Metallica's Reviews
Metallica (Average Rating: 8.54 out of 10)
Quite a letdown... (Rated this album with 8 out of 10)
Reviewed by
David M. Elliott
from Lovely Nebraska
I'll try to refrain from my years-old rant about Metallica's re-invention (I'd hardly call it evolution) and how this is only a hint of the contrived future attempt at using their "cool" status as a record-sales tool (see Load). I swear, I'll try.This album was hard on me. I was so amazingly jazzed and high on what Metallica had been doing since I started listening to them 4 years earlier, and was waiting eagerly at the record store on August 12, 1991. I grabbed my cassette copy of the black album, ran to my car and cranked it up. And I loved it. That was the first several listens. After a while, I realized, with horror, that this was the first time the words "Metallica song" and "boring" showed up in the same sentence. Not all of the songs, mind you. I love "The Unforgiven," "My Friend of Misery," "Wherever I May Roam" "Holier Than Thou," and "The God That Failed." I think they're good songs that still carried a bit of the Metallica intensity and attitude. But the rest of the album is, frankly, a little uninspiring. I hear songs like "The Struggle Within," and "Through the Never," and "Don't Tread On Me" (which sounded so phony and jingoistic, especially after the scathing, screw-authority theme of ...And Justice for All) and it just sounds like filler to me. They could have dropped those songs and put out a much less diluted album. That being said, the musicianship is still there...it is Metallica, after all. They didn't attempt to shove a dozen tempo shifts in each song, and there are no epic instrumentals, but Kirk had some nice solos. They all but abandoned the double kick drum here, with Lars' drumming indistinguishable from what most rock drummers were doing. Hetfield's vocals were a little scary at first, after growing used to him barking, but they grew on me and were nice enough. Overall, it's just a watered down version of the Metallica that set out for world domination in the 80s. Nothing that's gonna change the world, but a decent collection of songs that will always leave fans of the early stuff reaching for Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning. And, hey, I guess they can't be blamed for wanting to sell a few (more) records, right?
Buy this album on Amazon at $13.99
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