#and it's why there's a massive difference in quality on the Metallica Black Album tribute album
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People shouldn't try to do straight covers of Slipknot because no other metal band in the world has that many fucking members so it'll come off sounding a little hollow, you've gotta get weird with it and put your own spin in there
#like otep's version of purity#not that industrial metal's leading lesbian could do a *straight* cover anyway lol#that said. otep is a master of covers and also i prefer Despise (the demo version of purity)#i'm not always big on straight covers anyway#it's important to me that if say arcane roots are covering nirvana it sounds like arcane roots are playing a nirvana track#not that arcane roots are trying to be nirvana because they're a different band with their own different strengths#it's why their Smell's Like Teen Spirit was a standout on the kerrang nirvana album#it's why madina lake's Caught Somewhere in Time cover hits harder than most of the rest of the kerrang maiden covers#and it's why there's a massive difference in quality on the Metallica Black Album tribute album#because some artists are willing to get cool and weird with it and some aren't#there are other metal bands who have done some great covers but we ain't gonna talk about them-#-because politically speaking i'm looking them in the eyes while strangling them to death
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...In which I thoroughly (yet naively) survey Metallica.
More than a month ago I finished reading Masters of Doom, which in addition to being an interesting history of PC Gamingās pioneering id Software and stirring nostalgia about the halcyon days of 90s first-person shooters, made frequent and compelling reference to the influence of heavy metal on the aesthetic sensibilities of John Romero (though heās ultimately more of a Dokken fan, which I canāt speak to.) Listening to the actual soundtracks of Doom, Doom II, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D led me straight into a curious survey of Megadeth, then Metallica, briefly Slayer, Anthrax, back to Metallica, Exodus, Sepultura, Suicidal Tendencies, Overkill, back to Megadeth and then back Metallica, over and over Metallica. I am listening to Metallica now.Ā
Canāt say Iām sure why. Without meaning to sound condescending, Iād always assumed if thrash metal appealed to me, it might have happened when I was a teenager. Perhaps environmental factors were at play, but at my most susceptible and angst filled years, the garage rock revival was in full swing, as was something of a (perceived? I will never know if this was a widespread thing. I wasnāt nearly as online then) grunge renaissance. Grunge was locked in as tonal and aesthetic sensibility and my friendsā bands were grungy pop punk with a bit of emo sprinkled on top. As I said, the questionable excesses of youth, complete with pretension about what is good (The Stooges, The Pixies, The Strokes and NIRVANA) and what is silly and ridiculous (Nu-Metalās relative strength and the silliness of bands like Korn and Slipknot did not help Metalās esteem.) A respect but low level of enthusiasm for Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden didnāt manifest anything serious any time in the last fifteen years. Thrashās underground roots put some doubt in the mind re: whatever vague supposition my teenaged peers and I had about the opposing forces of punk and metal (though I do remember actual arguments with a fan of what I described as ornate but soulless arpeggios who thought PJ Harveyās oeuvre was unsophisticated and boring.) Thereās a lot of grungeās DNA in early Metallica. Which kind of makes it all the more bewildering that I havenāt been here before. All that wasted time listening to Mudhoney! Also, not to spoil the ending, how bewildering it is that Metallica absolutely fell to pieces in the 90s.Ā Ā KillĀ āem All is a stupidly exciting record. Had I been around to hear it in the 80s, it wouldāve melted my brain. I assume if I heard it in the 00s it wouldāve done the same. I think part of the issue with Metallica is that when I was a precocious kid/tween they were not nearly at their best and the only second hand exposure you get to a well-established but no longer thriving band is their hits, and even post-survey I donāt particularly care for āOneā or āEnter Sandman.ā (Then again, at the height of Metallica v Napster youād think young Zaq wouldāve been a little more curious... and those mp3s wouldāve be right there...)Ā Anyway, KillĀ āem All: devastating and fun. Imagine if Mƶtley CrĆ¼e was ever any good (were they?) No, thatās insane. And gives a person very little to go on. High energy from the jump, utter shred. Reminiscent only of a slower, hopelessly outclassed version of the same thing, which is to say I think if you slowed a track like The Four Horsemen down youād end up with a dreary sounding Sabbath number but why would you want that? (A different day perhaps.) Definitely the sexiest of the Metallica albums, just a little bit of the electricity of hair metal bleeding in at the edges, though the most wicked excesses are in flurries of virtuosity.Ā āBass solo, take oneā -- much as I enjoy āHit the Lights,ā āJump in the Fire,ā āSeek & Destroyā (and other imperative calls to action,) I think the bass solo ā(Pulling Teeth)ā that splits the album is my favourite bit. Ride the Lightning -- actually, speaking of Cliff Burton, he of the improbable bass solos -- supposedly he planted the seeds of music theory/actually thinking about the music in his bandmatesā heads, leading to acoustic guitars, curious instrumentals and harmonies winding their way into the sophomore album. This probably also led them to getting way ahead of themselves and veering out of their lane, but in the meantime, Ride the Lightning is a lot more varied to listen to than their debut. Yes, it continues to wail, but it wails in new and exciting ways. āCreeping Deathā and āTrapped Under Iceā are the choicest tracks. āFade to Blackā is a pretty good song by the standards of a power ballad and is a nice dimension to add to the album but Iād point out that it portends Metallicaās inevitable doom.Ā Master of Puppets is considered (nearly anywhere Iāve looked) the undisputed champion of thrash metal albums. I would kinda love to have a dissenting opinion here, but it feels impossible to deny. It is stunningly heavy and loud and kinetic. Itās definitely a twin to its predecessor, they share a layout, right up to track 4 being a power ballad. As a set theyāre the Pokemon Red/Blue of Thrash. Anything other than the subtle evolution in the playing and production wouldāve been weird as hell -- album number three and they nearly perfect the genre. On the subject of Metallicaās power ballads, Iād make the point that āWelcome Home (Sanitarium)ā is the pinnacle of their efforts -- gorgeous and grotesque in equal measure. And like Ride the Lightning follows āFade to Blackā with an extra-heavy track, āSanitariumā is followed by the vicious gatling gun of āDisposable Heroes,ā as emphatic an anti-war song as one could imagine. Again special mention to a Cliff Burton feature -- āOrionā is an oddity in the Metallica canon, canāt imagine thereās anything else like it that Iāve missed. Itās the most appropriate space marine soundtrack Iāve ever heard, it previews a much nerdier version of Metallica that starts writing about horrors from outer space. My impression is that long after Iāve moved on to another passing phase Iāll retain a fondness for their instrumentals, all five of the main ones are excellent.Ā Ā ...And Justice for All just isnāt as good as the previous two. This is becoming less about Metallica and more a tribute to Cliff Burton, but fact is -- his phenomenal bass lines are the secret sauce, and in the absence of Burton (and apparently due to Ulrichās hearing loss?) the bass is often lost in the mix. It still wails, though relying more on arpeggios and prog-y tempo changes and layered arrangements -- withĀ āloudā as the governing principle in the mix, the instruments all have a bit of a unnatural synthetic quality, the effect is much more processed than the earlier albums and it occasionally sounds like a flat wall of sound... which is about to become a theme, oh boy. Though it does convincingly sound like a mutant off-shoot of the Ride the Lightning/Master of Puppets aesthetic, just a shaggier and excessive cousin prone to wild mood swings. Seven of the nine tracks are at least six and a half minutes long. At 9:48, āTo Live is to Dieā is the first song in the catalogue that I would consider straight tedious (Though the title track is about the same length and itās quite good!) At the end of the album, āDyers Eveā appears as a great redeemer, probably the best expression of what they were trying to do here. Oh yeah -- āOne.ā Honestly it gets there. Itās a very pretty song. I think what I donāt like about the ballads is Hetfieldās voice when heās singing (as opposed to when heās growling, yelling, barking) may as well be someone trying to do a Brad Roberts impression. Though maybe thatās not the issue, I always enjoy The Crash Test Dummies. Metallica/Black Album. I donāt like this. Or, I donāt like it very much but I recognize itās pretty good. Definitely has its moments (āOf Wolf and Man,ā āThrough the Never.ā) Seems like an odd stumbling block. This was a massive hit. āEnter Sandmanā is a classic rock song. Of sorts. It aināt thrash, though itās definitely still a heavy metal album in the vein of Black Sabbath and the like. Reading about the composition I understand they were tired of what they had been doing, they felt like impostors and wanted to strip it back some, and in that sense itās an accomplishment. Itās dark and heavy and somber and pretty sad in parts. I feel like if Metallica had collapsed into the sea and never been found afterward/gone their separate ways this wouldāve been an interesting finale, but as it stands, through the lens of history I have to reckon with the fact that this is the first of four albums produced by Bob Rock and itās easily the best of them. Itās going to get worse before it gets... less worse. Which is not to say I donāt appreciate the orchestra and the cellos and a bit more variation in the compositions but... whither Thrash? āHolier Than Thou,ā silly as it is, captures a bit of the lost spirit, Maybe itās exhausting to be that band for too long. Itās a perfectly natural thing to want to progress and not make the same album over and over again, but I canāt help but feel like they abandoned their perch atop a style where they were the greatest of all time to be (at first) a pretty good metal band and then aĀ āhard rockā band. This is Jordan switching to baseball and then for some reason trying ice hockey. Iām reasonably sure āNothing Else Mattersā sucks pretty viciously, though Metallica writing a love song has a conceptual appeal and I could understand people liking it. Load. Gosh, what an appropriate title. I think if you asked Chad Kroeger what his favourite Metallica album is, heād absolutely say Load. Metallica skipped over grunge and went straight to post-grunge. Itās also so long! Thereās so much of this very mediocre album.Ā Reload. What the fuck is this. It starts off with the Soundgardenesque (well, Rusty Cage-esque) āFuelā with its fun but asinine chorus, it doesnāt do anything particularly interesting after. Just like its sibling, itās almost eighty minutes long of sluggish, middle of the road 90s rock.Ā Garage, Inc is amazing by comparison to anything else put out by Metallica in the 90s. Two discs, the second compiling covers from as far back as 1984, 1987ā²s Garage Days EP and the b-side to some awful Load song thatās just four Mƶtƶrhead covers. āWhiskey in the Jar,ā of course, but alsoĀ āAm I Evil?ā SabbathāsĀ āSabbra Cadabraā and an exuberant cover of Queenās āStone Cold Crazy.ā Itās not solid gold but thereās a lot of stuff to like. S&M (Symphony and Metallica, but... you know.) Definitely has it moments, particularly with the older stuff -- āCall of Ktulu,ā āMaster of Puppets,ā āThe Thing That Should Never Beā with symphonic accompaniment is very cool.Ā Ā St. Anger is the bigĀ ācomebackā album that came out when I was 15 and thus acutely aware of big music releases. I feel like I couldāve skipped the opening paragraphs of this essay and just written that as explanation of why I didnāt care about Metallica. Iām sure there was some good heavy metal happening around the turn of the century but at the time this was happening,Ā Limp Bizkit, Saliva, Staind, Kid Rock, Godsmack, Sevendust, Slipknot, Drowning Pool, Korn, Trapt and Linkin Park (probably the best of the bunch? right?) were the biggest things in metal. Hence, in 2003 we are gifted... Nu Metallica. The title track is very bad. There are no guitar solos to be found. There arenāt any ballads to be found (thatās mostly fine.) Iāve done three tracks. Iām not listening to the rest of this. Itās just not worth it. Death Magnetic was a big surprise as a I soldiered on. Bob Rock is gone, Rick Rubin is in. Say what you will about Rubin (another time, perhaps) but for whatever reason, after a twenty year hiatus (1988-2008,) the thrash is back. I was beginning to grapple with the idea that Metallica had been past their prime my entire life, and while thatās still probably true, here they are at least dabbling with the style that made them such a big damned deal. Which is not to say this is an amazing album. Itās good though! But you can hear, even on the opening track, how exceedingly compressed the sound is. Everything is loud on this album! Without exception! All the time! Itās all peak! Consequently itās a tiring thing to listen to all the way through. Apparently there are different versions available that turn down the mix a bit, but the Spotify version is evidently the original, as it is just a brutal onslaught of noise. Itās not a great album to sit through, but individual tracks are welcome. Thereās even an instrumental for the first time since ...And Justice For All. Lulu (with Lou Reed) -- Laugh all you want, I donāt think this is as bad as Load and Reload. Itās really god damned weird, sure, and itās notĀ āgoodā by any conception of (what isĀ āthe good,ā etc) but itās at least interesting here and there.Ā Hardwired... to Self-Destruct suggests a certain inevitability to the path. With or without the play-acting in the 90s (Hetfield has speculated that Ulrich and Hammett were interested in being a U2-sized band complete with the frivolous and monolithic pretensions) they might have ended up here anyway, a bunch of dudes in their 50s making a heavy metal record that is doomed to be nowhere near as vital and electrifying as the groundbreaking stuff of their youth, but is practiced, professional and what the fans have come to expect. Itās pretty good, but thereās no chance itās their best work. Read a review that called it their best work in 25 years, which is... damning with faint praise, but definitely true. Anyway theyāre in the zone. āMoth Into Flameā is a pretty good example of what weāre dealing with here -- thesis, antithesis, synthesis, in this case, arriving atĀ āgeneric Metallica.ā If thereās more Metallica on the way itāll be pretty much like this, chugging along like Springsteen or the Rolling Stones. It seems super unlikely theyāll ever surpass their first five albums, but I think thatās true of just about every band ever.Ā In conclusion, Iām not doing this same process for Megadeth. :P
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