METALLICA SURVIVOR 2016: Results - Fade to Black wins again

Are you satisfied with the results?

  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .
Ariana said:
I think that Enter Sandman is one of the most overrated songs ever. Most people would consider it top tier Metallica, whereas it's not even among the good ones on the black album.
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I feel the same about NEM. Sandman's just a victim of over-exposure, I've never, ever liked NEM.
 
On the other hand, Sandman is the only song on TBA that I actively like. I will listen again and see if anything else sticks out to me this time.
 
Ariana said:
I think that Enter Sandman is one of the most overrated songs ever. Most people would consider it top tier Metallica, whereas it's not even among the good ones on the black album.
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I think it's a good song, but I agree that it's not one of the best track on the album.
 
The overplayed songs on Black album have definitely decreased in value for me over the years, mostly Sandman and NEM, but even Wherever I May Roam. I still love Sad But True and Unforgiven, though.

Will have to give this a thorough listen before I vote.
 
TBA has only a few worthy songs on it like Sad But True, The Unforgiven, Wherever I May Roam, and Nothing Else Matters. Heck the only reason I ever got into Sad But True was because of this video.
Go Hawks!
 
This album contains two songs: The mid tempo generic rock song and the mid tempo generic ballad.
The only time I listen to post-AJFA Metallica is when we do these survivors and I always try to approach these albums with an open mind. I don't listen to music with the intention of disliking it. I don't care about whether or not Metallica sold out (I don't think they did) and I wasn't around in 1991 so I don't have any attachment to the band. When I heard The Black Album for the first time, it was just another album by a band that I liked. I wish I could hear why people like this album so much, but I really can't get into it. The songs are plodding and despite a conscious effort to scale them down many of them overstay their welcome just as badly (if not worse) than songs on AJFA. It's like the band took away all of their positive musical qualities and turned into a generic hard rock band. The music is over polished, everything feels one note/one tempo, the energy and the edge is gone. It's so monotonous.
I don't care what the style of music is, but I strongly believe that Metallica isn't good at it.

Voting for all Black Album songs except for:

Enter Sandman - This song is awesome. It has the energy that made Metallica great but it's clearly more accessible and concise. It also has an awesome Kirk solo. Another possibly unpopular opinion is that I don't think Kirk was ever a good lead guitarist. He was at least adequate in the early days, but I could only think of a handful of solos that impressed me. Enter Sandman is one of them. If the whole album was as inspired as this song, it would've been better.

Sad But True - I don't love this song but I like the aggression displayed and it has an infectious chorus.

Through the Never - The fast tempo of this tune is like a breath of fresh air. But it's also a good song on its own.

Nothing Else Matters - Way too glossy and overproduced, but there's a good song in there.

My Friend Of Misery - This song breaks things up a bit by being centered around the bass, which I really like. It has a lot of really great guitar/bass interplay and the melodies are good. I love the space-y bridge followed by what sounds like some backmasked guitar work. This is probably the closest song to feeling like classic Metallica. It's a different style, but the sense of creativity is there. It overstays its welcome by about a minute, but I can forgive that for being one of the more interesting songs on the album.

The Struggle Within - Nice semi-thrash song. The half time chorus with the shouting is great.
 
The last 5 and Don't Tread on Me (though the West Side Story shout-out is funny, I admit). I'm sorry, I just don't like the Black Album in general. Give me Load and ReLoad any time of day. (expecting the Wrath Shitstorm soon :D )
 
Mosh said:
I wish I could hear why people like this album so much, but I really can't get into it.
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The things I like the most about the Black Album:

- Lyric/music combinations. Lyrics fit the music like a glove on this album, lyrics themselves have a groove to them. This is mainly the reason why I enjoy Wherever I May Roam, Through the Never, Of Wolf and Man and The God That Failed so much. In case my point doesn't get across, some examples from each of those tracks:
  • "Rover wanderer, nomad vagabond, call me what you will" from Roam
  • The entirety of Never except for the "On through the never" part,
  • "Off through the new day's mist I run", "Pulsing with the earth, company we keep, roaming the land while you sleep" & "Back to the meaning...Back to the meaning of...Life!" from Wolf
  • "Deceit, deceive, decide just what you believe" & the chorus from God That Failed
- Not unrelated to the first reason, the punchiness the production brings to key points. This is especially true with the drum sound. The way the instruments just hit you back after the "Life!" on Wolf for example. There are a lot of up and down moments on the album, which creates a very catchy feel.
 
Well that is the problem with the album for me. I agree that the lyrics are good and the drum sound is great. But those positives don't even come close to outweighing the negatives. The songs aren't there.
 
Agree with Mosh here. The album's just way too monotonous. Not that it's bad, it'd probably get a 6/10 or 7/10 from me, but compared with the first four or (Re)Load, it just doesn't thrill me as much. Also, the track order is crazy, IMHO - you get these weird, experimental even (My Friend of Misery, anyone?) tracks all in the end and all the "hit" tracks in the beginning. And it's a bit too slow/mid-tempo for me to really enjoy. That's fine, but with a bigger stylistic variety, just like with (Re)Load. Anyway, I really like Sad But True, The Unforgiven, Wherever I May Roam, Through the Never... And though it's ridiculously overplayed and I can't stand it anymore, I admit that Nothing Else Matters was a freakin' bullseye. I don't know about other countries, but here in Czechia it was nearly a hymn of one whole generation.
 
Mosh said:
Well that is the problem with the album for me. I agree that the lyrics are good and the drum sound is great. But those positives don't even come close to outweighing the negatives. The songs aren't there.
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I didn't praise the lyrics there. I praised the connection and the catchiness they have combined with the music. If the music wasn't so rhythmically pleasing and catchy, that combo wouldn't work. Songs to me are there, and that's the leading reason.
 
Just listened to The Black Album again and let it soak in for the first time in many years.

Verdict: It's a great album. Not as great as the previous three albums, but great nonetheless. The difference here is that every song is good. It is easily more consistent than Justice or Puppets (based on # of tracks) and probably more consistent than RTL. Sure, it's more hard rock than thrash, but it works so well and the songwriting is at an absolute peak.

There are complaints to be had about Bob Rock, but let's not overlook what he achieved here:
- James' best vocals by far. James learned how to sing here while still retaining his previous bite and depth. It's no small feat. His vocal confidence and performance is off the charts.
- Lars' best drum sound.
- Some really interesting playing from Kirk, including some of his most melodic solos ever.
- 12 songs that are powerhouses all the way through, even Nothing Else Matters.

I am only voting for two songs, Holier Than Thou and The Struggle Within, as they are the only songs on The Black Album that I would rank lower than 8/10.
 
The Black album hits have such great melodies that the stand with the best classic songs.
The album tracks are too basic to compete with what's left and a lot that hve gone.

* Sandman is aggressive, heavy and catchy as hell without ever pandering for a instant. Great riff and deserved to be the hit it was.
* More sludgy than aggressive, and not as good a song, but otherwise all the above applies to Sad But True
* Unforgiven has that great Gothic, doomy atmosphere — it's epic without being long and the lyrics are perfect. Can I be a heretic and say Lars' choice of snare beats here are perfect and absolutely essential to the song?
* Nothing Else Matters has never been overplayed in my world — gorgeously sad and probably top 10.

Through the Never and Of Wolf and Man are OK, but I would have voted for them too if I got more than six votes. Voting against the rest
 
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