Review Summary: An overall great album with some great listens, but little mistakes keep this album from hitting the classic rating.
Metallica- Metallica
Background Info:
Metallica, probably the most famous thrash metal band known to man; so many times has hype surrounded this band, and most of those times (not including their recent releases) they lived up to this hype. The band debuted with their not to famous album Metal Up You’re A**. This album has been long forgotten due to this band’s multiple “masterpieces.” Most of the tracks off this album are actually from their sophomore album, Kill ‘Em All. Their sophomore effort was then followed by Ride the Lightning, which is the album that propelled Metallica into the musical atmosphere. Then they released their most successful and well-known album to date, Master of Puppets, which has multiple tracks, including “Welcome Home(Sanitarium)”, that entered them into the top of the charts in radio rankings.
This is then where Metallica really started to mix things up a little bit; increasing the quality of their studio recordings and making radio-friendly tracks, specifically the song “One.” This album of change was called …And Justice for All, which was nowhere near as successful as their previous release. Then, finally, Metallica hit their all-time high in radio friendliness by releasing Metallica, or The Black Album, which had about five singles on it that hit the radio stations. This was arguably their second most accomplished album ever to hit store shelves, as it appealed to the general public much more than their previous releases. This is probably where most of Metallica’s fans realized that Metallica was changing for the worse (can anyone say St. Anger?), but that’s not to say The Black Album isn’t a worthwhile listen, as it does actually have some pretty interesting elements about its composition.
The Review:
Ah…… The Black Album, who hasn’t heard of this album? It has a pure black cover with a tiny snake in the bottom right corner. Unless you are sheltered, you probably have at least heard one of the five singles off of this album, because they play these songs at least once a day on almost every rock or metal radio station in the United States. To start off: this album has some of the best production quality I have ever heard out of a metal album. Everything is just so crisp and clean; every little noise that is made can easily be heard through any speaker (especially the bass and snare drums). The hums and rhythms of the bass guitar are even easy to pick up, which is rare in most metal album these days.
This album is a mix of softer, more depressing songs (like “My Friend of Misery”), and heavier tracks with addicting choruses (like “Sad But True”). This makes for a nice variation throughout the album that helps to keep you listening the whole way through. It also shows that the band members were keeping in mind how and what order to present the songs in, and the overall composition of the album is just well done.
Now one thing that really had me impressed after listening to the whole album was the fact that no song has the same “setup” (for lack of better term). Every single song on the album has a varied composition; the bridge is never in the same place, the chorus is placed at different points in the songs, and each song has varied lengths. All this adds up to help make the album very varied and experimental.
One thing that has very noticeably improved in the past few years for Metallica is the vocals. James Hetfield learned to hit those all to important high notes in Master of Puppets, which he then took further in The Black Album, creating songs where he majestically sings the whole way through. Since he has never really done this before, it’s almost revolutionary for the band’s direction for the future (which isn’t so bright, sadly). Two notable songs of vocal excellence are “The Unforgiven” and of course, ‘Nothing Else Matters.” Both of these tracks display very talented clean vocals from Hetfield the whole way through, making for something different from Metallica.
Now one major disappointment to me, being a long time Metallica fan, is the drums. No longer will you hear the awesome blast beats like the one from then end of “Welcome Home (Sanitarium).” Now all you hear the whole album through is a constant supply of slowly alternating patterns between heavy bass and loud snare drums. While this is nice in the softer affairs, it disappoints in the heavier songs, which should be filled with a constant supply of double bass and complex snare drums (considering Metallica has done much better). This is one thing on the album that detracts from its overall experience.
The guitars, however, are actually just as good as the old days. While the slower ballads have slow and mind-sticking melodies, it’s still impressive due to the fact that subtle changes are applied to the overall rhythm of the songs. The heavier songs on the other hand use addictive riffs that will have you humming in your sleep. The guitar solos are as impressive as ever! Although no guitar solo could ever compare to that of the instrumental piece “Orion,” they still have great technical guitar solos that are worth listening to. Hammett has definitely improved his handle on the electric guitar, performing complex, but not necessarily fast, guitar solos.
Another thing that could be noted is the fact that Newsted now creates atmosphere with his groovy and rhythmic bass lines. As stated before you can actually hear the bass guitar this time around, and I’m sure glad you can, because the rhythms of the bass can sometimes cause you to rock back and forth (if in the correct location) in attempt to “groove” with the rhythms.
Overall this album is a very good album, and it just has so many good songs that it is a must for any Metallica fan. Although I’m sure everyone who reads this review probably owns this album, but there are sheltered folks out there who do not.
The Pros and Cons:
Pros- Good guitars, improved vocals, varied and great compositional songs throughout.
Cons- Drums aren’t as good as their old stuff, sometimes to radio friendly.
Top Five Songs:
1. “My Friend of Misery”
2. “The Unforgiven”
3. “Nothing Else Matters”
4. “Sad But True”
5. “Of Wolf and Man”
