Metallica's Reviews
Metallica (Average Rating: 8.54 out of 10)
Metallica goes mainstream (Rated this album with 8 out of 10)
Reviewed by
Useful Idiot
from Victoria
Coming off of what was arguably their masterpiece, in ...And Justice For All, Metallica decided to make a more mainstream oriented album. Their self-titled fifth studio album, also known as The Black Album, is just that. This point is emphasized by the fact that five singles were released for the album. Still, the album is a very good one, although quite different from the band's first four, as it is less of a metal album, and more of a hard rock one. It was also the beginning of the end for Metallica in the eyes of many, as the band turned to much softer pop metal after this album. However, all surrounding the album aside, it's a very good album, with some classic Metallica songs. These include "Enter Sandman", the band's most famous song, which despite suffering from being overplayed, is a great energetic song with great guitar riffs, "The Unforgiven", Metallica's best ballad, which would unfortunately be crapped on six years later when Metallica released the terrible "Unforgiven II" on their album Reload. Still, "The Unforgiven" is a great display of James Hetfield's less thrashy, more emotional vocal style that had previously only really been seen on the Ride The Lightning ballad "Fade To Black". Then there's "Of Wolf And Man", which sounds as much like a song from the earlier days as any on TBA and "My Friend Of Misery", which has beautiful guitar riffs, just as much as it does great vocals. Of course, the album has its cons as well. "Holier Than Thou", "Don't Tread On Me", "The God That Failed" and "The Struggle Within" are all, to say the least, forgettable. "Sad But True" is better known for having it's riff used in Kid Rock's big hit American Badass than it is for itself, which is unfortunate, since it's a good song, and in true Kid Rock fashion, American Badass is not. "Wherever I May Roam" and "Nothing Else Matters" are the album's other two songs, both of which were released as singles, and both are good but not great songs. "Wherever I May Roam" being an energetic, guitar driven rocker, and "Nothing Else Matters" being a beautiful acoustic ballad, which, despite being a nice song, is not on the same level as the masterpiece that is "The Unforgiven". Dismissing The Black Album as pop just because it was Metallica's most commercially successful album is a very stupid thing to do. The album was the only good thing Metallica did in the 90's, and is the band's most accessible album that is worth listening to. It's a great place to start if you're interested in getting into Metallica, and although not their best, a solid album that's worth picking up.
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