Yeah, I always loved the Black album as well. Guess I'm not a real rock fan. Raven, I wish they would bring a band like Anthrax out on the road with them.
Metallica is my favorite band, ever. And I like Raven, enjoy their stuff after the Black Album as well. I love all of their work. I hope they come play a concert in Texas again, because at the Dallas show last time, James hurt his back, and while it was unique to see them using the other bands involved to help, it wasn't the same. If you don't like the Black Album, I feel sorry for you. Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman, Sad but True, of Wolf and Man, The Unforgiven, Wherever I May Roam are all badass songs. I also think Load/Reload don't get as much respect as they deserve. Fuel, the Memory Remains, Devil's Dance, Until it Sleeps, Prince Charming, 4 by 4, Attitude, etc. These are great songs, and they haven't "sold out" just because they are playing with more mainstream bands. Listen to their music and then tell me if they sold out. I just think they grew up a little from the Black Album on voice wise, but stuff before and after still kicks ass. And don't get me started on S and M. The symphony/metal mix was badass. It heightened the effect of a lot of their songs and I loved it. Oh, and last but not least, the ecstasy of gold intro to their concert is close to if not the best intro EVER. That is all.
Just listen to PanterA , Superjoint Ritual , and Down and forget about Metallica . They will never be the same . When Cliff died (R.I.P.) Metallica Died .
No they did not die when Cliff died. Mainly what happened is their voices matured, and the Black Album is right up there with Master of Puppets as their best album. Plus, just because the style has changed over time, does not mean they sucked after the Black Album. Load/Reload/S & M are so underrated it's funny. I own all of their albums except garage, inc. and while I think their voices did change, Metallica has kicked ass before and after the black album. I wonder if some of the people who despise Metallica after the black album, have ever really listened to those records, because they are quality. I know I am biased here, they are my favorite band. But they did not die when Cliff died, and believe it or not, they have done good work every album, but for some odd reason people think the stuff after the black album is crap, which if they listened closely, it is not. But this is an opinion based subject, so to each their own and that's cool.
What made Metallica so exciting back in the early day was the unpredictability of their compositions. Songs like No Remorse or Master of Puppets are exciting because the music takes extreme left turns at certain points. The tempo may suddenly double or there might be a break based on a new riff. This was very necessary because Metallica was never the most three-dimensional of bands. Most of the time, the whole band pretty much doubled whatever Hefield was doing on the guitar. But the constant changes kept your attention. On and after the Black album, Metallica pretty much abandoned this approach, and instead used a single riff (and tempo) throughout the entire song. Most bands that (to use a cliched term) "maintain a groove" spice it up with different textures and melodies. Because of the monolithic nature of their songs and the band's tendency to subvert melody for rhythm, Metallica's music became boring. The songs weren't bad, but they lacked the "I'll show you, mother****er" attitude of the previous albums. Basically, Metallica went from sounding like a band who thought they had everything to prove to sounding like a band who thought they had nothing left to prove. Another thing to consider is that Metallica simply didn't change enough over the years. When most of your songs are based off of a downpicked and palm-muted E5 chord, there will be a point when the songs start sounding all the same. Futhermore, Jason Newsted was a clueless bass player, Kirk Hammett was a technically amazing but creativey bland lead player, and Lars insisted on pounding the crap out of his drums during even the ballads. As a result, Hefield's bandmates didn't add anything interesting to the signature element of Metallica's music (Hetfield's heavily distorted riffs and his gruff voice), so the music really didn't evolve so much as simplify. At the same time, the other foms of metal (industrial, grunge, nu-metal, rap-metal) that emerged in the 90s appropriated the first signature element and took it in new stylistic directions rhythmically (i.e. the weird time signatures of Soundgarden or the hip-hop beats of Korn) and harmonically (i.e. the synthezisers in NIN). Metallica simply didn't sound fresh anymore. I will admit that Hetfield's vocals were the best on the Black album, but vocals were never what Metallica was about (most of their lyrics are pretty lame in fact). IMNSHO, that album simply isn't close to the same league as the previous 4 albums (in particular, Master of Puppets). Maybe that's because of Cliff Burton's death (you could argue that the staleness began on Justice) as he was supposedly was the most musically trained of the four. I have read that he worked out the harmony guitar melody in the song Master of Puppets. But who knows?
They lost me completely during the whole Napster thing. Talk about alienating an entire culture of fans and would-be fans. Siding with the major labels was definetly a bad career move. And for the record, I like Metallica, the album with the black cover. I'm a Prince fan so, to me, the Black Album is the album that was pulled at the last minute and replaced by Lovesexy back in '88.
That would be great, Freak. Anthrax doesn't get anywhere near as much play as they deserve. I went to a Megadeth concert (turned out to be one of their last, I think) where Antrax was opening for them. The seats were so empty it was embarassing. Anthrax played a great set, of course, but I wouldn't blame them for sleep walking through it considering how little support they received.
Anthrax will always be my favorite metal band - their recent stuff rocks as well. Too bad you can't find Volume 8 anywhere, it was damn good. I've never seen any other metal band work as hard as they did, and I won't ever figure out how they didn't make it bigger. </hijack> I still Metallica's more recent works are just fine. I never bought ReLoad, but I do think that Load and the black album are good - Load's "Outlaw Torn" is one of my favorite Metallica songs, period. Asked to choose an album, though, I'd pick Ride The Lightning. I don't think they really sold out - just mellowed with age perhaps.
What's up, Mateo? I went to this concert with Mateo and some friends when Queensryche opened for them and agree, it was very bad-ass and we had to yell at each other after the concert just to be heard. My hearing did not return completely for 3 days afterward. They returned the next summer with the Cult and seemed worn out and not as energetic. The Black Album was the beginning of the end for them, as far as I'm concerned. It's been hit and miss since then, mostly miss. I liked Garage, Inc., but that just goes to show that their creativity is gone and they are better now just playing other people's songs. That thing they recorded with that orchestra (S & M?) was a huge, enormous, steaming pile o' crap. They need to hang it up, they are tarnishing their legacy.
Yeah, I didn't like the Black album either. Some people say it is their best album, but I don't think people that say this were fans of theirs before that album. And I wish they never started making videos, although I thought the video for One was okay.
I love the first two Pantera albums (well, starting with Cowboys, I never heard their glam stuff). After that though Anselmo just seemed to resort to screaming, yelling, and cussing. Far Beyond Driven started to bore me. I never bothered with them after that. Never heard any of Anselmo's side projects either, with the exception of one (recent, I think) Down video. He actually seemed to sing on it, which peaked my interest.
My favorite Metallica Album was Ride The Lightning. I used to rock that one so hard when I was younger... Ah, and Lars is a prick.
The new Anthrax album, 'We've Come for You All', is about to be released in Japan, with a US release to follow. Keeley, Raven: Ever hear any Armored Saint? I love the Bush-era Anthrax, and I'm curious to know whether the AS material compares favorably.
Can't say I have ever heard any Armored Saint, but I may check it out. I do suggest you give the first Down album a listen, Freak. There are some really good songs on there. Stuff I had no idea Anselmo was capable of (and, frankly, it kind of pisses me off that he isn't utilizing his voice with Pantera any more than he is). The second one wasn't nearly as good, but I suppose it wasn't really a bad album.
It's weird that opinions vary so much on what people like and don't like. I love Metallica with Cliff but And Justice For All is one of my most favorite albums of all time, even though it was mixed like crap. You can barely hear Lars's double-bass drums, and the bass is non-existent. I think with The Black Album, they started recording slower songs so they would be able to take it easier and not work so hard in concert. Although I am not a big Limp Biskit fan, I thought Significant Other was a great album and Linkin Park is amazing to me, but they are full of themselves. I also really like the new Crazy Town album, but I think I am the only one because nobody is buying it. As far as thrash, I really like this newer band called Shadows Fall which is extremely derivitive of early Metallica and Anthrax. Great metal guitar music, but the vocals could sometimes be better, sometimes verging on gruff death metal incoherence.
For those of you that don't like the latest Metallica...what did you think of those new songs off of the S&M album, No Leaf Clover and Minus Human? My prediction is that will be what their new album sounds like...and if that prediction comes true, I will be a very happy guy.
How are you guys feeling now that the Black album's hit 30? There are some nice covers on here and the remastered songs sound great. https://www.metallica.com/the-metallica-blacklist/ Spoiler: Track Listing Alessia Cara & The Warning / Enter Sandman Mac Demarco / Enter Sandman Ghost / Enter Sandman Juanes / Enter Sandman Rina Sawayama / Enter Sandman Weezer / Enter Sandman Sam Fender / Sad But True (Live) Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit / Sad But True Mexican Institute Of Sound Feat. La Perla & Gera Mx / Sad But True Royal Blood / Sad But True St. Vincent / Sad But True White Reaper / Sad But True Yb / Sad But True Biffy Clyro / Holier Than Thou The Chats / Holier Than Thou Off! / Holier Than Thou Pup / Holier Than Thou Corey Taylor / Holier Than Thou Cage The Elephant / The Unforgiven Vishal Dadlani, Divine, Shor Police / The Unforgiven Diet Cig / The Unforgiven Flatbush Zombies Feat. Dj Scratch / The Unforgiven Ha*Ash / The Unforgiven José Madero / The Unforgiven Moses Sumney / The Unforgiven J Balvin / Wherever I May Roam Chase & Status Feat. Backroad Gee / Wherever I May Roam The Neptunes / Wherever I May Roam Jon Pardi / Wherever I May Roam Sebastian / Don't Tread On Else Matters Portugal. The Man Feat. Aaron Beam / Don't Tread On Me Volbeat / Don't Tread On Me The Hu / Through The Never Tomi Owó / Through The Never Phoebe Bridgers / Nothing Else Matters Miley Cyrus Feat. Watt, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo, Chad Smith / Nothing Else Matters Dave Gahan / Nothing Else Matters Mickey Guyton / Nothing Else Matters Dermot Kennedy / Nothing Else Matters Mon Laferte / Nothing Else Matters Igor Levit / Nothing Else Matters My Morning Jacket / Nothing Else Matters Pg Roxette / Nothing Else Matters Darius Rucker / Nothing Else Matters Chris Stapleton / Nothing Else Matters Tresor / Nothing Else Matters Goodnight, Texas / Of Wolf And Man Idles / The God That Failed Imelda May / The God That Failed Cherry Glazerr / My Friend Of Misery Izïa / My Friend Of Misery Kamasi Washington / My Friend Of Misery Rodrigo Y Gabriela / The Struggle Within
This album was great. Just because everybody liked it doesn't mean snobby Metalboyz have to go against the grain. Where ever I may Roam
