After the infamous “St. Anger” album, Metallica tried to get back to its roots. While the predecessor was generally not a favourite of fans and critics alike, this record was promised to start right off where “Master of Puppets” and “and justice for all…” ended.
Can this album keep up with the masterpieces of the past?
Let’s find out!
Back in the late 2000’s this album received quite the hype and I pre-ordered it, to get my hands on it as soon as possible.
For many fans and critics, the “Black Album” marked the beginning of the mainstream era of Metallica, which at its height, took a terrible toll, when they were releasing a country song in the mid 90’s and songs such as “Fuel” were the closest they got to their previous bite.
So big expectations were held on the behalf of this album, when it was announced, they would go back to their Thrash Metal roots of the 1980’s.
Receiving the album very shortly after its release, the first thing I really liked, was its cover art.
Simplistic in its design and in a great makeup, as the magnetic tomb in the middle of the cover art burnt its way through the pages of the inlay. The inlay also had a nice design with a lot of nice pictures in it, flowing well with the general concept.
When I started the CD-Player back then, what I immediately noticed, was its extreme loudness.
I felt like, this album was at least twice as loud, as everything else they have released so far.
Not really great, especially for a band of this magnitude. I blame Rick Rubin (producer) for much of that, since I have heard quite some albums, he was involved in and they had exactly the same issue (See Eminem and Black Sabbath’s “13”). This album is not just loud, it also contains quite some clipping. This is something, no artist with that amount of money should have to deal with. The clipping is so obvious on this record, that even Metallica admitted it (https://web.archive.org/web/20081110043612/http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/atoz/2008/11/interview_metallica_kirk_hammett_death_magnetic_sound_clipping_compression_distortion_rick_rubin.php), which leads me to wonder, whether they didn’t listen to their own stuff anymore.
Apart from the missing dynamics, the loud mixing and the clipping, the instruments are in general well distinguishable from each other, although I personally think, the drums were a bit too loud overall.
The loudness war also took its toll on much of the soundscape, since the guitars, while aggressive in their tone, also sound somewhat cold and dead, due the compression.
So much for the mixing part.
When it comes to the songs themselves, it clearly shows, that the new bass player (Robert Trujillo) was fully accepted and integrated into the band. Unless Jason Newsted, whose bass lines were mostly silenced on “...and justice for all” and whose contributions often weren’t respected all that much.
See:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6yv_fehtAQ
Trujillo on the other hand was given more freedom to express himself and that shows.
The songwriting definitely feels a bit different to that of the past and I think, that Robert Trujillo played a role in that.
“Cyanide” being a good example of that, as the main theme is very bass driven and groove oriented, much in the way one would suspect of Trujillo's past bands (like Suicidal Tendencies).
Some fresh wind Metallica definitely needed.
While there were improvements on this side of the rhythm section, the drums are not really able to keep pace with the skills of Trujillo.
The general arrangements of the songs are by far more complex than everything Metallica has released since “...and justice for all” and this turned out to be a rather bad thing, since Lars (Ulrich) gets somewhat lost on the relatively long tracks and some parts were a bit too much for him, as certain drumparts sound a bit sloppy and a bit of groove gets lost.
The guitars and the vocals on the other hand are decent craftsmanship and while Lars may not be the best drummer, the songwriting of him and Hetfield compensate this to a degree and for most parts the compositions flow quite well together.
The arrangements themselves are in general on the longer side, but work surprisingly well. Looking at “St.Anger”, this was often not the case. The songs themselves don’t feel like they get boring because of unnecessary repetitions. Metallica manages to fill their songs with variations again and with the guitar solos of Kirk Hammett back, it feels a bit like “...and justice for all!”. “My apocalypse” has a lot of “Damage Inc.” vibe to it, while the solo sounds similar to the infamous “Whiplash” Solo, from the beginning of their career. Make no mistake, when it comes to songwriting Metallica still deliver. Although not as innovative as in their prime, it manages to revive the old vibe to a certain degree. One doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel if one has already invented it in the past. Being the real deal, so to speak. The retrospective of this album is very consequent. It contains a half ballade, one instrumental closer to the end and one last real thrasher at the end, very similar to their classic records from the 80’s.
Lyric wise the album covers a wide spectrum, dealing with fears, forgiveness and are generally more open to interpretation. Contrary to “St. Anger” James Hetfield was responsible for all lyrics. Looking back at this record, it is safe to say, that it was the right decision. Hetfield is certainly a good songwriter but at least as good of a lyrical composer and they fit the concept of the album very well, as they are often more open and easy relatable.
A personal highlight in this regard is “The day that never comes”, because it leaves room for interpretation, while putting certain things clear.
One final word on my judging system: The bad mixing results in a rather poor score, but I think it is justified. I assume some of you aren’t this critical on this topic...
Where to buy*:
Metallica are:
Vocals and Guitar: James Hetfield
Guitar: Kirk Hammett
Bass: Robert Trujillo
Drums: Lars Ulrich
*This is an affiliate link, which means advertisement. In case you buy this album, you support me, as I receive a bit of money. This doesn’t increase the price of the item though. If the link is broken or anything, let me know!
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