Metallica - The better years (Metallica in general)

Member Name: Lateralus

Product:	Metallica in general
Date:	10/12/08 (149 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: One of the most amazing bands of all time

Disadvantages: Started to suck in the later years

Metallica -1983 through 1991

Metallica has been and will always be the best, most influential metal and/or rock band of all time. Every album and every song sent a message of hope for those of us who knew that society and the government is screwed up. It gave me hope that there were people out there like me who thought for themselves and questioned authority. You don't necessarily have to fight it, just speak your mind. Let the government know that we as a people will not be misled or misused. That we as a people run this country and the government works for us. We are the nation.
Kill em All

Metallica released their first album 'Kill 'Em All' back in 1983 when I was 6 years old and I grew up on them. 'Kill 'Em All was supposed to be called 'Metal up your ass', but censorship was big at the time and whoever judges those kinds of things wasn't having it. This album is the fastest of them all; every song sweeps through your body and makes you feel the adrenalin pumping through your veins and makes you feel alive. This album has more guitar solos than any other Metallica album, with at least four solos in 'Hit the Lights'. Some versions of the album had two additional tracks: Am I Evil?" and "Blitzkrieg'. Motor Breath' is my favorite song on the album.
Ride the Lightning

In 1984 they released their second album titled 'Ride the Lightning'. This album was softer and slower, but still heavy. As always each song was filled with amazing guitar riffs and solos. Through out the album you could tell James Hetfield was getting more control of his voice and maturing. This was the only album they produced themselves (and they did a fine job) and they were all maturing as musicians. My favorite song on that album is Fade to Black .
Master of Puppets
In 1986 they released their third album called 'Master of Puppets'. Here they got back to being fast again for three quarters of the album. There are some slower songs here, but as always they are still heavy. The song Master of Puppets was a warning to people of how drugs could control your life like you are a puppet and the drug is the master. The band had been through a bad bout of drinking and partying and had seen the repercussions it could have on ones body and soul. Orion is my favorite song on this album.
Clifford Lee Burton

Cliff Burton was the bass player for the first three albums and one of the best bass players in the world; which, proves true especially on the instrumental Anesthesia - (Pulling Teeth) from the 'Kill em All' album. On September 27th 1986 while on the European part of their Damage Inc. tour Metallica's tour bus hit an icy patch in the road and the bus flipped over an threw Cliff out of the side and landed on top of him killing him instantly. This is one of the saddest days in rock history. Their next bassist Jason Newsted was up to the challenge and in my opinion did a fair job having to live up to a bass legend.
...And justice for all

In 1988 with the arrival of a new bassist it was time for something fresh and new. Then came '...And justice for all' their fourth album. It is the heaviest, but most beautiful album they have made in my opinion. This was their strongest stand against the injustices of governments and they weren't going to keep quite. I have a lot of favorite songs on this album, but I think the actual song '...And justice for all' is the best, it's hard for me to decide on this album.

The Instrumentals
Up until this point every album had one beautiful instrumental song
on each album:

Kill em all -------------------- Anesthesia - (Pulling Teeth)
Ride the lightning --------- The call Of Ktulu
Master of puppets -------- Orion
...And justice for all ------- To live is to die
But after that they broke the cycle. I don't know why. I enjoyed the tradition of one instrumental per album. Then came...

The Black Album
In 1991 they released their fifth self titled album. Although it has no set name it is simply referred to as the 'Black' album. This was really a new more up beat, but still heavy Metallica sound. This album has some great soft melodic ballad songs like Nothing else matters and The Unforgiven two of the most famous Metallica songs in existence. The 'Black' album is the most popular in the commercial sense. Since it grew in the 90's along side MTV's success, it had more catchy metal songs, but didn't lack the intelligence and true love for music that the MTV pop culture lacked. They were not sell outs. The god that failed is probably my favorite song on that album.
1992 on...

I don't want go into too much here because I have been very disappointed in their direction. The following albums 'Load' and 'Reload' were just horrible with only one good song out of both albums ( Fuel ). In 1998 they released 'Garage Inc.' which was a compilation of the 2 previous releases 'Garage Days' and 'Garage Days - Revisited'; Metallica's cover's of great old metal and 'Misfits' punk songs. I liked it, but had heard it for years before. In 1999 they released S&M; which, stood for: Symphony & Metallica a bunch of revised renditions of Metallica's songs with an orchestra mixed in. I liked it, but again no new songs.

...Angry

In 2003 they released their last album to date called St. Anger... this album makes me angry it is so horrible. I think James (lead vocals) has lost his voice, maybe he's getting old. That shouldn't slow him down though they were heavy metal gods! it just seems like there's no creativity anymore. On 'Load' and 'Reload' some of their stuff souded even a bit country; sorry, but that is annoying to me. I know it's good to change your sound sometimes and try something different, but that doesn't mean at the exspense of the quality of the music; they should be who they are... a metal band.
Future

As for Metallica's future I don't know. Metallica has put in enough work and good music that they don't have to do anything else, but I can always hope that they will get back in the saddle and try to do it right again. They have already gone down in the history books as the best metal band of all time and hopefully they will go down as the best musicians of all time.
Band Members
James Hetfield -(1981 - now) - Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vocals
Kirk Hammett -(1981 - now) - Lead Guitar
Cliff Burton - (1981 - 1986) - Bassist
Jason Newsted - (1987 - 2001) - Bassist
Robert Trujillo - (?) - Bassist (only reason I note him is because he is from 'Suicidal Tendencies' one of my other favorite bands)
Bob Rock - (?) - New Bassist
Lars Ulrich - (1981 - now)

Summary: My thoughts on Metallica