Metallica

This is a respons to tobias post about the new album.

Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California. Founded when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper, Metallica’s original line-up consisted of Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, lead guitarist Dave Mustaine, and bassist Ron McGovney. These last two were later replaced from the band, in favor of Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton, respectively. In September 1986, Metallica’s tour bus skidded out of control and flipped, which resulted in Burton being crushed under the bus and killed. Jason Newsted replaced him less than two months later. Newsted left the band in 2001 and was replaced by Robert Trujillo in 2003.

Metallica’s early releases included fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship that placed them as one of the “Big Four” of the thrash metal subgenre alongside Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. The band earned a growing fan base in the underground music community and critical acclaim with the 1986 release Master of Puppets some calling it one of the most influential and “heavy” thrash metal albums. The band achieved substantial commercial success with its self-titled 1991 album, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. With this release the band expanded its musical direction resulting in an album that appealed to a more mainstream audience.

In 2000, Metallica was among several artists who filed a lawsuit against Napster for sharing the band’s copyright-protected material for free without the band members’ consent. A settlement was reached, and Napster became a pay-to-use service. Despite reaching number one on the Billboard 200, the release of St. Anger alienated some fans with the exclusion of guitar solos, and the “steel-sounding” snare drum. A film titled Some Kind of Monster documented the recording process of St. Anger.

Metallica has released nine studio albums, two live albums, two EPs, twenty-two music videos and forty-three singles. The band has become one of the most commercially successful and influential heavy metal acts. With 90 million records sold worldwide, including 57 million in the United States, the band has won seven Grammy Awards, and has had five albums peak at number one on the Billboard 200 which is a record they set in 2008. .^[1] The band’s 1991 album, Metallica, has sold over 15 million copies, which makes it the 25th highest selling album in the United States.^[2]

^{It’s from wikipedia}

Review: Metallica – Death Magnetic

Death Magnetic

This release is one of the most intensely discussed albums right now, both among various people I know and on the net. The mixed opinions seem to vary from utter disgust (often from older and ex-fans) to satisfied acknowledgement (often from newer, post-Master of Puppets fans). Having heard the entire album a few days ago, I can see that these arguments are not going to end anytime soon. I’m not particularly engaged in the argument regarding Metallica’s development over the last 12 years or so, So I’m just going to stick to reviewing the album instead of throwing in yet another opinion about the band.

Death Magnetic is the ninth studio release by the bay area metallers. As someone (I can’t remember who) commented, it sounds like the album that should have followed the Black Album back in 1991, and it would seem like Metallica may have been trying to recapture that era of their musical career somewhat.

Death Magnetic opens with “That was just your life”, which is definitely one of the best tracks on the album, strong riffs and energetic vocals reminding me of some of their earliest work. This solid opener is not, unfortunately, reflected very much in the rest of the album. The next few songs, “The End of the Line” and “Broken, Beaten and Scarred” are just plain boring, which is particularly due to the uninteresting drums and vocals (doesn’t Hetfield ever get tired of yelling ”-eah!!” in every line?). The single “The Day blah blah blah” follows this pattern aswell, and it is not until the fast and catchy ”All Nightmare Long” that anything really worth listening to is found on Death Magnetic. The rest of the album is fairly linear, the best of it cool and fast paced, the worst dull and uninventive.

To me, this album is driven completely by the guitarwork. There are some killer riffs and solos on here, but they fail to really take the album all that far. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad album, but it isn’t really good either. Metallica obviously tried hard, but can’t quite reach above mediocrity as a metal group. Damn, I just said my opinion about them as a band. Ah well. 

Songs Picks: That was Just your Life – All Nightmare Long – Suicide & Redemption

4/10 Lacking

AC/DC on their way

The news are out. A new album from AC/DC is on its way, along with a world tour that should cover 18 months according to my sources. This is a short notice of something awesome, now ive got to get back to doing nothing.