While Kill 'Em All was definitely a great release, and fun as hell to listen to, it had its share of inconsistencies that hampered it from being a definite classic, namely a few songs that had a boring pace, and the fact the lyrics sometimes left a little something to be desired. The next year Metallica would go into the studio once again and this time the result is much more focused, a darker, more serious release and what I consider one of Metallica's twin classics in Ride The Lightning.
This album definitely has a much more serious tone to it then the previous one, with songs about plagues, nuclear warfare, death, depression etc. The riffing is much more precise and the production values are a lot better. James and Kirk have definitely stepped up their game as far as their guitar playing is concerned. James also sounds a lot better vocally. The bass is still thunderous and thick. Once again Lars is just kind of there, while the drums are excellent they aren't anything particularly special.
The best thing about this album is that every track is great, and the flow of the album is perfect. The compositions are extremely well written, there isn't a single throw-away riff to be found and all the leads and solos fit in extremely well into the song. It never feels disjointed and it never seems to lag. Every song is memorable and classic. Even the instrumental is great.
So all in all this album is a towering inferno of melodic thrash metal, a ferocious beast of an album that stands as a testament to how great Metallica once was, and also serves as the standard by which to judge their subsequent releases of the 90s. Anyone who only knows newer Metallica take a trip back to 80s and take a ride on this electric monster of an album. I'm off to headbang until I get whiplash. Until next time STAY METAL!
98/100
Monday, November 28, 2011
The Metallica Saga- Kill Em All- We Got the Metal Madness!
It was 1983, and there was something happening in the metal world, a movement was growing taking influence from early speed metal bands like Venom, Diamond Head and the like. They were there to put a fist in the face of glam metal, which they saw as the pussification of heavy metal. This new genre pushed the envelope of speed and aggression, playing at louder volumes and faster speeds than once thought possible. One of the most notable of these bands was Metallica, who in this very year would record a landmark album in the thrash metal genre. Originally dubbed "Metal Up Your Ass" but changed to "Kill "em All" due to pressure from the record company. Forget about Load, and Reload, toss that shit out the window, this was back when they had something furious inside them, they had what they called the metal madness, and it runs wild on this album.
The album starts off with an unabashed headbanging anthem called Hit The Lights, and right off the bat you know, you're in for a headbanging furious thrashy good time. The guitars burst forth with furious riffing, blistering leads, and James yelling about how loud and fast, and maniacal they are on stage. The closing minutes of the song are full of some of the most shredtastic guitar work that Kirk Hammet has ever pulled off.
The album continues on this same pace with the second track Four Horsemen a declaration of the coming apocalypse and one of the best metal songs ever recorded, yes it was written by Dave Mustaine, but Metallica executed it far better than Megadeth would. Metallica ingeniusly added in a melodic middle part with one of the most awesome solos ever. It continues its thrashy pace with the song Motorbreath which isn't the greatest song ever, but ultimately its fun to listen to, and full of decent riffs.
The middle of this album kind of loses its pace for me with Jump in the Fire and Anesthesia which has a tremendous intro part, but loses my interest when the drums come in. Whiplash picks it back up, but the ball is sort of dropped again by Phantom Lord which is fun enough but ultimately loses my interest. No Remorse and Seek and Destroy are great tracks, the juvenile lyrics of Seek and Destroy notwithstanding.
Metal Milita is a thrashing metal anthem that really has a nice place as a closing track
As far as intstrumentation everything is pretty well executed, the guitars pump out riffs ranging from searing, pummeling thrashy palm muted excellence, to decent midpaced chugga riffs. The bass thunders slightly in the background with its thick juicy tone. The drums are just sort of there, and the vocals are probably the rawest and meanest that James has ever been. So all in all this is a great landmark thrash album, but ultimately one that is pretty inconsistent. Its flaws are really outweighed by the pure raw metallic energy that shines forth, and you can tell that these guys just plain love to play loud, fast and mean.
86/100
The album starts off with an unabashed headbanging anthem called Hit The Lights, and right off the bat you know, you're in for a headbanging furious thrashy good time. The guitars burst forth with furious riffing, blistering leads, and James yelling about how loud and fast, and maniacal they are on stage. The closing minutes of the song are full of some of the most shredtastic guitar work that Kirk Hammet has ever pulled off.
The album continues on this same pace with the second track Four Horsemen a declaration of the coming apocalypse and one of the best metal songs ever recorded, yes it was written by Dave Mustaine, but Metallica executed it far better than Megadeth would. Metallica ingeniusly added in a melodic middle part with one of the most awesome solos ever. It continues its thrashy pace with the song Motorbreath which isn't the greatest song ever, but ultimately its fun to listen to, and full of decent riffs.
The middle of this album kind of loses its pace for me with Jump in the Fire and Anesthesia which has a tremendous intro part, but loses my interest when the drums come in. Whiplash picks it back up, but the ball is sort of dropped again by Phantom Lord which is fun enough but ultimately loses my interest. No Remorse and Seek and Destroy are great tracks, the juvenile lyrics of Seek and Destroy notwithstanding.
Metal Milita is a thrashing metal anthem that really has a nice place as a closing track
As far as intstrumentation everything is pretty well executed, the guitars pump out riffs ranging from searing, pummeling thrashy palm muted excellence, to decent midpaced chugga riffs. The bass thunders slightly in the background with its thick juicy tone. The drums are just sort of there, and the vocals are probably the rawest and meanest that James has ever been. So all in all this is a great landmark thrash album, but ultimately one that is pretty inconsistent. Its flaws are really outweighed by the pure raw metallic energy that shines forth, and you can tell that these guys just plain love to play loud, fast and mean.
86/100
Monday, November 14, 2011
The Metallica Saga- Symptoms of Decay- Black Album
Metallica is one of those household names when it comes to rock and metal music, one of the most successful and lauded bands to ever grace the music scene. At this point in their career they had released 4 landmark albums mostly of the thrash metal genre, and were becoming a musical force to be reckoned with. Releasing albums full of thrash injected with melody and emotion, searing riffs, blistering solos and bleak toned lyrics, even venturing towards progressive in their outing titled ...And Justice For All.
Enter Bob Rock, who suggests to them they should aim for higher commercial heights, that the way to reach their true potential was to strip their sound down and opt for a more accessible and radio friendly approach. Instead of continuing to progress their sound they stepped back, and did something a little more personal, a little more emotive, and a little bit subpar. Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, however this was the first album that showed symptoms of them selling out. While this album has absolute classic tracks such as Enter Sandman, Sad But True and The Unforgiving, there is also moments of inconsistency and filler tracks.
The basic sound of this album is pretty much a hard rock sound with a more metallic edge to it. Midpaced, Wah laden guitars play many a palm muted riff, and there are also a great deal of very blues inspired pentatonic soloing. They added more of the softer toned ballads in such as The Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters, both of which are great in my opinion. The guitars have gotten less complex with this release and have more of a alternative/hard rock sound...lots of wah pedal. The drums are pretty much just there keeping the beat and not doing anything special and the bass is kind of just in the background doing some rhythm work.
James vocals have gotten a good deal deeper than previous releases and he utilizes more of a grungy singing style moreso than his usual thrash metal shout/singing. This is also the beginning of his use of the kind of cheesy vocal accents ( oooh aaaah YEEA HEAAh).
The album starts off on a very positive note with the extremely catchy and enjoyable track Enter Sandman, a midpaced riffy affair about nightmarish images and childhood fears. Sad But True is a bit more groovy and midpaced which also happens to deal with personal struggles. The Next track Holier Than Thou is the first filler track, it pretty much just plods along and doesn't really accomplish anything. Then we get to my two personal standout tracks on this...The Unforgiven and Wherever I May Roam, the two that accomplish the goal that was intended...to make more accessible music and still manage to be awesome musically. The rest of the album is kind of just there, tracks blend into one another and the whole affair gets very tedious. Nothing Else Matters brings a more positive note showing that Metallica knows how to do emotional songwriting and do it well, but the last couple of tracks are just right back to that samey filler vibe. So while this album has its definite high points I think it ultimately fails at being what it was supposed to be i.e Metallica reaching their full potential on a record. It's a step down from classics like Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets.
Final Score 66/100
Enter Bob Rock, who suggests to them they should aim for higher commercial heights, that the way to reach their true potential was to strip their sound down and opt for a more accessible and radio friendly approach. Instead of continuing to progress their sound they stepped back, and did something a little more personal, a little more emotive, and a little bit subpar. Don't get me wrong this isn't a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, however this was the first album that showed symptoms of them selling out. While this album has absolute classic tracks such as Enter Sandman, Sad But True and The Unforgiving, there is also moments of inconsistency and filler tracks.
The basic sound of this album is pretty much a hard rock sound with a more metallic edge to it. Midpaced, Wah laden guitars play many a palm muted riff, and there are also a great deal of very blues inspired pentatonic soloing. They added more of the softer toned ballads in such as The Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters, both of which are great in my opinion. The guitars have gotten less complex with this release and have more of a alternative/hard rock sound...lots of wah pedal. The drums are pretty much just there keeping the beat and not doing anything special and the bass is kind of just in the background doing some rhythm work.
James vocals have gotten a good deal deeper than previous releases and he utilizes more of a grungy singing style moreso than his usual thrash metal shout/singing. This is also the beginning of his use of the kind of cheesy vocal accents ( oooh aaaah YEEA HEAAh).
The album starts off on a very positive note with the extremely catchy and enjoyable track Enter Sandman, a midpaced riffy affair about nightmarish images and childhood fears. Sad But True is a bit more groovy and midpaced which also happens to deal with personal struggles. The Next track Holier Than Thou is the first filler track, it pretty much just plods along and doesn't really accomplish anything. Then we get to my two personal standout tracks on this...The Unforgiven and Wherever I May Roam, the two that accomplish the goal that was intended...to make more accessible music and still manage to be awesome musically. The rest of the album is kind of just there, tracks blend into one another and the whole affair gets very tedious. Nothing Else Matters brings a more positive note showing that Metallica knows how to do emotional songwriting and do it well, but the last couple of tracks are just right back to that samey filler vibe. So while this album has its definite high points I think it ultimately fails at being what it was supposed to be i.e Metallica reaching their full potential on a record. It's a step down from classics like Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets.
Final Score 66/100
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