JudasMyGuide
The resident reactionary recalcitrant
Eh, disagree with the comparison - on the contrary, I see more and more people actually coming to terms with the prequels and especially Menace (I see Attack of the Clones getting the brunt of the hate, nowadays, if anything, for the awkward romance, the weird plot and the worse side of Christensen), which is more or less logical after the absolutely abominable sequel trilogy. I see nowadays people appreciating Neeson's Qui Gon, Duel of the Fates (the music and the lightsabre fight which is the best in the series, IMHO) and Maul and even the podraces much more. Except for Jar-Jar - and even there people say he was overhated - I think most people have made peace with TPM. At least from my experience. I'm not a huge Star Wars fans by any means, but there's quite a lot of people among my closest brethren who are and even among them, the prequels are far from contentious, nowadays. Menace is usually seen as this mostly inoffensive, mostly cute okay space opera romp, possibly superfluous, but acceptable.
That's not the sentiment St. Anger invites and kindles in people, because if it's definitely not one thing, it's inoffensive. Sure, there are some people who tend to praise it, as "deliberately unsophisticated" and such, but the fandom is much more niche and contrarian in essence, methinks.
I'd recommend watching Todd's Trainwreckords video on that one - especially if you haven't seen or - like me - don't remember at all Some Kind of Monster and all that Metallica shenanigans from back then.
But what about the album itself?
Well, I find it overhated, which is why I really didn't want to put it last (though I still had to, in the end). Once you get used to the sound - especially the drums - I don't find St. Anger all that bad. Unlike some other "deliberately abrasive" albums (like Metal Machine Music) it's actually music and often quite listenable, because the Hetfield choruses are still present (for every "FRANTIC-TIC-TICK-TOCK" you get the idiosyncratically Tullicesque "Keep searchiiiiiin'") and for all of Todd's insistence that nothing really sounded like it, even back then... well, yeah, it kinda did. Dunno, maybe I'm spoiled with too many intentionally hard-for-ears albums, but between Meshuggah and Slipknot and most of second-wave black metal, I don't really find anything that hard to swallow here in general. Apart from the empty barrels.
There should have been some trimming, though. I actually kinda like the first three songs, for example, but Dirty Window is just terrible (PROJECTOR! PROTECTOR! DEFLECTOR! ... .... Ayyyyyy Ayyyyyy) and should have been scratched as a whole ... and Invisible Kid might have that weirdly enticing atmosphere at times that kinda sounds like... a cross between Deftones and Mike Oldfield? ... but also must have the stupidest set of lyrics Hetfield has ever put on paper and it nears nine minutes again!
Also, despite all my good will and effort when you get through almost the whole album and then Purify comes on, you just kinda want to throw the album - if not the fucking band - out of the window.
Beyond that, I even like Sweet Amber and That Unnamed Feeling ... and would even probably like All Within My Hands, if it was a tad shorter at least.
In short - it's not that bad. I've heard worse. Some parts and moments are worth it, IMHO.
Is it the worst album ever? Heck, it's probably not even the worst album I've heard this week.
And I repeat this - say what you will, but despite the album being a mess (and despite the band being a mess) being the biggest metal band of all time (which they still probably are now and definitely were back then, like it or not) and releasing something so wantonly abrasive takes courage. And whatever the result, fact that they take risks like this (including Lulu, but that's for another day) certainly makes me respect them more, not less. And seeing them more as artists than sell-outs.
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