Ungoliantschilde

“Frantic”, live 2021.

“Here’s a song from your favorite album, lol”

St. Anger, 2003

Oof. OK, some background first. When Metallica was touring for the Black Album, James apparently went on an extended hunting trip in like Alaska or somewhere similarly cold and isolated. He said they basically spent a long time drinking in a snowed-in cabin and then hunting.

If you’ve never taken the time to read the lyrics that James has written over the years, the basics are that he had a fairly rough and traumatic upbringing. His Dad was not around very often, and his parents divorced in 1976, when he was 13. His Mom was a strict Christian Scientist who did not believe in medical care. She died when James was 16. James subsequently went to live with his older half brother. Dude had some shit happen to him, and music was his outlet. Kill ‘Em All came out when James was like 20-21 years old. And then Cliff died 3 years later.

24-25 year old kids in the spotlight of heavy metal, touring the globe and drinking a lot. Jason Newsted, Cliff’s replacement, sort of took on the role of the little brother that James could bully. It’s not… great. By about 2001, Jason had started to want to branch out, and he had a side project called “Echobrain” that he wanted to pursue while being in Metallica as well. James and Lars said nope, so Jason left. Good for him for picking his own musical growth over staying in what was essentially a very toxic environment for him, albeit with a lot of money.

James subsequently went into rehab for numerous drug addictions. He has a problem with alcohol in particular, and it was bad enough that James needed to get clean.

The band’s deal with record company, Elektra, was also coming to a close. Lars had also been arguing with the press about Napster and file sharing. In retrospect, Lars had some good points and it ultimately lead to a new era for the music industry.

Lots of shit going on in the background, lots of battles, and lots of internal strife.

So, now we get to the music on this record. It sucks. Critics have softened on it over the years. Before writing this, I tried to listen to the album again, and I just can’t do it.

The lyrical themes are drowned out by a bunch of songs that all kind of sound the same and seem to go on forever. Lars’ drumming is all pops and steel drums and then there are no choruses or guitar solos. They had no bassist so producer Bob Rock filled in on some of the tracks, and then they mixed the bass out of the songs in the production phase anyways.

My honest review is that it is hard to sit and listen to this album. It’s just not an enjoyable record.

In retrospect, I think this is the record that the band NEEDED to make, and it helped them as a group. It also lead to them finding Robert Trujillo, who is a natural fit as their bass player. They NEEDED to make it. I do NOT need to listen to it.

Lastly, I am only gonna pick only one track, and that’s because it sounds better live than I would have thought. They play “Frantic” live from time to time, usually with James asking the crowd if they want to hear anything from St. Anger, and the crowd uniformly roars back “NO!”. James laughs, and then plays “Frantic”, and it’s pretty good live.

I wish that St. Anger was Metallica’s worst album. It’s their second worst.

Really? Since St Anger is one of the two good albums Metallica made since... 1986 (the other one is the recent 2015 Hatdwired to Self-Destruct. So would be interested to hear your take what is their worst.

As someone who legimately hates guitar solos, in every 100 rock/metal songs with a guitar Solo it is outright useless at minimum 99 times, this was and still is one of the few Metallica records I listen.

Well, thanks man. I genuinely appreciate the rebuttal opinions on this stuff.

St. Anger is described online as having “Mixed to Positive” reviews. It’s got a 65% on allmusic.com

I made my feelings on it pretty clear, so it’s cool to hear from someone who genuinely likes this record.

As for Metallica’s worst record, I’ll get to Lulu in a bit.

I skipped S&M by mistake, so that’ll be next.

megadeth vs metallica

Having listened to both, Megadeth and Metallica are two completely different bands. And, to me, the whole ‘Megadeth Vs. Metallica’ thing is irrelevant. They are both really good bands, and there is no reason to pick one over the other.

Metallica has had more mainstream success, and that is partially because the unforeseen tragedy of Cliff Burton’s death lead them to Jason Newstead, a Bassist that pushed them towards a more blues-influenced hard rock sound. It is also partially because Metallica worked with Bob Rock in the ‘90s, and he helped James Hetfield to hone his abilities as a singer and as a songwriter. I say partially because Metallica definitely found their own way, but there were different elements influencing their growth as a band.

Metallica’s debut album, ‘Kill ‘Em All’ sounds a lot like a Megadeth album. It is a Heavy Metal Album with a lot of Punk/Thrash influence. By ‘Heavy Metal’ I mean being similar in construction and tone to Black Sabbath: atmospheric and explorative musicianship, with a drudging beat and lyrics about the darker side of things. And by ‘Punk/Thrash’, I mean that it is defiantly fast and arhythmic, but still hooky and rifftacular. Metallica used ‘Kill ‘Em All’ as a starting point, and they kept exploring from there.

Megadeth seems to have stayed in the Punk/Thrash aspect of their music, and then perfected their sound on the way. Mustaine is a freaking genius on the guitar, and his lyrics reflect his intellect as well. Dave Mustaine also has a FANTASTIC band around him, with the drumming -in particular- being clearly better than anyone else in comparison (I am talking about YOU, Lars Ulrich).

Mustaine has stayed the course of the pissed-off youth in revolt, and it has shaped his music. Metallica mellowed a little, but they can still wail. I do not know if one band is better than the other, but I do know that they both rock.

Umm, Jason Newsted definitely didn’t push Metallica towards a more blues rock sound. If anything Newsted was the one member of Metallica with his ear pointed towards the metal underground. Newsted was a huge fan of bands like Fear Factory, Sepultura, Machine Head and Voivod in the 90’s. At the risk of seeming self serving I offer my own explanation for the Black album http://mundensbar.tumblr.com/post/117328498192/inventingthesteel-inventing-the-steel-pg-5

First of all, do not be shy about sharing pages like that.

Secondly, Newstead is definitely a fan of groove metal bands, but his music is more blues-based than anything. At least in my opinion. Load and ReLoad are the two albums I most closely associate with Newstead’s influence on the band. Still metal, but more mellowed and atmospheric. Like Metallica gave Black Sabbath’s song, 'Paranoid’, a rest and chose to listen to Sabbath’s 'Planet Caravan’ or 'Sabbra Cadabra’ instead for a while. It is good music, and it is more atmospheric than thrashing. After Newstead left, he formed a band called 'Echobrain’ which seemed to be an extension of his forays into blues-based drudge and groove metal. I agree with you that Newstead found his inspiration in Sepultura, Fear Factory, Voivod, and Machine Head. I think he took the groove of those bands as his biggest influence, and it helped Metallica become superstars in the 1990s.

Well, my first exposure to Metallica was that One video that scared the shit out if me, so I totally thought the Black album was a sellout. I only saw the virtues of it later. But at 15 Rust In Piece was my album. I thought it was more catchy, yet more technical than Metallica’s stuff. It was only when my friend taped Master Of Puppets for me that I started being a fan of Metallica. Also that panel with the kids talking about Metallica selling out? Totally me and my high school buddies. Hell I even drew my high school in the background.

Both good bands…. Lars Ulrich is a dick among men and there are significantly better drummers IMO. Best example is Mike Mangini… he is a drum god! Have you ever watched his tutorials? Seen him play? Oh my fuck! He gives animal a new meaning. I personally havent played in 20 years and never learned enough as a kid to jump back into it but if ever I did, I would relearn from someone who plays after his style….

You know what is extra sad….James Hetfield can actually drum. On machinehead ’s Instagram Robb Fylnn tells a story about Hetfield jamming one of mh’s songs on drums.

It gets better. Hetfield occasionally likes to give Lars a break, and take over on the drums during live shows. Seriously. Google it.

Lars Ulrich, for all of his bluster and ego, is not a good drummer. A drummer, by definition, is the motor for a band. The power plant. The driving rhythm section. Lars does not power Metallica’s rhythms, and he never has. Lars follows the rhythms that James Hetfield powers, and just copies them. Seriously.

Listen to any of the instrumentals from Metallica’s albums. Any of them. James, Kirk, Cliff, Jason, and Rob each contribute solos to their instrumental jam sessions. But Lars never does drum solos. Even at live shows: no drum solos.

The one Metallica album that can be definitively called a Lars Ulrich-led album is 'St. Anger’. James Hetfield wrote the lyrics, but the entire album was arranged by Ulrich and Bob Rock. James Hetfield was going through alcoholism rehab, and the rhythm sections got left to Lars and their stand-in bassist, producer Bob Rock.

The result is an album that is flat-out difficult to sit through. There are no bridges, choruses, or solos on the entire album. The most prominent instrumentation on St. Anger is the drumming, and it sucks. Hard.

'Lulu’ is probably at least partially on Lars’ head too.

the entire concept of the album SCREAMS 'Do not publish this album, it is purely a vanity project for Lou Reed and Lars Ulrich’.

'Lulu’ was a horrible album that killed the momentum Metallica regained with 'Death Magnetic’.

for as shitty of a drummer as Lars is, he needs to shut his mouth a lot more than he does.

Poor Lars Ulrich. The sad thing about St. Anger is that some of those songs could have been awesome. There is a live version of Dirty Window with a killer solo. On one hand I feel sorry for Lars, on the other I know he is laughing all the way to the bank while he plans on which piece of art to buy next. It’s odd that on the 80’s no one called him a bad drummer. But after that Playboy interview in 2000 where Hetfield said something to the effect that Ulrich wasn’t a great drummer it’s been open season on him.

I personally think that he is a pretty shitty drummer, and I arrived at that conclusion without having read the interview. I guess it would be more fair to say that Lars is an uninspired drummer. He is a basic, double-bass drummer from the '80s. There is nothing innovative or interesting about his drumming. It is serviceable in that it works for the purposes of their music. St. Anger is when he tried to be creative, and it was -IMHO- a disaster. I have heard the live version you are talking about (from the 30th anniversary concerts at the Fillmore, right?). The St. Anger tracks do sound better played live, but they are still b-side tracks at best. The whole album can be seen as a soundtrack for the process of them finding Robert Trujillo.

That guy fits perfectly with Metallica.

Look up 'Orion' from the credits scene of 'Through the Never'. Rob can friggin' wail on the bass. And, he does not play like he is trying to be Cliff Burton. He plays like him, and it works.

I like his super-distorted take on the chromatic intro to 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' too.

And, lastly, in Lars Ulrich's defense: Lars has always been more of a writing partner for James than anything. They compliment each other very, very well. Lars supports the songs that James creates and he does a good job of it. I don't want to knock him for his contributions to the band in terms of songwriting is the point. His musicianship is -again, IMHO- somewhat lacking. But Lars has definitely contributed a LOT to Metallica.

megadeth vs metallica

Having listened to both, Megadeth and Metallica are two completely different bands. And, to me, the whole ‘Megadeth Vs. Metallica’ thing is irrelevant. They are both really good bands, and there is no reason to pick one over the other.

Metallica has had more mainstream success, and that is partially because the unforeseen tragedy of Cliff Burton’s death lead them to Jason Newstead, a Bassist that pushed them towards a more blues-influenced hard rock sound. It is also partially because Metallica worked with Bob Rock in the ‘90s, and he helped James Hetfield to hone his abilities as a singer and as a songwriter. I say partially because Metallica definitely found their own way, but there were different elements influencing their growth as a band.

Metallica’s debut album, ‘Kill ‘Em All’ sounds a lot like a Megadeth album. It is a Heavy Metal Album with a lot of Punk/Thrash influence. By ‘Heavy Metal’ I mean being similar in construction and tone to Black Sabbath: atmospheric and explorative musicianship, with a drudging beat and lyrics about the darker side of things. And by ‘Punk/Thrash’, I mean that it is defiantly fast and arhythmic, but still hooky and rifftacular. Metallica used 'Kill 'Em All’ as a starting point, and they kept exploring from there.

Megadeth seems to have stayed in the Punk/Thrash aspect of their music, and then perfected their sound on the way. Mustaine is a freaking genius on the guitar, and his lyrics reflect his intellect as well. Dave Mustaine also has a FANTASTIC band around him, with the drumming -in particular- being clearly better than anyone else in comparison (I am talking about YOU, Lars Ulrich).

Mustaine has stayed the course of the pissed-off youth in revolt, and it has shaped his music. Metallica mellowed a little, but they can still wail. I do not know if one band is better than the other, but I do know that they both rock.

Umm, Jason Newsted definitely didn’t push Metallica towards a more blues rock sound. If anything Newsted was the one member of Metallica with his ear pointed towards the metal underground. Newsted was a huge fan of bands like Fear Factory, Sepultura, Machine Head and Voivod in the 90’s. At the risk of seeming self serving I offer my own explanation for the Black album http://mundensbar.tumblr.com/post/117328498192/inventingthesteel-inventing-the-steel-pg-5

First of all, do not be shy about sharing pages like that.

Secondly, Newstead is definitely a fan of groove metal bands, but his music is more blues-based than anything. At least in my opinion. Load and ReLoad are the two albums I most closely associate with Newstead’s influence on the band. Still metal, but more mellowed and atmospheric. Like Metallica gave Black Sabbath’s song, 'Paranoid’, a rest and chose to listen to Sabbath’s 'Planet Caravan’ or 'Sabbra Cadabra’ instead for a while. It is good music, and it is more atmospheric than thrashing. After Newstead left, he formed a band called 'Echobrain’ which seemed to be an extension of his forays into blues-based drudge and groove metal. I agree with you that Newstead found his inspiration in Sepultura, Fear Factory, Voivod, and Machine Head. I think he took the groove of those bands as his biggest influence, and it helped Metallica become superstars in the 1990s.

Well, my first exposure to Metallica was that One video that scared the shit out if me, so I totally thought the Black album was a sellout. I only saw the virtues of it later. But at 15 Rust In Piece was my album. I thought it was more catchy, yet more technical than Metallica’s stuff. It was only when my friend taped Master Of Puppets for me that I started being a fan of Metallica. Also that panel with the kids talking about Metallica selling out? Totally me and my high school buddies. Hell I even drew my high school in the background.

Both good bands…. Lars Ulrich is a dick among men and there are significantly better drummers IMO. Best example is Mike Mangini… he is a drum god! Have you ever watched his tutorials? Seen him play? Oh my fuck! He gives animal a new meaning. I personally havent played in 20 years and never learned enough as a kid to jump back into it but if ever I did, I would relearn from someone who plays after his style….

You know what is extra sad….James Hetfield can actually drum. On machinehead ’s Instagram Robb Fylnn tells a story about Hetfield jamming one of mh’s songs on drums.

It gets better. Hetfield occasionally likes to give Lars a break, and take over on the drums during live shows. Seriously. Google it.

Lars Ulrich, for all of his bluster and ego, is not a good drummer. A drummer, by definition, is the motor for a band. The power plant. The driving rhythm section. Lars does not power Metallica's rhythms, and he never has. Lars follows the rhythms that James Hetfield powers, and just copies them. Seriously.

Listen to any of the instrumentals from Metallica's albums. Any of them. James, Kirk, Cliff, Jason, and Rob each contribute solos to their instrumental jam sessions. But Lars never does drum solos. Even at live shows: no drum solos.

The one Metallica album that can be definitively called a Lars Ulrich-led album is 'St. Anger'. James Hetfield wrote the lyrics, but the entire album was arranged by Ulrich and Bob Rock. James Hetfield was going through alcoholism rehab, and the rhythm sections got left to Lars and their stand-in bassist, producer Bob Rock.

The result is an album that is flat-out difficult to sit through. There are no bridges, choruses, or solos on the entire album. The most prominent instrumentation on St. Anger is the drumming, and it sucks. Hard.

'Lulu' is probably at least partially on Lars' head too.

the entire concept of the album SCREAMS 'Do not publish this album, it is purely a vanity project for Lou Reed and Lars Ulrich'.

'Lulu' was a horrible album that killed the momentum Metallica regained with 'Death Magnetic'.

for as shitty of a drummer as Lars is, he needs to shut his mouth a lot more than he does.

Metallica ~ My Studio Discography Review

-Kill ‘Em All (1983): First album, and the most speed/thrash/punk of their albums. Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) was infamously their first lead guitarist, and quite a few of the riffs are his. Most notably is “Four Horsemen”, which Mustaine wrote the music for. Consequently, he later released a song called “the Mechanix” on HIS band’s debut album. Short version of Mustaine leaving Metallica is that he was an absolute asshole when he was drunk. And, for a band nicknamed “Alcohollica”, they all agreed that Mustaine drank too much. Stand out songs are, “Anaesthesia (Pulling Teeth)”, “the Four Horsemen”, and “Seek & Destroy”. I know what the singles were, but “Whiplash” and ”Jump in the Fire” aren’t the ones they still regularly play live! ;).

-Ride the Lightning (1984): They hit their stride on this one. “Kill ‘Em All” was all about speed and a little melody. Ride the Lightning was the beginning of their explorations of longer form songs with more complicated song structures and better singing. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is the easy standout of the album, for a number of reasons. That opening chromatic riff is a bass guitar, for starters. That exact riff that opens the song is the reason James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich convinced Cliff Burton to join their band. “Fade to Black” was quite derisive upon release. Most fans were angry about Metallica going soft (because of the acoustic intro). Well, it is now a staple at live shows, and everybody busts out the lighters. “Creeping Death” is another favorite for live shows.

-Master of Puppets (1986): This album changed my life. Literally. I spent pretty much all of High School listening to this album. It is almost universally agreed upon as the best Metal Album of all time. It’s the first Metal Album to go platinum. It sold 4.5 Million copies BEFORE 1991. Think about that. Another thing: they only had one single from the album. The title track was released as a single only in France. The reason being is that if you listen to the album, you will quickly notice that it should be played together. Also, this is the last album of Cliff Burton’s lifetime. The standout track -if I had to pick one- is “Orion”. It is an instrumental song, and it showcases the best rock musicians alive at the time just jamming for more than 8 minutes. Cliff died in a bus crash just 7 months after it was released while they were on tour.

-… And Justice for All (1988): Most of the songs on this album were actually written with Cliff Burton. It took them 2 years to release it because, amongst other reasons, they were auditioning bassists. Cliff was a BIG set of boots to fill, and a young fan of the band named Jason Newsted got his heart’s desire. This album has the most technically complicated song structures of their albums, and it also features the stand out, fan favorite “One”, which was also the band’s first Music Video. It was based on a movie from the ’50s called “Johnny Get Your Gun”, and it’s not hard to figure out the meaning of the song if you listen to it. The title track is great, but it’s also almost 10 minutes long, and rarely in its entirety since. The song “One” was the Grammy Award Winner for best Metal Performance in 1990. It was the band’s first.

-Metallica (1991): The band realized that the songs from '...And Justice for All' were very, very long. So did their record labels. Enter the record-direction of producer Bob Rock. James took singing lessons, the songs were shortened, and the result is an album that your GrandMa has heard at least part of. For example, Mariano Rivera (Yankees Pitcher) has the entrance music of “Enter Sandman” when he heads to the mound, because that’s when the Yankees tell the other teams to say their prayers. I don’t need to list the stand out songs, because the whole fucking album is overplayed by now.

-Load (1996) & ReLoad (1997): I’m putting them together because it was supposed to be a double album, but they split it up for sales. The result of their efforts with Bob Rock and his influence is a kind of groovier, bluesier metal. It’s hard to pick out one song from either of them, but I’ll go with “Until it Sleeps”, “King Nothing”, “Hero of the Day”, and “Outlaw Torn”. All of those are from the first part - Load. Listening to both albums now… I’d advise listening to both of them all the way through. It’s very commercial, but pretty solid the whole way through. The individual songs are kinda of “Meh” in my book, but it’s not bad played all together.

-St. Anger (2003): I can’t listen to this album. I’ve tried… like 3 times. It took them six years to release the album because of a variety of stupid crap that went on behind the scenes, including Lars Ulrich going after Napster (because Lars is and always was a douche) and Jason Newsted quitting the band because everybody resented him for not being Cliff Burton. James Hetfield went through Alcoholism Rehab, and Bob Rock was actually the bassist for the album. The result of their efforts is a piece of shit album. For one thing, Lars’ drumming is annoyingly noticeable. For another, there are no solos on it. So, the Rolling Stone-Ranked #11 Greatest Guitarist EVER -Kirk Hammett- does almost nothing. And the result of Lars dominating, and Kirk being absent is that every song kind of stutter starts and stops, with no easy flow. Also, the lyrics are all about James Hetfield’s journey through rehab. Huzzah. To be fair to Lars, his contributions to the band have always been about song writing. It’s him and James that write most the songs. Lars is just not the best drummer around. He’s just not. He’s pretty good, but he never grew past the punk/thrash double bass drum phase. And, St. Anger kinda proves it. This was Metallica’s last album with Elektra records, and the last one produced by Bob Rock. In retrospect, none of the band members hold grudges -including Newsted and Mustaine- and they’re all very thankful to Bob Rock. (He helped make them very, very rich.) And, in case you didn’t guess, there are no songs worth listening to. Most bands are entitled to at least a couple SHIT records. This is the first from Metallica. Unfortunately, it’s not the last.

-Death Magnetic (2008): This the first album to feature new bassist Robert Trujillo. The album can be viewed as almost an apology for St. Anger, from the Band to their fans. This is an ’80s thrash metal album made by guys with 20 years of experience since they defined the genre in the ’80s. It’s their most creative and hard-hitting release since 1991’s “Metallica”. Stand out tracks are “All Nightmare Long”, “Cyanide”, and their first instrumental song in years “Suicide & Redemption”.

-Lulu (2011): I’ll quote directly from a quote on wikipedia:

Essayist and pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman, in his review of the album for the website http://www.grantland.com, wrote, “If the Red Hot Chili Peppers acoustically covered the 12 worst Primus songs for Starbucks, it would still be (slightly) better than this.”

Rebloged for that perfect wiki quote at the end.

Metallica ~ My Studio Discography Review

-Kill ‘Em All (1983): First album, and the most speed/thrash/punk of their albums. Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) was infamously their first lead guitarist, and quite a few of the riffs are his. Most notably is “Four Horsemen”, which Mustaine wrote the music for. Consequently, he later released a song called “the Mechanix” on HIS band’s debut album. Short version of Mustaine leaving Metallica is that he was an absolute asshole when he was drunk. And, for a band nicknamed “Alcohollica”, they all agreed that Mustaine drank too much. Stand out songs are, “Anaesthesia (Pulling Teeth)”, “the Four Horsemen”, and “Seek & Destroy”. I know what the singles were, but “Whiplash” and ”Jump in the Fire” aren’t the ones they still regularly play live! ;).

-Ride the Lightning (1984): They hit their stride on this one. “Kill ‘Em All” was all about speed and a little melody. Ride the Lightning was the beginning of their explorations of longer form songs with more complicated song structures and better singing. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is the easy standout of the album, for a number of reasons. That opening chromatic riff is a bass guitar, for starters. That exact riff that opens the song is the reason James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich convinced Cliff Burton to join their band. “Fade to Black” was quite derisive upon release. Most fans were angry about Metallica going soft (because of the acoustic intro). Well, it is now a staple at live shows, and everybody busts out the lighters. “Creeping Death” is another favorite for live shows.

-Master of Puppets (1986): This album changed my life. Literally. I spent pretty much all of High School listening to this album. It is almost universally agreed upon as the best Metal Album of all time. It’s the first Metal Album to go platinum. It sold 4.5 Million copies BEFORE 1991. Think about that. Another thing: they only had one single from the album. The title track was released as a single only in France. The reason being is that if you listen to the album, you will quickly notice that it should be played together. Also, this is the last album of Cliff Burton’s lifetime. The standout track -if I had to pick one- is “Orion”. It is an instrumental song, and it showcases the best rock musicians alive at the time just jamming for more than 8 minutes. Cliff died in a bus crash just 7 months after it was released while they were on tour.

-… And Justice for All (1988): Most of the songs on this album were actually written with Cliff Burton. It took them 2 years to release it because, amongst other reasons, they were auditioning bassists. Cliff was a BIG set of boots to fill, and a young fan of the band named Jason Newsted got his heart’s desire. This album has the most technically complicated song structures of their albums, and it also features the stand out, fan favorite “One”, which was also the band’s first Music Video. It was based on a movie from the ’50s called “Johnny Get Your Gun”, and it’s not hard to figure out the meaning of the song if you listen to it. The title track is great, but it’s also almost 10 minutes long, and rarely in its entirety since. The song “One” was the Grammy Award Winner for best Metal Performance in 1990. It was the band’s first.

-Metallica (1991): The band realized that the songs from …And Justice for All were very, very long. So did their record labels. Enter the record-direction of producer Bob Rock. James took singing lessons, the songs were shortened, and the result is an album that your GrandMa has heard at least part of. For example, Mariano Rivera (Yankees Pitcher) has the entrance music of “Enter Sandman” when he heads to the mound, because that’s when the Yankees tell the other teams to say their prayers. I don’t need to list the stand out songs, because the whole fucking album is overplayed by now.

-Load (1996) & ReLoad (1997): I’m putting them together because it was supposed to be a double album, but they split it up for sales. The result of their efforts with Bob Rock and his influence is a kind of groovier, bluesier metal. It’s hard to pick out one song from either of them, but I’ll go with “Until it Sleeps”, “King Nothing”, “Hero of the Day”, and “Outlaw Torn”. All of those are from the first part - Load. Listening to both albums now… I’d advise listening to both of them all the way through. It’s very commercial, but pretty solid the whole way through. The individual songs are kinda of “Meh” in my book, but it’s not bad played all together.

-St. Anger (2003): I can’t listen to this album. I’ve tried… like 3 times. It took them six years to release the album because of a variety of stupid crap that went on behind the scenes, including Lars Ulrich going after Napster (because Lars is and always was a douche) and Jason Newsted quitting the band because everybody resented him for not being Cliff Burton. James Hetfield went through Alcoholism Rehab, and Bob Rock was actually the bassist for the album. The result of their efforts is a piece of shit album. For one thing, Lars’ drumming is annoyingly noticeable. For another, there are no solos on it. So, the Rolling Stone-Ranked #11 Greatest Guitarist EVER -Kirk Hammett- does almost nothing. And the result of Lars dominating, and Kirk being absent is that every song kind of stutter starts and stops, with no easy flow. Also, the lyrics are all about James Hetfield’s journey through rehab. Huzzah. To be fair to Lars, his contributions to the band have always been about song writing. It’s him and James that write most the songs. Lars is just not the best drummer around. He’s just not. He’s pretty good, but he never grew past the punk/thrash double bass drum phase. And, St. Anger kinda proves it. This was Metallica’s last album with Elektra records, and the last one produced by Bob Rock. In retrospect, none of the band members hold grudges -including Newsted and Mustaine- and they’re all very thankful to Bob Rock. (He helped make them very, very rich.) And, in case you didn’t guess, there are no songs worth listening to. Most bands are entitled to at least a couple SHIT records. This is the first from Metallica. Unfortunately, it’s not the last.

-Death Magnetic (2008): This the first album to feature new bassist Robert Trujillo. The album can be viewed as almost an apology for St. Anger, from the Band to their fans. This is an ’80s thrash metal album made by guys with 20 years of experience since they defined the genre in the ’80s. It’s their most creative and hard-hitting release since 1991’s “Metallica”. Stand out tracks are “All Nightmare Long”, “Cyanide”, and their first instrumental song in years “Suicide & Redemption”.

-Lulu (2011): I’ll quote directly from a quote on wikipedia:

Essayist and pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman, in his review of the album for the website http://www.grantland.com, wrote, “If the Red Hot Chili Peppers acoustically covered the 12 worst Primus songs for Starbucks, it would still be (slightly) better than this.”