Metallica - Metallica
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Free Music Notes for Metallica
Free Music Review: The last great Metallica album...
Hit: 5 Stars
Metallica sadly showed with this album that they were proceeding down the same path as Black Sabbath. The first five albums kicked some severe arse until they began to dwindle down the spiral of weak songwriting and eventual obscurity. Well...okay, so this may not be so in the case of Metallica, at least in regards to the obscurity, seeing as how "Load," "Reload," and "Garage Inc." are still fresh in the minds of the fans. However, one must account for the lack of expansive and excellently crafted musicianship on the last three albums. Forget about that so-called fiasco about the band getting haircuts. I highly doubt that these guys started sucking because they cut their hair (they don't have to have a Samson syndrome to be a metal band for the ages). That being said, let's talk about the legendary Black album.For me personally, this album was the signal that Metallica were going to take a turn for the worst. It was the first album to be commercially accepted and had the band go mainstream. Not that mainstream is always a bad thing, but many bands and artists begin to fail artistically for the sake of making more money on something that people will immediately like. Some might think, "Why do something artistic and creative that people think sucks, when they can do something just mediocre that people will eat up?" Why? For art's sake? Naw, go for th money. Problem with that being, Metallica suffered for it in the eyes of purist fans like myself who believe that part of Metallica's appeal on the first four albums was their ability to be artistic and still be good. This album, while great, showed they were losing their creative edge.
"Enter Sandman"- great song, recognizable, excellent riff, but not expansive.
"Sad But True"- incredibly powerful and probably the closest to their earlier material, but it's still less experimental. No big rhythm changes or chord progressions.
"Holier Than Thou"- a great, high-speed headbanger, with a great chorus, even though it's just too short.
"Unforgiven"- great song (noticing a pattern here?) but it recycles the chord progression from their earlier hit "Fade to Black," (and let's face it, "One" even sounded similar to that song).
"Wherever I May Roam"- okay, I'm sorry, but I personally do not like this song. It's like "Sad But True," in that it's similar to their older songs, but something about just makes me cringe.
"Don't Tread on Me"- nothing memorable. Just another good song.
"Through the Never"- I love the intro riff!
"Nothing Else Matters"- so this song proved that even Metallica can write a power ballad, but for me (being a guitar player), it got annoying being asked to play this song at parties for my girlfriends.
"Of Wolf and Man"- great lyrics, though it reminds me of "Harvester of Sorrow" and "Frayed Ends of Sanity" for some reason.
"The God that Failed"- I love this song!
"My Friend of Misery"- just another good song.
"The Struggle Within"- a great closer for the album. Again, nothing new here, but it is appropriately dark and heavy. Perfect to end the Blackest album.
Overall, this is still a great album, but it is the last great album from Metallica. Basically, it lacks the classical sensibility that underlied the previous four albums, and for me that makes the album suffer. It is my least favorite of the first five, and I still give the album five/five stars. If only they could have stayed this great. Now?...well, now they just suck. They still kick ass live, but...their albums are weak. And there shall be no rest for the weak! Power to the wicked! Hear the last rites of the Black album!
Free Music Review: The Best Album Released in the Past 10 Years
Hit: 5 Stars
Before I say anymore, I have to tell you, I am 11 years old, and I love this album. I'm not like the other 99.9% of the kids in my age group who listen to nothing but cr**. Metallica is not my favorite band, but they ARE pretty high up there, easily ranking as the best metal group (with AC/DC close in second). The thing about the band Metallica that separates them from other metal bands, is their ability to continuously release awesome music. most bands started out awesome, and then began su**ing, badly. While this album is considerably different than their previous albums (which are all awesome, I might add), this is incredible. This is one of the few albums I can listen to all the way through without skipping a track (the other 2 being ZZ Top: Eliminator and Queensryche: Empire). Thre is only one thing I can compare Metallica's ability to reinvent themselves and never stop releasing good music, and that is the Beatles, who are another awesome band. Ok, enough about that, to the music!1. Enter Sandman: 9.5/10. Like another reviewer said, an awesome way to kick off the album. Awesome guitar riffs make it understandable why this has become Matallica's signature song.
2. Sad But True: 9.0/10. Not as good as Enter Sandman, but amazing nonetheless. A perfect example of the lyrics that make it impossible to put Metallica in the same category with other groups.
3. Holier Than Thou: 7.75/10. The albums second worse song. The vocals and amazing guitar riffs make up for the songs repetitivness.
4. The Unforgiven: 9.75/10. One of the albums best tracks. Awesome lyrics and unbeatable insrumentals are marred only by the occasional sound of the electric guitar. Very slow and not very heavy may make this questionable to the fans of Metallica's older stuff, but I personally can't resist power ballads.
5. Wherever I May Roam: 9.75. Full force metal the puts it on par with The Unforgiven and beats out Enter Sandman. It's so good, you think about it even when your listening to other music.
6. Don't Tread On Me: 8.5/10. Extremely underrated. less than desirable lyrics are overcome by the chorus, which has a Les Miserables feel to it, if you ever listened to the musical.
7. Through the Never: 7.0/10. The albums worst. Really good anyway though. Really good instrumentals, but gets old fast and ALMOST makes you want to skip it.
8. Nothing Else Matters: 10/10. Like I said, I can't resist a power ballad. The albums best track isn't like Metallica's older work, but this song NEVER gets old, and has ver meaniful lyrics. I wish I wrote this song.
9. Of Wolf and Man: 9.0/10. The best werewolf song ever recorded. An exellent better song to put right after Nothing Else Matters.
10. The God That Failed: 9.0/10. Equal to Of Wolf and Man, this is the song the gets confused. It isn't sure whether it's full force metal or power ballad. That's good and bad.
11. My Friend of Misery: 9.5/10. Beter than the preceding song is somewhat hypnotic, and is another good example of awesome metal.
12. The Struggle Within: 8.0/10. Good, but doesn't leave an impact on your mind. I know this because I forget that this song is even on this album. But it's still good.
In conclusion, Metallic (the band) will never be conquered. It will always leave other music, be it bubbly, mainstream pop, hip-hop (which can't focus on anything other than pimping and violence), or the nu-metal crud the release today (all the bands the can upstage Metallica are, well, dead). The last good band was Nirvana, and Kurt Kobain commit suicide, so I guess I have
to rely on Metallica to come up with new good music.
Free Music Review: The album that immortalized Metallica is great despite some calling it a "SELL OUT"
Hit: 5 Stars
California based metal titans Metallica released their self-titled fifth album better known as "The Black Album" in August of 1991.
By 1991, Metallica(which comprised by then of drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist/singer James Hetfield, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bass player Jason Newsted) were real hard and heavy metal's sledgehammer (along with slayer, Megadeth and Iron Maiden) amidst a hair metal trash and boy band infested world with a myriad of classic albums like Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and And Justice For All.
After the success of And Justice For All, the band spent all of 1989 on the road and then took a sabbatical in late 1990 and early 1991 to record their now classic contribution to rock and roll history with former Motley Crue and The Cult producer Bob Rock (whom had also recorded albums for Aerosmith and Bon Jovi and would subsequently work with Metallica until 2003's St Anger).
Would this album be the album it was cracked up to be or was it what some fans called "SELL OUT CITY", read on and find out as I did in 1991.
We begin the album with the superb rocker "Enter Sandman" which is now a rock radio staple and the song's lyrics are about a young child who fears falling asleep to avoid the nightmares to come. Today, many baseball relief pitchers (namely Mariano Rivera of The Yankees) use this song as their entrance music to put their opposing teams to sleep to clinch the save. Next is another great rocker out of "Sad But True" which is slower in tempo but but nice and heavy. Next is one of the album's highlights "Holier Than Thou" which is a fast rocker, sounds like 1980s Metallica. Hammett's solo scorches here. Next is a song called "The Unforgiven" which was musically inspired by music heard in the Clint Eastwood spaghetti western movies done by Ennio Morricone. The song is a great song and Kirk's electric guitar work counterpointing James' classical guitar work in the intro and section before the main guitar solo is amazing. Next is "Wherever I May Roam" which was another great rocker and (like Enter Sandman, Sad But True and The Unforgiven) was a major rock radio smash. "Don't Tread on Me" closed the first half of the album (cassette versions) and is another great stomping rocker.
The second half of the album begins with the great rocker "Through the Never". Next was Metallica's first true ballad "Nothing Else Matters". The song featured James singing in a low octave and he does a great lead guitar solo near the end of the track. The song also featured orchestrations by the late Michael Kamen (whom had done orchestrations for bands like Pink Floyd, Queen, Rush and Queensryche among others) which was hauntingly beautiful. That track was also a rock radio smash upon release. Next is the rocker "Of Wolf and Man" which was a great rocker and lyrically inspired by the movie Wolfen. We slow down the tempo but still rock with "The God That Failed" which is a great song (and was their first track done a half step down from . Next is "My Friend of Misery" which is another great rocker. We end with another rocker "The Struggle Within" which is a killer fast and heavy song with a great solo from Hammett.
Metallica's self-titled effort a/k/a The Black Album became the band's best selling album with 14 million copies sold in the US alone to date and was also the band's first studio album to hit #1 in the US where it stayed for four weeks. The album would forever immortalize the band as one of metal's greatest bands.
RECOMMENDED!
Free Music Review: Great, if different.
Hit: 5 Stars
Any one reading these reviews needs to be sure not to listen to anything said by the "Hardcore" Metallica fans who claim that this is a sell-out album. They are simply incapable of making a valid judgement on this album because they are to attached to their rebellious, hate everything on the radio mentality that when they heard a band that they liked on the radio they started to hate them.All that being said, this is a major departure from their previous work. It does feature slower speeds, though in a few tracks they kick it up to near the speed of their earlier albums. However, the decrease in speed is off-set by the extreme heaviness of this album, I don't understand how anyone could claim that an album this hard is a sell-out(Also, I own Reign In Blood and assorted other old-school thrash albums, so don't try and think I don't know what is heavy.) And though the songs are shorter, they still average over 5 minutes, and it should be noted that the big radio singles, Sad but True, Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, Where ever I may Roam and The Unforgiven average over 6 minutes in length between them. So having shorter, supposedly radio friendly songs doesn't matter, because they weren't on the radio.
So yes this is a departure, but the songwriting is still excellent, though a little more uneven than the other albums. The Unforgiven is a classic Metal Ballad at least as good as the previous ones and contains the best solo I've ever heard by any band. Sad but True, Enter Sandman and Where ever I may Roam are fantastic, pure metal songs. The God that Failed, perhaps the best song on the Album other than The Unforgiven, is lyrically the best Metallica song ever, and also contains one of Hammet's best solos ever. Also note to Megatrius(or whatever) TGTF isn't about Jesus failing when he was crucified. It's about a child dying becuase the family wouldn't allow him to have medical treatment because it is against their religious beliefs. This song comes from Hetfield's Christian Scientist upbringing and the death of his mother. I'm sure Megatrius will never read this, and most people listening to the album would know that already, but it's worth pointing out. Further proof that while attempting to a interpret a song you should listen to all of the words, not just 2 lines.
Continuing, The rest of the songs are probably weaker than the average song on Master or Justice, but they are all at least pretty good, and the previously mentioned tracks are so strong that they even it all out. It also has a nice variety overall. The individual songs aren't nearly as complex and spiraling as some older stuff, but the overall feel of each song is quite different. The weakest spot is Nothing Else Matters, as it is a metal ballad that is a bit too much ballad and not enough metal. So all things being taken into consideration this is still one of the best albums ever, and amongst my three favorite Metallica albums, the others being Master of Puppets and Reload.
Also, here's a few more things for the "Hardcore" fans to think about. I now hear The original 3 Metallica albums on the radio a lot. Are those albums now sold-out? Also, if new Metallica has so much broader of an appeal than the old, why is it that almost all of the new Metallica fans still really like the old stuff? I virtually never see negative reviews of old Metallica by new fans like myself. "Hardcore" fans don't need to like new Metallica, but don't try and claim they're sell outs.
Free Music Review: Melancholy, Defiant, Frustrated, Bitter, Explosive...
Hit: 5 Stars
This album demonstrates the darker emotions of mankind with good, devastating effect. In contrast to previous productions from Metallica, this one is mature, controlled and tightly structured. Their melancholy chords and tones produce very good artistic effect. The signature driving sound of the rhythm and lead guitars are there, but they place them in a proper musical structure instead of the previous technical displays of virtuosity like And Justice For All; this is true artwork. For the fresh ear not accustomed to the rough guitars, it might take two or three listenings to get used to it. Once one understands the music, one can fully understand the messages within with piercing effect. In most of the songs, there is brewing of powerful emotions similar to frustration; then there are the climatic explosions of this pent up energy into musical form. There is anger, frustration, bitterness, loneliness, and stubborn defiance. All these emotions brew for a while, and then explode. There is an undercurrent of religion in this album: it appears that the darker side of some faith was pierced, the illusions are gone, and the light turned to darkness. Enter Sandman is a song about nightmares. In the background, there are always rumblings of horror. There are explosions throughout the song with the effect of terror. Holier Than Thou appears to me a shout against the hypocrisy of certain people with religious pretensions. The words are very good and the rhythm drives very fast and violent. The Unforgiven will probably serve as this album's best song. It is the story of a child entering life that is subdued as a "whipping boy" and bitterly learns the rules of those around him. He never got the chance to "shine" like he was born to do; he will never see what "could have been" had he been allowed to "shine." He now looks at others who subdued him and tells them that they are "Unforgiven." Wherever I May Roam is the song of a person constantly on the go. He is a savvy fellow, tough, defiant, and fiercely independent of society or anyone else. He has a lust for the road - a lust for traveling to seemingly dark places in a dark world. Nothing Else Matters is a smooth, slow, and very melancholy song. A young man is disgusted with the world. He cannot trust anyone. Now he vows to trust in himself alone, and nothing else matters. Of Wolf And Man is a comparison of men with wolves. There is the lust for the independence of the wild, the lust for danger, the lust for roaming the earth. When listening to this one, I sometimes feel like it is an expression of the old American Indians and their love of hunting and being in the wild. That wild world is dark, though, as the song demonstrates. The God That Failed demonstrates the shattering of innocent illusions of the various "gods" everyone has. Their most poetic line is, "The healing hand held back by the deepened nail." This line sends shudders down my spine every time I hear it. Those are some of the highlights.
This is probably the best Hard Rock album ever produced. The chords are there, the dark emotions are there, and the talent is there. I am not sure these guys knew how good this album was when they produced it. It has been 11 years since its release, and it is hard to get tired of it. This album casts a magical spell on people. It touches a nerve. People cannot let go of it.