Metallica Week on Maidenfans (June 29-July 5, 2009)

[Onhell]

Ride the Lightning is by far my favorite. Since it is Metallica week, I thought I'd share this little blast from my past. I high school video I made for English class. I friend joked that it should have just been a Metallica music video lol. It's my vision of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" lol. Done with ONE camera, edited on two VCRS, later actual editing equipment (at the time I paid 80 bucks) and finally "digitally remastered" on my iMac The video is 10 years old...

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=1496751

 

[Albie]

And Albie, continuing your comparison, Fight Fire with Fire beats Battery's socks off, but I think Ride the Lightning loses to Master of Puppets.

I have to go with SMX on this one, Battery is better.

 

[Invader]

Spoiler

Well, I've seen one live and the other not, I guess that affected it.

I could say that Master of Puppets is the greatest thrash metal album ever, and that's knowing the two albums Perun mentioned.  Then again, this is so hard to say, because Rust in Peace and Reign in Blood are also amazing, maybe even more amazing.

But yeah, I agree with most things that have been said about this album.  Damage Inc, Disposable Heroes, and Battery kick arse like Perun said, and this:

DH was br00tal before anyone knew what br00tal was.

Made my day, that one.

Going on, Master of Puppets has one of the best melodies ever in any song, and an awesome riff too.  I like Sanitarium very much as a ballad, because it has this latent anger and the lyrics are also very good.  But I can't clearly say whether it is better than One or Fade to Black, as they are all breathtaking in their own way.  Leper Messiah is a nice song, not amazing, but good.  Orion is also, again, hard to compare with Call of Ktulu, though I would say it beats To Live is to Die.  But The Thing that Should Not Be is just boring, in my opinion.  I almost always skip it.*  It just seems so mediocre compared to the other songs.

*Funny that the other two "best" thrash metal albums also have one track I don't like, Dawn Patrol and Piece by Piece respectively.

 

[SinisterMinisterX]

Now it's time for the other album vs. album comparison: ...And Justice For All vs. Death Magnetic.

Because DM has one more track, I am omitting "Unforgiven III" from this comparison... that song should be compared against the other Unforgiven songs, where the original "The Unforgiven" will chuckle before relentlessly bitch-slapping the two sequels.

Album opener: "Blackened" vs. "That Was Just Your Life"
TWJYL puts up a worthy fight. It's a very good song, and Metallica's best album opener since Blackened. However, Blackened has more interesting lyrics and melodies.

2nd song: "...And Justice For All" vs. "The End Of The Line"
The big problem I had with AJFA is a lack of energy. It certainly has some ambitious songwriting, but to me it sounds like Metallica was concentrating so hard on not making mistakes that they forgot to rock. (Lars has admitted this himself, in a magazine interview last fall, though he was speaking of the albums as a whole and not specific songs.) On the other had, TEOTL is one of the best tracks on DM - great riffs and energy.

3rd song: "Eye Of The Beholder" vs. "Broken, Beat & Scarred"
Musically, BB&S has some killer riffs, and might even be better - but I can't stand those lyrics. "What don't kill ya make ya more strong" makes Mr. DICKtionary cry. EOTB has much better lyrics, and the music ain't too shabby.

Epic power ballad: "One" vs. "The Day That Never Comes"
TDTNC is an interesting song, but falls short of the standard established for the 4th song on a Metallica album. "Fade To Black", "Sanitarium", "One" ... and then this? Good try, but not nearly good enough.

5th song: "The Shortest Straw" vs. "All Nightmare Long"
I'm not a fan of either song. For me, this is a choice between bad and worse. I suppose TSS has to lose, since it's almost too crazy with the time sig changes, never establishing a groove ... and it suffers from the bad production which plagues the entire AJFA album. ANL may be too long and directionless, but it has a better groove and sound.

6th song: "Harvester Of Sorrow" vs. "Cyanide"
An easy choice: the best song on AJFA against the worst song on DM. HOS is one of Metallica's best songs, period ... while "Cyanide" almost sounds like a leftover from ReLoad.

7th song: "The Frayed Ends Of Sanity" vs. "The Judas Kiss"
Another choice between 2 songs that never impressed me much. The later song wins again, but that doesn't mean much - I usually skip both of these when playing the albums.

Instrumental: "To Live Is To Die" vs. "Suicide And Redemption"
No contest. S&R is Metallica's best instrumental, even better than "Orion". The slow middle section is genius. TLITD is just a pile of riffs that never goes anywhere.

Closer: "Dyers Eve" vs. "My Apocalypse"
I've always disliked Dyers Eve. I don't think MA is especially great, but at least it's not Dyers Eve.

Verdict: Death Magnetic is the better and more consistent album. A few songs from AJFA shine brighter than the later songs, but in general it sounds like Metallica was more energetic and inspired on DM.

 

[Invader]

Funny, though I agreed with all but two of your choices, I disagreed with almost every comparison's comment.

 

[Albie]

I wonder if a comparison will be done on Load & Reload.

Still, onto Master of Puppets. Another album that opens with a small acoustic piece and then into the brilliant Battery. Of this acoustic bit, Lars Ulrich was asked, from what I remember, why ...And Justice did not open the same way, he dismissed that question suggesting that it's old hat and everyone's doing it! - so who was everyone? Erm, Seventh Son had recently been released and Alice in  Hell was knocking about, but good old Lars was always willing to take another swipe at Maiden as it was about this time that Metallica was becoming a bigger band than Maiden and he just couldn't resist himself.

Enough of this digression. From my personal point of view, if Fade to Black was on this album and not Sanitarium, this album would be the best Metallica album. But it aint, and for that reason the album does not sit as high as it could. There is so many good solid tracks on this, like the driving Leper Messiah and The Thing That Should Not Be, the epic Disposable Heroes (I used to work in a restaurant and played this track to death - even some of the waitresses sang along to the chorus), the superb Orion (their best instrumental) and off course, the title track - with a passing nod to the very good Damage Inc. I mean how could I not rate it so high? It's just that I love the rawness of Kill 'em All, that's all.

Metallica, at this point, had released 3 excellent albums. And it did not stop there.......

 

[SinisterMinisterX]

I wonder if a comparison will be done on Load & Reload.

Not by me. Those two are really the best-of and the rest-of from one set of sessions, not two different sessions you can compare in an interesting way. Plus, they don't fit the album structure established on RTL/MOP (continued and modified on AJFA/DM).

Oops, wait... I just did compare them, didn't I?

Those two are really the best-of and the rest-of from one set of sessions

Yes, I really am so incredibly self-involved that I just quoted myself before I even finished the damn post. 

But my point stands: Load is much better than ReLoad. The latter is almost nothing but filler, while Load contains a number of great songs. "Ain't My Bitch", "Hero Of The Day" and "The Outlaw Torn" are some of my favorites. Comparing them to RTL/MOP era songs isn't fair; apples and oranges. But on their own, or even compared to Black Album[sup]1[/sup] songs, (most of) the songs from Load stand up well.


[sup]1[/sup] Lack of italics on Black Album is not a mistake. That's a nickname, not an album title. If I wanted to italicize it, I'd call it Metallica.

 

[Forostar]

Albie, it kind of looks like that when you lost sight on Maiden for many years (and thankfully you returned!) you still liked Metallica, perhaps even more than Maiden('s best period)?

 

[Invader]

Today's ...And Justice day.  Tomorrow is Black Album day and then Load/Reload/St. Anger day, and I won't be able to get online, because besides Black Album I don't want to discuss them.  But I'll be back for Death Magnetic.

It seems I like ...And Justice for All a lot more than most people.  I think it's almost as good as the first three, maybe even surpassing Kill Em All.  Some say that Metallica was running out of ideas and energy then, and I don't agree.  ...And Justice has loads of good songs, like One, the title track, Dyers Eve, Shortest Straw, and The Frayed Ends of Sanity.  I friggin' love the title track and Dyers Eve.  While the production is sub-par, I still really like listening to the album and usually don't skip anything from it (though sometimes I start without Blackened).

 

[Albie]

Albie, it kind of looks like that when you lost sight on Maiden for many years (and thankfully you returned!) you still liked Metallica, perhaps even more than Maiden('s best period)?

I never really lost sight of Maiden, I was still buying the records (and then CDs) when they came out (and playing them to death) - I just never saw them live. However, I will say that back in the late 80's/early 90's I was almost on the verge of pushing Maiden to one side in favour of becoming a bigger Metallica fan than I already was. I was going to share what I feel/thought of Metallica at the end of the week.

And I have realised that I am taking this thread a little too seriously and am genuinely listening to all their albums in chronological order to comment on them. Although I have skipped over the Garage Days EP

It was around the time of the release of ...And Justice that I got into Metallica (a bit of a late starter, I know, but there you go) and as such this was my introduction to them - and it started with "One". What an start. And what an album.

Personally, I feel that the album shows the bands maturity in song-writing and really the album has little, or no, dull moments. But I have to say, the stand out tracks on this are "Blackened", "One" and the brilliant "Dyers Eve".

A real contender for Metallica's best album. But I'm sticking with Kill 'em All.

Today's ...And Justice day.  Tomorrow is Black Album day and then Load/Reload/St. Anger day, and I won't be able to get online, because besides Black Album I don't want to discuss them.  But I'll be back for Death Magnetic.

St Anger is a much underrated album and I intend to discuss it.

 

[Invader]

St Anger is a much underrated album and I intend to discuss it.

When I saw Some Kind of Monster, I was put off it for ever.

 

[SinisterMinisterX]

Metallica question of the day:

Metallica are known for doing great cover versions, and some like "Am I Evil" or "Stone Cold Crazy" have even become setlist staples.

Question:
What song would you like to see Metallica cover?
(Obviously, this means a song they haven't covered yet, not your favorite cover.)


My first observation is that Metallica's best covers have been mostly NWOBHM songs. So thinking about the NWOBHM, I came to this conclusion:
Though the song would require some modification for James' vocals, I'd like to hear Metallica cover "White Witch" by Angel Witch.

 

[Albie]

This is a tough one and one I've not given much thought to before, but I guess I'd like to hear them do a Venom track like "1000 Days in Sodom" - with Trujillo doing his own spin on the bass solo, or perhaps "Buried Alive/Raise the Dead".

---

The 5th album, or Metallica, or the Black Album, call it what you will, was the first Metallica album I purchased on it's release date. I heard the odd track prior to its release and got quite excited about the whole album (I remember Tommy Vance asking Hetfeild what the next album was to be called. "I dunno, Metallica!" he said). I have to say, I loved it and played it again and again and again, and thought it to be the perfect album. "Enter Sandman", "Sad But True", "The God that Failed"[sup]1[/sup], "My Friend Misery" - all fantastic tracks.

However, I came to the conclusion after time that although it just some real killer tracks, it was let down with one to many duds. "Of Wolf and Man" is really not that good at all, "Through the Never" and "The Struggle Within" are below par but the rest rank from pretty good to blinding.

So all in all, it was a very good effort but was just not up to the consistency of its predecessors.


[sup]1[/sup]Best track on the album.

 

[SinisterMinisterX]

Black Album, rank the songs:
1. Sad But True
2. Wherever I May Roam
3. The Unforgiven
4. Through The Never
5. Of Wolf And Man
6. the rest

 

[Wästed The Great]

Metallica question of the day:

Metallica are known for doing great cover versions, and some like "Am I Evil" or "Stone Cold Crazy" have even become setlist staples.

Question:
What song would you like to see Metallica cover?
(Obviously, this means a song they haven't covered yet, not your favorite cover.)

There are a hundred songs that I would like to see them cover..however, Take Me Back To Paradise (.38 Special) would be kinda cool to hear them remake.

 

[Onhell]

How 'bout "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"?

 

[SinisterMinisterX]

"Of Wolf and Man" is really not that good at all, "Through the Never" and "The Struggle Within" are below par but the rest rank from pretty good to blinding.

Black Album, rank the songs:
...
4. Through The Never
5. Of Wolf And Man
...

I'm gonna guess that most people would agree with Albie, not me. Those 2 songs are hardly considered Metallica classics. So why did I rank them so high?

The first thing to remember: Familiarity breeds contempt. The more I hear a song, the less interesting it seems to me. In fact, I generally use this to define exceptional songs for me: do they still interest me after a few dozen plays?

And I've just heard the Black Album way too much. I'm really, really, really tired of "Enter Sandman" in particular. So it's natural (for me) to see the lesser-heard songs rise a bit higher as the years go on.

But I also have specific thoughts about each of those songs...

"Through The Never" is an example of a rare beast: the extremely complex and progressive song that remains short. The structure of this song is convoluted and yet compact. For that reason (in addition to riffs and lyrics that I like), this has always been a favorite for me. Yes, I do love the long epics - but these songs are such rare jewels that I gotta treasure them. (However, Rush remains the best source for short prog masterpieces.)

"Of Wolf And Man" has a much less logical reason for my liking it ... a few days after the Black Album came out, I saw a really hot stripper do a really hot dance to this song, so every time I hear it I remember that and get visions of boobies. 

 

[Albie]

Load and Reload seemed to pass me by a little and as such I can't comment too much about them, For sure, I am familiar with some of the stuff and there are quite a few tracks I really like on Load ("Hero of the Day", "Aint My Bitch", "Until it Sleeps", to name a few), but they are the only Metallica CDs I don't have and never felt the urge to get them.

St Anger, however, was an album I listened to in the hope it would re-ignite my love of this band. So when I listened to it, I thought it was OK but something was not quite right - and those tinny really drums spoiled it for me. After watching the Some Kind of Monster movie and in complete contrast to what Invader said, I actually felt the urge to revisit this album and purchased it with the bonus DVD. I ripped the audio from the DVD and made a CD out of it and what do you know, I friggin' love this album. It is a real gem and I find that if you listen to the audio from the DVD, turn it up a bit, it is really quite amazing. As for the lack of solos, well that don't bother me one bit - sometimes solos seem to be added to songs merely for the sake of having a solo and that really bugs me. I much prefer some good guitar work than a solo. It's currently taking residence in my cars CD player.

Death Magnetic is step up from St Anger and aside from the slightly above mediocre "The Day that Never Comes", it is a good solid album. "All Nightmare Long" has to be deemed as a modern Metallica classic and goes down as the albums finest moment. I seem to recall a few years back that we, on this forum, talked of Rick Rubin producing the next Metallica album and were looking forward to the result. Yes, they most certainly pushed that needle up in to the red, but the overall sound (and vibe), I feel, is bloody good.

As for my Metallica journey, well it started out so positive and something like 20 years ago they very nearly became my number one band. But by the mid 90's, I drifted away from them and felt slightly let down by their radio friendly music. Personally, I don't feel they dipped in quality as such, it just never appealed to me - and in some respects, still doesn't. St Anger was a step in the right direction and Death Magnetic reaffirmed my thoughts that this band is something special. Egos aside, Metallica are genuinely once again becoming my all time favourite artist (second only to Maiden ).

 

[____no5]

That's what Wikipedia says, I'm too lazy to dig up my CD.  I didn't know that he wrote Metal Militia, though, and I thought he wrote Whiplash...

I think it's in the credits, let alone that Mustane speaks of it since 80s

I suppose it's possible that Hetfield named it.

right !! Mustane named it Metalix

 

[SinisterMinisterX]

I still think St. Anger is a steaming pile of crap from start to finish.

1. The drum sound is the worst thing I've ever heard. Even if everything else was perfect, this alone would make the album unlistenable.

2. No guitar solos?!? What the flippin' fuck is that shit?!?!? Kirk Hammett is a great lead guitarist, and refusing to let him solo is moronic.

3. The song structures were repetitive and boring. Every song should have been half as long. The most unnecessary repeats on a metal album since Virtual XI.

4. The lyrics were terrible. People in their first year of recovery from alcoholism (like Hetfield was then) should never be allowed to write lyrics.