Metallica's Reviews
Metallica (Average Rating: 8.54 out of 10)
Very different. So what? (Rated this album with 10 out of 10)
Reviewed by
Ilya Malafeyev
from Russia
Like many of you out there, I was immencely shocked after my 1st listen of this, at that time, latest Metallica album. They were thrash metal icons before that, but decided to change a lot of aspects of their music. Was that all for bad? Let's try to analyse.
First of all, the music became lighter, no longer no-compromise-thrash like it used to be. I think, it doesn't necessarily mean "bad music", isn't it?
Gone are the long 6-8 minute complex songs. All the tracks on the black album are about 4 minutes long. Very radio-friendly, I'd say. And I find that the band, heading for public accessibility, lost some of its progressive touches. I preferred Metallica's complexity.
Riffing style has changed, too. The riffing is more rhythmical now, staccato. It's not bad, it's an entirely another style of writing a heavy metal song.
Vocals improved, no doubt.All in all, while the commercial orientation of this self-titled effort is evident, the record is one of Metallica's strongest. Maybe because they managed to keep their songwriting sharp and mostly "to the point", while staying heavy. I won't do a song-by-song analysis here. Only mention that "Nothing Else Matters" will forever be in the Top-3 of my personal Lamest Ballads Ever list. If only they made it 1 minute long and never repeated the same 4 lines till you're sick of them... On the other hand, the ballad "Unforgiven" is very strong. This, and my personal favorite, "Wherever I May Roam" borrow a lot from another band's classic track - "Sanitarium (Welcome Home)". Among other strong songs I'd name "God That Failed", and "My Friend of Misery". The other songs are more generic, though not bad either. "Enter Sandman" has gotten way too much worldwide airplay to ever be played in my house again, but it's also a good one. To sum this up, if your soul won't protest to the statement that commercial metal can actually be a good thing, then you'll like this album. But for those of you, fans of "true meaner metal music", I'd advise to finish your Metallica collection with "...And Justice for All".
Buy this album on Amazon at $13.99
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