by jellydonut25 » Sat Nov 19, 2016 10:14 pm
The new Metallica album is AMAZING. Definitely put a smile on my face all day yesterday in what was an otherwise rough day.
I like St Anger, for what it is, but a LOT of its problems come from producer Bob Rock basically insisting that he wanted it to be like a concept album, to an extent, with the concept being: this is Metallica just jamming and not worrying about songs and structure. But they overthought trying not to overthink. They put an outright ban on guitar solos and just threw riffs together in editing. They complicated the notion of simplifying. Still, Frantic, Some Kind of Monster and The Unnamed Feeling are great songs, and St Anger and Sweet Amber are great ideas, just underdeveloped, and it's a very personal album with the band openly, lyrically struggling with the Napster case, James' rehab, and Newstead's departure. St. Anger, if nothing else, is a really important, cathartic album.
Death Magnetic is VERY good, borderline great. Ultimately, it lacks a little focus and is again maybe too much of a "concept" album, with Rick Rubin telling them to intentionally try to re-create And Justice for All. But I don't think there's a BAD song on it, and tracks like That was Just Your Life, All Nightmare Long and My Apocalypse are spectacular.Death Magnetic is Metallica just trying to be Metallica.
Hardwired to Self-Destruct is Metallica creating NEW music, not focusing on a concept and just making the best songs. I mean, a song that's CLEARLY Lovecraftian like Dream No More butting up against a futuristic apocalypse of machines in Spit Out the Bone, butting up against a strange twisted love song in Now That We're Dead butting up against a tribute to Lemmy in Murder One. This is the band completely unburdened, forging a new path and doing things I've never quite exactly heard from Metallica (parts of Atlas Rise sound VERY Iron Maiden) all while still being irrefutably METALLICA. It's awesome.
Standouts so far are Dream No More
Spit Out the Bone
Atlas Rise
But I've only given it a listen and a half