More Appealing? Yea-arh! (Metallica - Metallica)

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Product:	Metallica - Metallica
Date:	16/03/02 (559 review reads)
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Advantages: Amazing, legendary songs, Long and value for money

Disadvantages: The band have deliberatly changed from their older style, and this was not greeted well by many fans, "Don't Trad On Me"

(N.B, I apologise for not being able to write James Hetfield's "yeah.")

Metallica's most well-known, and widely-considered finest, album was released in 1991, and received a phenomenal number one slot both in the US and the UK. The band had broken new ground for mainstream metal, and the first single, "Enter Sandman," remains one of the most popular alternative songs to this day.

Being a huge fan of Metallica's music, I find that this album (unofficially designated as "The Black Album" due to its almost completely black cover which is present, according to Mr. Hetfield, so the listener "is not distracted from the music by artwork") is, on the whole, a fantastic album, however I do not find it their greatest work. The structure, length and style of the songs has obviously been deliberately altered for this record due to Metallica's new association with producer Bob Rock, and this album is certainly more "accessible" than the band's previous four, lesser-known albums; "Kill 'Em All" (1982), "Ride The Lightning" (1984), "Master Of Puppets" (1986) and "...And Justice For All" (1988). These previous offerings featured roughly eight to nine tracks, each occasionally lasting anywhere up to ten minutes, with lengthy guitar, bass and drum solos and drastic rhythm or riff changes within songs. It was also customary to include a lengthy instrumental track, which demonstrates the band's incredible talent, and the lyrics were more rooted in anti-war or anti-democracy themes. These characteristics were all but dropped for The Black Album, and the customary length for songs was five minutes.

While I do not believe Metallica completely "sold out" (at least not at this point in their career), I find it cannot be disputed that the deliberate changes were an attempt to break out into the mainstream (although their previous album &qu
ot;...And Justice For All" did score a chart position of six in the US, due largely to the phenomenal single "One.") It just seems a little hypocritical of, apparently, the most anti-mainstream metal band of the eighties to suddenly become very popular, especially through music videos and singles (which they had previously vowed never to stoop to). Ironic then that "Metallica" eventually denoted five songs (nearly half the album) to music video creation. Perhaps after the death of bassist Cliff Burton in 1986 the band decided to rethink their strategies; I suppose everyone likes a bit of money to line their hair.

As for the songs, the albums is not bad at all, and if you are a fan of Metallica you should most certainly like the album; even if you are just a casual listener you will likely find this album appeals to you more than the others. Beginning with the amazing metal anthem "Enter Sandman," the album starts on a high note, and if you find yourself hating this song then you should probably have re-thought buying the album. Or downloading the MP3 which, we all know, is bad. So we are told. "Sad But True" is the second track; a slower, yet even heavier song, the repetitive nature and long pauses between verses should make this stick in your head longer than most. The riff will sound familiar if anyone happens to be a Kid Rock fan, as it was "borrowed" for the wannabe cowboy dumbass for his "American Bad Ass", most standable track he has produced, single. Track three, "Holier Than Thou", is nothing special really; although enjoyable and featuring the most harsh language on the entire album (the "c" word used to describe human excrement), the song is fairly short and nothing that hasn?t been heard before. Nice and fast though.

Possibly my favourite tracks on the album, "The Unforgiven" and "Wherever I May Roam" were also released as very popula
r singles. "The Unforgiven" is one of the album's two light, harmonic pieces, featuring James Hetfield's singing voice in the chorus and a clean guitar tune throughout. An amazing song that I would recommend. The latter track, "Wherever I May Roam," begins sounding similar in speed and context (with a gong "bwosh!" and slow, Asian-esque guitar tune), before speeding up into another amazing, and also highly repetitive song.

Track six, "Don't Tread On Me," is most likely my worst song on the album. Sounding like some pathetic, unconvincing protest, the song starts with a riff that, I have been told, is a homage to the classic (yeah, right) film "West Side Story." "Through The Never" is a very good song, slightly unoriginal however more so than some on this album, and acts as a very effective filler beginning the second half of the album.

Track eight is the furthest point from the beginning of an album that a song was released, and it is the very popular symphonic "Nothing Else Matters." Foreshadowing the S&M tour at the climax of the 90s, maestro Michael Kamen was drafted in to add a quiet but effective backing track to Metallica's light, clean and lengthy song. I like this song, but I have found there are many people who find the blend of partial symphony makes this the album's finest track by far. Decide for yourselves. The following track is the comedily-named "Of Wolf and Man," which is not even attempting irony at the appearance of the hairy, fanged James Hetfield at the time. Or maybe I imagined the fangs. The song is similar to the style of those from the early part of the album, featuring a heavy riff and interesting, if dubious, lyrics.

The penultimate two songs also appeal to me in a big way, and are slightly tamer than some of those on the album. "The God That Failed" is slower and bass-lead, but at no cost to the power, a
nd features a fantastic clean riff and chorus, while "My Friend Of Misery" is a slower song in much the same style. 'Cept it's longer and it has a really good solo (my personal favourite on the album) that has, in the past, caused an overwhelming desire in me to play on the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, due to its similarity to the music from "Scrap Brain Zone." Both excellent, very often overlooked songs.

The final track, "The Struggle Within," is interesting and enjoyable; just a fast, short song with military drumming at the beginning overlaid with a guitar solo. The riff that appears briefly towards the end is very worth waiting for, and you don?t finish the album on a low, depressing note. Cool song, and bonus points for including the lyric "kicking at a dead horse pleases you."

Overall, the Black Album is a fine, landmark album, and well worth the money; the twelve tracks come in at a little over an hour. This is often viewed as the final album of Metallica's old style, or the beginning of their new. Either way, it does serve to bridge the gap, and was the only thing they released for another six years. How's that for a sales ploy? Enjoy. (Hey, I was a poet and I didn't even know I was).

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