Metallica: St Anger
"Lookout motherf*ckers, cause here I come"
Hey I picked up the new Metallica It's pretty wild. I'm 34 and I remember drawing the Metallica logo on my notebooks in high school. God, I'm old. Considering I had the original No Life Til Leather demo, and have sort of "grown up" with Metallica, I feel like they did the right thing this time. I expected to throw the CD right into the trash, but I love it. This one is a keeper.
The overall "product":
Here's the deal: It's only $9.99 at Best Buy. Cheap, right? But it includes a full-length DVD and a 74 minute CD. It's almost like the CD is second-place to the DVD. Interesting concept. They could have sold the CD for almost $20.00 and sold the DVD for $30.00. I am very suprised on the price. It's like they REALLY want you to buy this thing! The DVD has all the songs from the CD in MULTIPLE audio formats, but it includes a TON of rehersal stuff on video. It's kinda cool. It was a series of practices recorded over a few days basically, complete with mess-ups and guitar changes
The 2 discs come in a tri-fold cardboard case and includes the obligatory big slick booklet with liner notes, lyrics and pretty cool artwork. Pushead is back too (cover art). The best illustrations are inside the case, done by Matt Mahurin, and they are really cool. Some of the photos are a tad cheesy, but not too bad. Besides the video data on the DVD, the CD ALSO has multimedia video data, too(!). Even an OS X-native Director media player is included. The video data contained on the CD is actually a trailer for a Metallica video game I think. Huh? No doubt-Elektra spent millions on this thing. It's definitly worth $9.99. Some will say it's too muddy, and Lars has a weird hollow sound, but I like it. It's kinda sloppy and messy, but at the same time it was thought out and planned very well. It aint Kill Em All part 2, but then again, it's not 1983. Maybe it's a tad too "grunge" and not enough metal, but I like the combination. At least Metallica SUPRISED me for once!
The CD:
The CD is LONG. It has 11 tracks. What a value. But wait, there's more...
The DVD:
The DVD makes me laugh. These guys have the biggest "rock star" jam room in the world. It bums me out. What do I expect though, right? The equipment makes me drool. It's insane. They have a wall of cables behind Rob that must have cost thounds of dollars. They have every combination of amp, cabinit, speaker and effect on earth, and most of it is custom-made (or vintage), including those sexy ESP necks. Heck, they even stencil their grill covers with the 'M'. The video is a little too "MTV", but not bad. It's fun to watch. The guys are even wearing old-school band shirts again like MC5, etc. Lars is kinda dorky, so I can't watch him play too much. Robert also has a little to much "stage presence" too. He's good though, just a little to Korn-ish.
The music, engineering, songs and arrangements:
The songs remind me the 1980's Metallica in many ways, mainly in speed and complexity, sans the solos (what? No solos?). Lots of FAST stuff. Like the last 5 CDs, it's still "over-produced" In that I mean they wrote, arranged, recorded and mixed in one studio for 13 months. Ain't that insane? Thats a little too 'engineered' in my opinion, but hey, they have the money, right? I haven't bought a Metallica CD since Reload and the 2nd Garage day CD. But I like this one a lot. It really is METAL. Finally. Even though Bob (the cock) Rock produced it, I really feel like Metallica did the dirty work and TRIED HARD. It paid off.
Frantic is very cool. Fast as hell. Choppy. Has a Slayer and a Soundgarden feel. Warm guitars. Chunkin' E string love. Punk rock vocals.
St Anger is riffy, rockin' and tight. A sonic wall. Kinda reminds me of Slayer again. Faster than almost another Metallica song. Lots of changes. Has a rap-like bridge. Lyrics give a tribute to "Hit the Lights' and "Damage, Inc." This song is pretty complex and I bet it was hard to arrange. This took time to write. James talks, screams, yells, raps and sings. Ain't that perrty?
Some Kind of Monster is a fuzzy, rockin' song. Nice chunky main riff. Noisy stuff from Kirk. Has a retro feel. I like it. Sounds like you are in a smokey club with them. Fast parts have some intense double-bass drum action. I like this one. It's complicated. Slow, fast, heavy, groovin'. This one will be KILLER live. Marilyn Manson vocal parts. Spooky!
Dirty Window is fast and straight ahead. Crunchy parts with upbeat tempos. Reminds me of COC.
Invisible Kid is a little weak in its main verse, but then again it has some cool gothic vocal stylings that are insane! Sounds like some 80's English bands like Sisters of Mercy. Really original stuff. One of the most original Metallica songs ever. The chorus is haunting and at the same time it has a poppy melody. Its cool.
My world is riffy, ala Master of Puppets. It has a tribal feel. Lots of backup vocals. Cool.
Shoot Me Again is a staccato blast of chords and E string choppin?. This reminds me a lot of stuff. Its got some of the ?bad? vocal stuff I hate from James. A little too pretty sometimes, but not weak. It has a rap feel to the chorus, only its 200 mph, which is interesting. Overall I like it, but I need to listen to it more. It kind of reminds me of Faith No More, which I like. This is pretty original for Metallica. It will surprise you.
Sweet Amber has a down-south intro twang which gets heavy pretty fast. This reminds me of Kill Em All, a little but with 90?s grunge bendy-notes (ala Zak Wylde). James has a cool vocal piece here. Kirk?s guitar is very original in certain sections. This song is punchy, but it has a sloppy feel. I hear COC in this one too. This song ends in a noisy blast of thick metal.
The Unnamed Feeling starts out like recent Metal, but again it has a twangy, live feel. I can actually hear Rob?s (Bob?s) bass. This number has some Zak Wylde freak squeals and a heavy rock vocal line that is typical of the current metal genre. The song has a bridge that kicks a little emo, but I find it a little trite. I do think James vocals have never been better, but he still has weak moments when he tries too hard, and it comes off ?over-produced?. This song has some really heavy parts, but it feels like stuff from recent Metallica albums, which I didnt like. Certain parts have a lot of cool tension, but it doesn?t quite work for me.
Purity is fast and rockin?. Riffs galore. Tight stops. You can hear Lars snare echo. James is pissed. This song feels rushed. It feels like they spent 11 months making 4 extra parts fit together. It actually works, but I bet it better live than recorded. This is close to filler.
All Within My Hands is the last song. It is fast and has a lot of snare pounding. Freaky slow parts with lots of echo and depth. James actually sings on this and it is pretty interesting. Some will hate this song. I like it. Its almost like they could play it on MTVs Unplugged. On the other hand it has a couple parts that are 100 mph, and still other parts that are heavy as hell. Fairly complex parts here. It has this crazy mellow part that feels like Xanex kicked in. Kind of haunting and intricate at times, but also very simple and punk.
The fast parts are actually more like old Kreator than old Metallica. Yes, I swear. Kreator. Really mid-toned fat guitar. The over all guitar tone is kind of a warm fuzzy retro rock sounding, with hints of Zakk Wyld, COC, Trouble, etc. I even hear a little of old Soundgarden too. The songs are really dynamic, and long (too long?), with a LOT of parts and changes. I think it's better than 90% of the stuff Metallica ever did. I mean EVER. That's not saying much, I know. There are even a couple slower chunka-chunka parts that have a mesmerizing trance-like feel like Godflesh. The mellow parts kind of remind me of a garage band version of the Mission UK and even Neil Young, in my opinion. I dig it. Its really hard to explain. I hope this makes sense.
James:
James' vocals are pretty cool, but he still "sings" sometimes, which may or may not be a good thing to some. But I actually like it. Some of the vocals remind me of Marilyn Manson (!) and he even has a slight lonesome Johnny Cash twang which he has been 'developing' (via vocal coaches and old age). James even has a smarty-pants (I call the 'drunken intellectual') cynical lyric style that reminds me of a certain Tom Waits. Hes always been rude and intense, but now he seems to be turning into a wise old sage.
Lars:
Lars drumming is pretty cool I guess. I hated his playing after Master of Puppets, and his recorded sound was always weak, simplistic and tinny. I have never heard him play so fast until now. His double-bass action is like Dave Lombardo of Slayer (on certain parts). He has a pretty original sound now too. I can't explain it. It has a weird hollow sound on Anger, but it is interesting to listen to. Very tribal and it has a 'junk yard' feel to it.
Bob/Rob:
I was hoping Robert's (Sucidal) bass would rock, but he didn't join metallica in time to record, so all the bass was played by Bob Rock. I can't wait to hear him on the next studio CD.
Kirk:
Kirk has NO (zero) cheesy metal solos. 'Nuff said. Thanks Kirk. LOL. Actually, his best solos were on Kill Em All, which were written by Dave Mustain, anyway. Kirk does some really cool subtle things on Anger. I am impressed on how much depth there is. And I don't mean 400 tracks of the same thing, I mean lots of layers and interesting, smart sounds that add a cool ambience. His playing is original for once! I just realized from the DVD that all the baratone backup vocal stuff is Kirk. I didn't realize he had such a deep voice. Granted, some of the melodic stuff from Master and Ride are missing and I wish there was a little of that in Anger (it would be icing on the cake), I think Kirk makes up for it in other ways
Hey I picked up the new Metallica It's pretty wild. I'm 34 and I remember drawing the Metallica logo on my notebooks in high school. God, I'm old. Considering I had the original No Life Til Leather demo, and have sort of "grown up" with Metallica, I feel like they did the right thing this time. I expected to throw the CD right into the trash, but I love it. This one is a keeper.
The overall "product":
Here's the deal: It's only $9.99 at Best Buy. Cheap, right? But it includes a full-length DVD and a 74 minute CD. It's almost like the CD is second-place to the DVD. Interesting concept. They could have sold the CD for almost $20.00 and sold the DVD for $30.00. I am very suprised on the price. It's like they REALLY want you to buy this thing! The DVD has all the songs from the CD in MULTIPLE audio formats, but it includes a TON of rehersal stuff on video. It's kinda cool. It was a series of practices recorded over a few days basically, complete with mess-ups and guitar changes
The 2 discs come in a tri-fold cardboard case and includes the obligatory big slick booklet with liner notes, lyrics and pretty cool artwork. Pushead is back too (cover art). The best illustrations are inside the case, done by Matt Mahurin, and they are really cool. Some of the photos are a tad cheesy, but not too bad. Besides the video data on the DVD, the CD ALSO has multimedia video data, too(!). Even an OS X-native Director media player is included. The video data contained on the CD is actually a trailer for a Metallica video game I think. Huh? No doubt-Elektra spent millions on this thing. It's definitly worth $9.99. Some will say it's too muddy, and Lars has a weird hollow sound, but I like it. It's kinda sloppy and messy, but at the same time it was thought out and planned very well. It aint Kill Em All part 2, but then again, it's not 1983. Maybe it's a tad too "grunge" and not enough metal, but I like the combination. At least Metallica SUPRISED me for once!
The CD:
The CD is LONG. It has 11 tracks. What a value. But wait, there's more...
The DVD:
The DVD makes me laugh. These guys have the biggest "rock star" jam room in the world. It bums me out. What do I expect though, right? The equipment makes me drool. It's insane. They have a wall of cables behind Rob that must have cost thounds of dollars. They have every combination of amp, cabinit, speaker and effect on earth, and most of it is custom-made (or vintage), including those sexy ESP necks. Heck, they even stencil their grill covers with the 'M'. The video is a little too "MTV", but not bad. It's fun to watch. The guys are even wearing old-school band shirts again like MC5, etc. Lars is kinda dorky, so I can't watch him play too much. Robert also has a little to much "stage presence" too. He's good though, just a little to Korn-ish.
The music, engineering, songs and arrangements:
The songs remind me the 1980's Metallica in many ways, mainly in speed and complexity, sans the solos (what? No solos?). Lots of FAST stuff. Like the last 5 CDs, it's still "over-produced" In that I mean they wrote, arranged, recorded and mixed in one studio for 13 months. Ain't that insane? Thats a little too 'engineered' in my opinion, but hey, they have the money, right? I haven't bought a Metallica CD since Reload and the 2nd Garage day CD. But I like this one a lot. It really is METAL. Finally. Even though Bob (the cock) Rock produced it, I really feel like Metallica did the dirty work and TRIED HARD. It paid off.
Frantic is very cool. Fast as hell. Choppy. Has a Slayer and a Soundgarden feel. Warm guitars. Chunkin' E string love. Punk rock vocals.
St Anger is riffy, rockin' and tight. A sonic wall. Kinda reminds me of Slayer again. Faster than almost another Metallica song. Lots of changes. Has a rap-like bridge. Lyrics give a tribute to "Hit the Lights' and "Damage, Inc." This song is pretty complex and I bet it was hard to arrange. This took time to write. James talks, screams, yells, raps and sings. Ain't that perrty?
Some Kind of Monster is a fuzzy, rockin' song. Nice chunky main riff. Noisy stuff from Kirk. Has a retro feel. I like it. Sounds like you are in a smokey club with them. Fast parts have some intense double-bass drum action. I like this one. It's complicated. Slow, fast, heavy, groovin'. This one will be KILLER live. Marilyn Manson vocal parts. Spooky!
Dirty Window is fast and straight ahead. Crunchy parts with upbeat tempos. Reminds me of COC.
Invisible Kid is a little weak in its main verse, but then again it has some cool gothic vocal stylings that are insane! Sounds like some 80's English bands like Sisters of Mercy. Really original stuff. One of the most original Metallica songs ever. The chorus is haunting and at the same time it has a poppy melody. Its cool.
My world is riffy, ala Master of Puppets. It has a tribal feel. Lots of backup vocals. Cool.
Shoot Me Again is a staccato blast of chords and E string choppin?. This reminds me a lot of stuff. Its got some of the ?bad? vocal stuff I hate from James. A little too pretty sometimes, but not weak. It has a rap feel to the chorus, only its 200 mph, which is interesting. Overall I like it, but I need to listen to it more. It kind of reminds me of Faith No More, which I like. This is pretty original for Metallica. It will surprise you.
Sweet Amber has a down-south intro twang which gets heavy pretty fast. This reminds me of Kill Em All, a little but with 90?s grunge bendy-notes (ala Zak Wylde). James has a cool vocal piece here. Kirk?s guitar is very original in certain sections. This song is punchy, but it has a sloppy feel. I hear COC in this one too. This song ends in a noisy blast of thick metal.
The Unnamed Feeling starts out like recent Metal, but again it has a twangy, live feel. I can actually hear Rob?s (Bob?s) bass. This number has some Zak Wylde freak squeals and a heavy rock vocal line that is typical of the current metal genre. The song has a bridge that kicks a little emo, but I find it a little trite. I do think James vocals have never been better, but he still has weak moments when he tries too hard, and it comes off ?over-produced?. This song has some really heavy parts, but it feels like stuff from recent Metallica albums, which I didnt like. Certain parts have a lot of cool tension, but it doesn?t quite work for me.
Purity is fast and rockin?. Riffs galore. Tight stops. You can hear Lars snare echo. James is pissed. This song feels rushed. It feels like they spent 11 months making 4 extra parts fit together. It actually works, but I bet it better live than recorded. This is close to filler.
All Within My Hands is the last song. It is fast and has a lot of snare pounding. Freaky slow parts with lots of echo and depth. James actually sings on this and it is pretty interesting. Some will hate this song. I like it. Its almost like they could play it on MTVs Unplugged. On the other hand it has a couple parts that are 100 mph, and still other parts that are heavy as hell. Fairly complex parts here. It has this crazy mellow part that feels like Xanex kicked in. Kind of haunting and intricate at times, but also very simple and punk.
The fast parts are actually more like old Kreator than old Metallica. Yes, I swear. Kreator. Really mid-toned fat guitar. The over all guitar tone is kind of a warm fuzzy retro rock sounding, with hints of Zakk Wyld, COC, Trouble, etc. I even hear a little of old Soundgarden too. The songs are really dynamic, and long (too long?), with a LOT of parts and changes. I think it's better than 90% of the stuff Metallica ever did. I mean EVER. That's not saying much, I know. There are even a couple slower chunka-chunka parts that have a mesmerizing trance-like feel like Godflesh. The mellow parts kind of remind me of a garage band version of the Mission UK and even Neil Young, in my opinion. I dig it. Its really hard to explain. I hope this makes sense.
James:
James' vocals are pretty cool, but he still "sings" sometimes, which may or may not be a good thing to some. But I actually like it. Some of the vocals remind me of Marilyn Manson (!) and he even has a slight lonesome Johnny Cash twang which he has been 'developing' (via vocal coaches and old age). James even has a smarty-pants (I call the 'drunken intellectual') cynical lyric style that reminds me of a certain Tom Waits. Hes always been rude and intense, but now he seems to be turning into a wise old sage.
Lars:
Lars drumming is pretty cool I guess. I hated his playing after Master of Puppets, and his recorded sound was always weak, simplistic and tinny. I have never heard him play so fast until now. His double-bass action is like Dave Lombardo of Slayer (on certain parts). He has a pretty original sound now too. I can't explain it. It has a weird hollow sound on Anger, but it is interesting to listen to. Very tribal and it has a 'junk yard' feel to it.
Bob/Rob:
I was hoping Robert's (Sucidal) bass would rock, but he didn't join metallica in time to record, so all the bass was played by Bob Rock. I can't wait to hear him on the next studio CD.
Kirk:
Kirk has NO (zero) cheesy metal solos. 'Nuff said. Thanks Kirk. LOL. Actually, his best solos were on Kill Em All, which were written by Dave Mustain, anyway. Kirk does some really cool subtle things on Anger. I am impressed on how much depth there is. And I don't mean 400 tracks of the same thing, I mean lots of layers and interesting, smart sounds that add a cool ambience. His playing is original for once! I just realized from the DVD that all the baratone backup vocal stuff is Kirk. I didn't realize he had such a deep voice. Granted, some of the melodic stuff from Master and Ride are missing and I wish there was a little of that in Anger (it would be icing on the cake), I think Kirk makes up for it in other ways
Comments
The CD/DVD combo sounds insane for $9.99!
Originally posted by Wagnerite
please insert the usual metallica isn't what it used to be rant here
Well this time around it seems like they are excatly what they used to be...