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For Metallica fans ... re: new record! (1 Viewer)

Aurel Savin

Supporting Actor
Joined
Nov 15, 1998
Messages
839
Close-up's Martin Carlsson leaves an exclusive report from the studio north of San Francisco where Metallica's working on their new album "St. Anger".

I swear on the bible, on my mother's grave or whatever - the following text is nothing less than the complete truth. This statement needs to be made, quite simply because you're probably not going to believe me. I almost wonder if I've
really listened to the new Metallica album "St Anger" myself, or if somebody has been playing a trick on me and played me some new, exciting aggro-band. You see, "St. Anger" is a chock, one of music history's greatest! It is as if "Load"
and "Reload" has been deleted from the map, as if the Black Album never existed, as if the Metallica we've come to know never really existed. The five songs (all of which are as of yet untitled but the title-track) I've heard exhibits a
sound so EXTREME and raw that all you can do is sit there chocked with your jaw on the floor.

I'm not joking.

Twenty journalists are gathered in the control-room of the studio north of San Francisco. We get comfortable. The air is vibrating with excitement, and then?
BAM!! The first song (working title: Frantic) kicks in with hypnotic, almost industrial Slayer-riffs. What the fuck is going on? "You live it or lie it", chants James Hetfield and goes on with "my lifestyle determines my death style". It is
ultra-tight metalcore like it has never been performed before. Lars ulrich's fat drum-sound is replaced with an oilrig-similar snare that's usually reminiscent of robotic industry-metal. "Do I have the strength?", a wondering Hetfield screams
in the middle of the chaos. It is a maddening Blitzkriegstrategy with attack-waves of battering riffs, attacking from every angle for five minutes and
54 seconds.

I'm not joking.

The war as just begun, and I really mean THE WAR, because this music would be the perfect soundtrack to the media coverage of the war on Iraq. The title-track blazes away with a ultra-fast bulldozermosh that leaves Max Cavalera
far behind. We are talking monster-metallized punk from another planet; a twisted and overdosed Dischange just released from rehab! We are talking beyond sound-speed, especially regarding the drum-work. The double-bass
pounds away mercilessly and Lars Ulrich's use of the snare are almost -get this!- blast-beats!! It's going to be interesting seeing him trying to repeat this live - if the dane is usually soaked from sweat and carried to the lodge after
traditional concerts, then he's going to need an oxygen-mask and hospital personnel to wake him back to life after this. Following this amazing intro comes
a softer part where Hetfield sings "St. Anger around my neck, he never gets respect." This ten second long part, recurring a couple of times in the seven minute and 24 second long song, is the only part that could be classified as soft. The Producer Bob Rock (also on bass) assures me that this is the calmest,
most stripped-down part on the whole album. WOW! A riff similar to "Creeping Death" follows. Hetfield howls "Fuck it all and fucking no regrets" (an exact recapitulation of the classic in "Damage Inc." ). Towards the end of the song he
screams "I need to set my anger free"... and this is exactly what he and Metallica does: releasing all their anger.

I'm not joking.

Song number three starts up like an updated "Ride the Lightning": MEga-fat thrash-metal in midtempo speed. The vocalist spits: "It and you can look out motherfuckers, here I come!". Sepultura's "Roots"-era sound reminiscent in this
song, with the refrain "It world" repeated again and again. Before the song ends at five minutes and 51 seconds, Hetfield shouts "enough, enough, enough"

I'm not joking.

Have you missed the complex song-structures of "And Justice for All"? Compared to this around eight minutes long piece (working title "Monster" ), the songs of the 1988 album seem more like simple Ramones' ditties. A progressive blanket of sound that warms like a massive and super-intricate
Tool, only a thousand times heavier! Hetfield chants over a delicious part that goes into what could be called a chorus with some use of fantasy: "We the people, are we the people?". This phrase is repeated two times and "some kind
of monster" three times before the singer concludes "this monster lives". There is actually something here that could be called groove, not entirely unlike Pantera although vastly heavier. The guitars are so damned insane, so damned
evil, so damned incredible! The fact is that there isn't anything remotely like a traditional guitar-solo in any of these five songs. Hetfield and Kirk Hammett use their instruments like surgical tools. The guitars shrieks and scream as if
Tom Morello and Kerry King made a deal and decided to take the Devil's music not one but ten steps further.

I'm not joking.

The most wicked part is however the last, whose working-name is "All Within My Hands". A very strange piece with an instrumental intro of one minute and fifteen seconds. The tempo is ultra-fast, taking so many twists and turns that
you get all dizzy. "All Within My Hands" is shouted and then sung in an Alice In Chains manner. And the ending? MAN OH MAN! Like a possessed madman Hetfield screams "Kill kill kill kill!!" ad absurdum - we're talking deranged shrieks coming from a psychopathic Tom Araya (think Slayer's "Kill Again" only
even more insane). You'd think it was over after that. But no. It is like watching an exciting thriller with so many surprises that you finally don't believe an ending is forthcoming. Yes, after a heavy-as-lead finale it winds down at eight
minutes and 55 seconds.

I'm not joking.

20 Journalists finally leave the control-room and look at each other. No one needs say anything; the looks say it all: What in god's name have we just experienced? That Metallica, once tired old farts, have made a complete 180, and now sound like a bunch of hormone-reeking bucks in heat, is the most
incredible thing that's happened in music history. "St. Anger" is the real "Reload". "St. Anger" doesn't sound like anything the group has done before, it hardly even sounds like Metallica. "St. Anger" is a modern, super-brutal
metal-album that is going to chock and knock the entire music world. Melodies? Nope, there's not much here that reminds one of traditional melodies or arrangements such as verse, bridge, chorus. The 10th of June could become
known as the day that shook the world. If you haven't catched on yet:

I'm not joking.

Martin Carlsson

I am intrigued, but am not getting my hopes up after the last 3 releases.
 

StevenW

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 4, 2000
Messages
363
I've been reading alot about this "new, reborn" Metallica. Needless to say, it sure as hell has gotten my attention. I am extremely looking forward to hearing their new album.
 

Jeff Kohn

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 29, 2001
Messages
680
We'll see. I totally lost respect for Selloutica, between the dismal quality of load and re-load, not to mention Lars becoming a whiney anti-napster RIAA whore. But if they can actually turn all that around and put out a good album, I'll listen. I don't trust them enough to make it a blind purchase, but I'll give it a chance.
 

Chris Farmer

Screenwriter
Joined
Aug 23, 2002
Messages
1,496
Sounds interesting. I'll definitely be picking it up, and have high hopes, but am keeping my expectations realistic.
 

Van Patton

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 27, 2001
Messages
456
Well after hearing their collaboration with Ja Rule then I know that the above statement is 100% BS. I don't even think they can play as fast as they did in the 80's.
 

StevenW

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 4, 2000
Messages
363
From Kerrang:

"The volume is intoxicating, the songs even more so...Metallica havent gone backwards they have gone elsewhere, somewhere they haven't really gone before. Much of the speed is back -speed that recalls the days of Battery and Dyers Eve -but the format is markedly different. This isn't controlled agression, much of it is uncontrolled violence. Its ironic that at a time when the band are so at peace with one another they should make an album that sounds like they're at war. As one track follows another - there are only working titles like 'Monster' and 'Frantic'- the difference not only between what you expect but what has gone becomes clear. There's no space between the drums and the guitars, there are riffs everywhere, there is anger and confusion -'Do not know the answer, I dont even know what the question is' is one lyric - there is swearing and shouting and time changes and speed and fury...

It is difficult on a first listen not to surmise that St Anger is the finest thing Metallica have put their name to. All the songs, I'm assured, sound like this. There are no ballads. Instead there's an assault of speed and volume and anger and intensity. This is exactly the kind of thing that made a slogan such as 'Birth, school, metallica, death' an apposite and appropiate summation of everything this band could muster, both in themsleves and their audience."
Doesnt sound like BS to me....
 

Dean DeMass

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
1,826
I hope this is true because Metallica's best album since ....And Justice for All was by far Garage Inc. Black Album had some great songs but some real crappy ones as well. Load and Re-load......yuck.

-Dean-
 

Eric Peterson

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
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Real Name
Eric Peterson
This is definitely starting to capture my interest, but I will definitely wait to hear some of the songs on the radio and if this is true, I'll wait for the Load & Re-Load fans to unload their copies at the local used shop and pick it up. Metallica will never again see $1 from my pocket no matter how good the music is.
 

MickeS

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2000
Messages
5,058
I really hope the above reviews are true, because songs like that are the only things that can make me buy a Metallica album again. I sold both Load and Reload, and haven't bought anything since "Metallica".

But if they manage to get back to playing fast, complex metal like in the earlier days, I'm there. :)

/Mike
 

John-Miles

Screenwriter
Joined
Nov 29, 2001
Messages
1,220
See i feell kinda odd piping in here but i actually like load and reload, not as much as their other albums of course, but load and reload were good.

it seems like many people disliked load and reload because they were sucha departure from Metallica of the 80's.

anyway i cant wait to listen to the new album even if that article is a load of garbage.

I wonder if it will ahve a day date release on DVD-A?
 

Neil M

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jan 18, 2002
Messages
240
I've been hearing that this album is completely different than anything they've done before but we'll have to wait for the release. Also, Metallica just announced that they are giving a free dvd with the album. It's going to contain a live performance of all the songs from the album. I thought that was pretty cool of them to include that for free when they could easily charge for it.
 

Kevin M

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Feb 23, 2000
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Kevin Ray
Indeed, the only thing they have put out in the last eleven years that I even began to like was Garage Inc....well....not including that cover compilation's version of Turn The Page..brrrr.

"Turn the Paaaaaaage...YAH!" :rolleyes::laugh:
 

Dean DeMass

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
1,826
Kevin,

I'll agree with you on Turn the Page...... :thumbsdown:

However, songs like Astrology, So What, and Sabbra Cadabra more than make up for it.

-Dean-
 

Jon-C

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 18, 2003
Messages
95
Metallica will never again see $1 from my pocket no matter how good the music is.

Screw them. They totally mishandled the napster situation, and in return lost all the respect I had for them. Makes you wonder why Newstead really left the band.
 

Alan Erceg

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jul 16, 1999
Messages
154
As Still a Huge Metallica fan....they are still my favorite band...i will say this...


i didnt hate load, and i didnt hate reload. were they in MOP or AJFA class.....quite simply no. They were good in what they were....nothing more nothing less. DO i have high hopes for this album, of course, and after reading the review i am pretty pumped up. I'll be there the night before release or the day of...and will be picking up my copy of St Anger with great anticipation. I think people should know going into this is that Metallica will never make another MOP or AJFA or RTL or anything like that, this record like everything else will be different than the last.

just my 2 cents, a die hard 'tallica Fan.
 

John-Miles

Screenwriter
Joined
Nov 29, 2001
Messages
1,220
Exactly right Alan, thats what I love about Tallica, they evolve, for some reaon it seems many metal fans dont liek to see evolution, but with most otehr bands like U2 for example evolution is a good thing.
 

Keith E

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 7, 2001
Messages
154
I'm another one that is looking forward to this album as a huge Metallica fan and hope it is a return to real METAL for them.

I have to apologize for this but people who are up in arms about this band due to their stance on Napster are ignorant. I agree that Napster was a huge threat to the recording industry and was taking money out of the hands of the people who are working their asses off to produce music. Sure a band like Metallica is established and they've made shit loads of money over the years, but what about up and coming bands and the people out there writing material, these are the ones that it is truly hurting. In a day and age where we can download near perfect copies of a song and burn to CD I think every artist should have stood up against Napster.

I can see the argument where someone says that I'm downloading to see if I like it before I buy it. I still disagree as there are many stores out there that will let you listen to a CD before you buy it.

I look at it this way. You go to work everyday and perform a service and you expect to be paid for it. Musicians are working for the same reason and they deserve our money. If you don't like it, don't buy it. If you do like it, then go out and buy it, otherwise it's just plain stealing.

Sorry for the long rant, but I had to get it off my chest.
 

John-Miles

Screenwriter
Joined
Nov 29, 2001
Messages
1,220
I am going to jump in and agree with keith, what he said is completly true, and if all music was pirated then we would quickly degenerate to a time when all artists would ahve to rely on rich patrons to keep them alive to produce their art.

and i dont care what you say if you have someone as a patron, you are making the music they want you to make, it removes much of the artistic component and we would lose the variety that makes music in this century so great.
 

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