Bottom Of The Barrel

What is Metallica's Mission?

According to reports, Metallica -- in a show of good faith -- invited some music bloggers into the studio to let them listen to six tracks off the band's new album. After listening, the critics wrote up reviews based on what they heard which did not violate any non-disclosure agreements since there weren't any [nor were any specific directions given to them regarding what they could and could not write about]. After the reviews were posted, the bloggers received word from the band's management instructing them to remove the reviews from the site or face legal action because Metallica's management claimed that the songs were rough mixes and had no place in reviews that assumed they were finished products. This is an odd statement since they invited people to listen to these songs who a. review music for a living and use a medium for instant gratification. My guess is the management were simply displeased with the reviews, thus did not want the rest of the cd consuming world to read these kind of early reviews.

In a show of solidarity with my fellow bloggers, I am going to give a quick review of each of Metallica's 8 studio albums, all fully available to anyone who wishes to buy a copy:

1983: Kill 'Em All - I find this album to be unpolished trash rock, where several songs actaully have the same beat and very similar riff's. Honestly not a single redeeming rack on the album.

1984: Ride the Lightning - Most of their second effort follow's the debut formula - washed out and echoed vocals over driving beat with a simple and poor guitar riff. The exceptions are the tracks For Whom The Bell Tolls and Fade To Black, which are good and the only ones worth listening to.

1986: Master of Puppets - With the 3rd album, you can start to hear how the band is beginning to understand production value in music. Although the music is better than the first two albums, no single track is worth buying.

1988: ...And Justice for All - Although this recond contains my favorite song, One, I again find mane of the songs to sound very similar. On a positive note, the title track is also a good listen.

1991: Metallica - Also known as the black album, here is the bands biggest selling record to date [22 million copies worldwide] and hight of their popularity. The album spurned 5 hit singles: Enter Sandman, Sad but True, The Unforgiven, Wherever I May Roam, and Nothing Else Matters. If you were going to buy just one Metallica album, this is the one.

1996: Load - Trying to follow in the same style of the wildly popular 4th album, the band produced a very long record [14 tracks running almost 79 minutes]. Unfortunately they one created a fw good songs like Until It Sleeps, King Nothing, and Hero Of The Day.

1997: ReLoad - Originally planned as a double release with Load, the group's 7th album didn't give us anything remarkibly new but did provide another 3 good tracks in Fuel, The Memory Remains, and The Unforgiven II.

2003: St. Anger - On their 8th album, the band infused some newer sounds like ping snare beats with their old school punk riffs to produce a really angry sounded record. I'll pass on all 11 angry tracks.

With each track available on Amazon for $0.99, I would be out a total of $14.85 for my very own 15 track Best Of album. Might be a better choice then there new album due in September, which doesn't seem like it will be ready for prime time [or maybe any good either].

Labels: Music

posted by TheWino @ 10:49 AM