Metallica's Reviews

S & M

Good title, bad album

Metallica, please stay away from neoclassical metal. You're only trying to overdo yourselves more than you need to. Lately, Metallica has been releasing a sledge of junk: First there was ReLoad, which aside from the first four songs is boring in my opinion and for the most part can hardly be heralded as metal; this I will go into in due course; Garage, Inc. showcased the band's mediocre ability to do covers, which to me suffered because a) I'm typically not crazy about covers, and b) all but two of them were mediocre to horrible; and St. Anger sounds like a failed attempt to introduce Meshuggah's sound to the American mainstream under the cover of Metallica trying to "return to their roots." Well, I will say that, as great of musicians as they are, Metallica never did have much character, but lately, they've been using the talent that they definitely have in all the wrong ways. A live album, trying to enter the realm of a subgenre of metal that Metallica, sadly, knows nothing about, was really a bad idea.

Let's start with vocals. There are two types of metal fans in general: those who couldn't care less about vocals (and there's nothing wrong with that point of view; heck, with that type of outlook, you might just enjoy this album!), and those who feel that vocal skill is just as important as instrumental talent. Without the production and sound doctoring, Hetfield sounds bad, almost as bad as he did later on St. Anger. Okay, so you don't care about vocals. The basic fact of the matter is that Metallica is not a neoclassical band, and a symphony orchestra does not work well with their music as it would with, say, Symphony X or Blind Guardian. You really can't blame them for experimentation, but could it just be that Metallica thinks they can get away with anything they want? Apparently, according to sales figures, they can, but I think they're doing longtime fans a big disservice by changing their style so frequently. Now, since this was a live album and a one-time thing, it's easier to excuse than the foray into country/California rock on ReLoad or the sloppiness of St. Anger, but the overall whine of myself and many others is that Metallica is losing their identity and selling out. But make of it what you will; see for yourself.

Buy this album on Amazon at $22.99