” or “Master of Puppets”, which runs the same length as “Kid”) or at least contain memorable musical chops(also see: Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”, Rainbow’s “Stargazer”, or once again, the group’s “Orion”), and of course, all of said songs hold, you guessed it, solos. but obviously the group has forgotten their forefather’s merits or even their own accomplishments, and instead “Invisible Kid” is 8 and ½ minutes of pretentious musical hogwash.
The following track, “My World”, is so uninspired, I won’t even begin to discuss it, so instead, I‘ll move over to “Shoot Me Again“, where the band tries to top each other with coming up with as memorable of an opening as possible, which comes out as cocky in favor of exciting. Clocking in at about 7 and ½ minutes, all we really get is tons of moments of James screaming SHOOT ME AGAIN, I AIN’T DEAD YET instead of actual singing,(OFF TO NEVER NEVER LAND) making the song seem to run seemingly at the same rate as “Invisible Kid”, which is pretty fucking depressing.
You know what, fuck it, the other four songs, “Sweet Amber”, “Unnamed Feeling”, “Purify”, and “All Within My Hands”, aren’t even worth my time to criticize, but rest assured, the album does NOT get any better. To say something positive, I will admit that at least Robert does a good job here, and already steps himself up to being a better replacement for Burton than Newsted. In closing, if you want to see a good modern album from an aging group of metal gods, just go buy Iron Maiden’s A Matter of Life and Death, as well as their other two albums of the decade, and just stick to your old Metallica records. I personally feel ripped off listening to this mess and want a refund.
And I listened to the thing on YouTube.(OFF TO NEVER NEVER LAND)"Are you sure you want to delete this post? Yes | No 
- 6 years 3 months ago
- Posts: 365
you know what? i've been a fan since "and justice for all"... and i really liked "st. anger"... the video at san quinton (ala johnny cash) was awesome, and the whole c.d. really sticks with you... yeah it sucks that they bitched so much about napster but damnit they still make me bang my head like i still got my mullet! cool blurb hereAre you sure you want to delete this post? Yes | No 
- 6 years 3 months ago
- Posts: 70
ive tried over and over again to defend st. anger to people like you. but im tired. thats your opinion and i respect that.
i.m.o. st anger was a concept album. its sound was raw, angry and somewhat incohesive, like the emotion itself. sure it wasnt the master of puppets remake that EVERYONE wanted, but at least they tried something different.
DEATH MAGNETIC: sept 12Are you sure you want to delete this post? Yes | No
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