Album Review: Metallica - S & M (1999)

I've never been big on live albums, really.  I've long felt that the live versions of songs were vastly inferior to the original studio recordings.  I'm far more forgiving of live versions than re-recordings, however.  Some live albums are in fact bloody great - Mad Dogs & Englishmen by Joe Cocker and Rust Never Sleeps by Neil Young and Crazy Horse are two of my all time favorite albums, and I'm quite partial to Live by AC/DC.  S & M by Metallica is another live album but with a unique twist - there is a supporting orchestra to boot - the San Francisco Symphony, to be exact.  Classical music and heavy metal music appear on paper to be very odd bed fellows, but in practice the two are quite capable of mixing quite well.  I must confess here, despite having owned this album since 2001-2002 I have only just recently listened to it in its entirety.  And I'm glad I finally got around to doing so.  I'm particularly enamored with the songs from the first four albums, such as "Master of Puppets" "Whom the Bell Tolls", and "One."  These songs always do well when performed live.  But the ones from Metallica, Load and Reload are likewise surprisingly good as well.  A rendition of "The Memory Remains" without Marianne Faithfull on backup?  I suppose the audience did well enough.  But somehow that song loses that sting it had.  All up, a pretty damn impressive collection of live renditions here.  A-

Album Review: Metallica - Kill 'Em All (1983)

I should've written a review for this album a long, long time ago.  Along with the "black" album, this album not only introduced me to Metallica, but it really got me into heavy metal music in a big way.  All the ingredients were there - that guitar tone, that hallmark thrash tempo, the denim and leather.  I was a changed person after I'd finished playing this album - "Whiplash" and "Metal Militia" remain two of my favorite Metallica songs.  This and Megadeth's debut album Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good! rank high among my favorite debut heavy metal albums.  "The Four Horsemen" shares its origins with the song "The Mechanix", which would end up on the previously mentioned Megadeth record, although from my perspective at least it's better than the Megadeth variant.  "Hit the Lights", "Phantom Lord", "Jump in the Fire" - add those three to the aforementioned tracks (as well as a few others of course) and you've got thrash metal gold.  A-

Album Review: Metallica - Hardwired...to Self Destruct (2016)

What a fantastic return to form Metallica's new album is.  This is easily the best studio album they've done since 1991's Metallica album.  And James' voice is in the best shape that it's been since Garage, Inc.  That is saying something.  Their previous album, Death Magnetic, was undoubtedly a marked improvement over the forgettable St. Anger.  But despite the massive improvements, there were still problems with it.  Hardwired...to Self Destruct is phenomenally good.  It has done well in ironing out the minor shortcomings of its predecessor.  It's phenomenally long as well, and that may prove to be an issue for some.  But here, every song, and I mean EVERY song has something great about it.  Indeed, the hardest part about listening to this album is picking the best songs.  The standard edition of the album contains a total of twelve songs, with an additional 14 on the additional deluxe edition disc, including a improved version of the previously released "Lords of Summer."  "Spit Out the Bone" is my personal favorite here, followed by "Hardwired", "Dream No More", "Atlas Rising" and "Confusion."  But I love the rest of the album as well.  If you love Metallica, buy it!  Now!  It's good enough to make the perpetually flaccid positively tumescent.  And in the immortal words of Master Yoda, "phenomenally good, this album is!"  A

Album Review: Metallica - Master of Puppets (1986)

My four month fixation with a certain violent video game has pretty much subsided and now I'm back to writing reviews of albums.  And for my first review of the month, I'll be reviewing Metallica's magnum opus, Master of Puppets from 1986.  This is a quintessential album that should be in every metalhead's record collection - even if you don't like them to whatever degree, you should own it.  Because it is bloody well near perfect as far as thrash albums are concerned.  Sufficient enough to induce anger that will compel you to tear small animals to pieces, politically charged enough for you to invest in a soap box and harass passers-by in the center of town, and of course, sufficiently well crafted enough to make you shed a tear upon listening to the brutally symphonic instrumental "Orion", the album is revered for all the right reasons.  Book-ended by two of their finest fast 'n furious ditties, "Battery" and "Damage, Inc." this album is a roller-coaster of sheer thrash madness, enthusiastic fervor and outright brilliance.  Love this album!  A+

Album Review: Metallica - Metallica (1991)

Heavy metal music is usually dark.  It is often angry, brutal, inclined to protest and occasionally meloncholic - in short, it appeals to the dark side of the force.  You will know this quite well when you stumble across Metallica's breakthrough 1991 album, the self-titled Metallica.  Unfairly derided for being a deviation from their thrash roots as well as being a sellout album - perhaps the latter is true, but of course, Metallica wouldn't be the music icon that it is today without it.  It was a necessary move, and despite my undying affection for their 80s albums, a move I feel paid off handsomely.  And what a great album it is - it is certainly heavy, the tempo has been dialed down somewhat and it feels more raw, more powerful.  Which I love.  It is nothing short of an emotional tour de force.  And it is easy to discern this angst and anger on tracks such as "Sad But True", "The God That Failed", "The Unforgiven" and "Don't Tread on Me."  Plus many, many more.  If you want an album that connotes anger and power, listening to this album should be a priority.  A+

Album Review: Metallica - Ride the Lightning (1984)

My faith in old-school thrash metal and its inherent superiority to the likes of nu-metal and rap-metal makes my eyes water in sheer ecstasy whenever I listen to a masterpiece such as Metallica's 1984 effort Ride the Lightning. Revolutionary in numerous aspects, including, of course, the establishment of that sound Metallifans 'round the world have grown to know and love, and fulfilling the prophecy that the Metal Militia in Hetfield, Hammett, Ulrich and Burton would indeed conquer the land, Lightning proves that, despite often being confined to the back-burner in favor of Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All, it is still one bad-ass son-of-a-bitch that ranks amongst the genre's greatest. Where would we be without the likes of "Fight Fire With Fire", "For Whom The Bell Tolls" or "Creeping Death?" I dare not to ponder such a possibility. Oh, and it makes for better t-shirts and posters than its predecessor, Kill 'Em All, as well. Truly magnificent. A

Album Review: Metallica - Death Magnetic (2008)

Between 2003 and 2008 Metallifans around the world including myself eagerly awaited what invariably would've been a better album than the disastrous St. Anger. And indeed it was. The snare drum got taken down a peg, the songs were better written, and guitar solos once more made their return. And they brought back the traditional Metallica logo, albeit in computer generated form. On the whole, 2008's Death Magnetic is a good album, but not like "Justice" was; I don't listen to it nearly as much as their eighties and early nineties stuff, and perhaps this is due to the crappy sound quality, the exceedingly long song durations (which worked better on previous albums) or the fact they've still retained the bouncing grooves, all of which hold this record back from greater recognition. The highlights of this album? "The Day That Never Comes", "All Nightmare Long", "Cyanide" and the instrumental "Suicide & Redemption", "The Judas Kiss" and "My Apocalypse." And the dud? "The Unforgiven III." This version is, in my opinion, far inferior to the previous two. B+

Album Review: Metallica - ...And Justice for All (1988)

To say that Jethro Tull makes better music than Metallica is like turning down an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord after a week long fast in favor of picking your nose for sustenance. It is the pinnacle of ignorance. In fact, if your ears are bleeding after listening to "Bungle in the Jungle", that's a positive sign...it means you've gone deaf. Had you otherwise listened to that wretched cacophony with fully functioning eardrums, chances are you would've dropped dead immediately. Even Satan himself would turf himself into the Lake of Fire 1000 years early just to get away from that garbage. Personally, I've never liked Jethro Tull's music on the whole, and, pending my own ears ceasing to function, I guess I never will.

Now, back in 1988, two albums were pipped to take out the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. Metallica's ...And Justice for All, and Jethro Tull's Crest of a Knave. And guess who won? Metallica, you'd think? Alas, they didn't. And what a grave injustice that was, pardon the pun. OK, the songs were a bit lengthy and the album cover is a bit dull. Who really cares? Listen to "One", and you'll see why people love them. Listen to "Blackened", and you'll hear a symphonic masterpiece. Crank out "To Live is to Die", a fitting tribute to the late legendary bassist Cliff Burton, and even the butchest and toughest bogans will wail like a newborn baby being circumcised. Like I mentioned earlier a few of the songs are a bit of a stretch, such as the title track, but overall this album is heavy, poetic, extremely outspoken and lovingly crafted. To this day it is highly regarded by many, and not just metal fans either. It was a visionary piece of work that would eventually open up Metallica to a whole new audience - an audience devoid of the usual tats and mullets associated with metalheads. And that's exactly why it should've won a Grammy. A-

Album Review: Metallica - St. Anger (2003)

Making a heavy metal album that sets out to portray the interpersonal tensions within a band, seems, in theory, to be a great idea. In practice, though, it's like taking relationship advice from Josef Fritzel. And the idea of making an album that portrays a band playing in the garage for the first time is fine, provided the band is a recent startup and the album is actually a demo tape. Metallica made this the theme of their 2003 effort, St. Anger, and despite much hype and anticipation prior to its release, and somehow selling several million copies in the process, public impressions of the album went down faster than a suicidal Japanese businessman jumping off the 55th floor of a Tokyo skyscraper with an anvil in tow. And listening to the album, it's not hard to see why. Firstly, the drum snare is ear-bleeding awful. It sounds like a three year old tanked on caffeine belting the shit out of a empty paint can with a pair of cucumbers. Secondly, some of the lyrics sound like they were written by the Rain Man, being repetitive and bearing little poetic quality. There are some tracks on this album that are bearable, but only on rare occasions. On the whole, this album is the low point of Metallica's career, and unless you are a serious 'Metallifan' or collector, then this album is worth giving a miss. My verdict - most people will shun it; but Rain Man will love it. C-