I gave this album a 3. I think I stick with my review. St. Anger is a hard album for a diehard Metallica fan to review, because it is hard to be an objective metal reviewer in regard to their output. I don't even know if being a hardcore fan makes me see this album as better (just because it’s Metallica), or worse (because it’s not Master of Puppets).
Acknowledging this, here is my review.
The fist songs I heard from this album before it was released were St. Anger and Frantic. I can't remember the order. I heard St. Anger with the video on Metallica.com (the quality was bad however) and I heard the first couple of minutes of Frantic of MTV ICON. I wasn't sure about St. Anger as I couldn't hear it in proper CD quality, but i was very impressed by Frantic. A good riff, really heavy, and fresh. I had also read a couple of reviews from press hearings of some of the songs, which were very positive. So overall I was expecting a lot from this album.
So I went and got the album when it came out and drove home with it blasting. I liked, and still like, Frantic. It isn't too long, and has an OK structure. although the drums sounded a little off, I liked the guitar and vocal sound.
With the second track, St. Anger, I was less impressed. I loved the riffs, great and heavy, and again I liked the guitar and vocal sounds. The lyrics were a little immature though. "I'm madly in anger with you" drives me particularly crazy. Also, this song is too long for what it is. Cut it in half or have it progress a little.
Some Kind of Monster - good riffs, OK lyrics. As with St. Anger, far too long for what it is.
Dirty Window and Invisible Kid - both not bad at all, again a little repetitive, and in need of solos. The lyrics on these tracks are a lot better though. Invisible Kid is catchy and would be a lot better were it shorter. Listening too it, I sometimes think I have accidentally left the track on loop.
My World - No complaints about this song. It’s a good one.
Shoot me Again - I also like this song. Only minor complaints - a little repetitive and no solo.
Sweet Amber - I like this one. Why? Because it goes somewhere. There is that great new riff introduced at the breakdown/bridge part of the song. Also love the lyrics and that cool guitar sound during the mellow bit of the chorus.
Unnamed Feeling - Another good track. Think Bleeding Me St. Anger style. The title is a little corny, but nothing like "I'm madly in anger with you."
Purify - not bad. Filler I guess. Fast and heavy but nothing memorable. Although having said this, I do quite like rocking out to this song, but its no Bellz.
All Within My Hands - No bad again, a little long but doesn't get too boring. The "kill kill kill! kill!" at the end is either cool or really cheesy, I can't decide.
Overall - As can be seen from my breakdown of the songs, none of them are bad. But none are great. I love long songs, but they have to go somewhere, most of these don't. I love guitar solos, i can live without them if the song doesn't need one, but a couple would have been nice. A guitar player like Kirk should not be wasted.
Also while we all love "raw" production, there is a difference between raw and bad. I think pro-tools was one of the biggest problems with this album. It meant they could get lazy. just loop stuff. Want an album with "old school" song lengths? No problem, loop the song a couple of times. this album sounds like it was looped together on pro-tools. Use the technology sure, but you still need to work out song structure, don't just stick the riffs anywhere over and over again.
Lets hop Rick Ruben can help them keep the heavyness and rediscover great song writing not just riff looping.
This Message Edited On 06.09.06
