S&M, or M&S??? (S&M - Metallica)

Member Name: chrispitts

Product:	S&M - Metallica
Date:	07/01/02 (994 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very clever, Unique collaberation, Varied track styles.

Disadvantages: Weakens music, Same style of orchestration

My musical tastes could best be described as "eclectic". Nestling alongside Stereophonics, you'll find The Spice Girls, and Sibelius. Next to Meatloaf you'll see Megadeth, Mahler, and Miles Davis.

Having been a fan of Metallica for many years, I was intrigued to learn they were due to release an album with an orchestra. Sorry? AN ORCHESTRA?!

This double disc features orchestral arangements by Michael Kamen (the one that does the film soundtracks that John Williams doesn't!), and 20 Metallica "classics", which vary from the early to the more recent, from the very heavy, to the... um... slightly less heavy.

I have always tried to persuade people that Metallica tracks are, despite popular misconception, musically very technical. One of the best examples of this is Track 2 on CD1, The Call of Kthulu (from Ride The Lightning). An instrumental, swinging from semi-acoustic lightness to heavy thrashing, it is one of several Metallica tracks which tell a story in music alone. The heavier songs, Master of Puppets, Of Wolf and Man etc. (I was sad to see they'd missed out Crash Course in Brain Surgery!) are well-represented as well, which surprised me (I expected to see them concentrate on the more technical, musical tracks.

There is no denying that the arrangements are very clever. Michael Kamen isn't a world-renowned composer/arranger for nothing, you know, and he seems to have been sufficiently enthusiastic about Metallica's music, to make a good job of the collaboration.

However (there's always a "however"!)
Although the arrangements bounce off the Metallica tracks well, there seems to be a "theme" running through them. Or rather, two themes. I challenge anyone to listen to a few tracks and not think of James Bond Movies! And, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's the soaring glissandos of the string section. Maybe it's the brass i
nterjections (with emphasis on the "softer" sounding brass instruments - the French Horns and trombones.) But, whatever it is, something reminds me of classic Bond soundtracks. And, to a certain extent, that ruins the fun!!
The other theme I picked up on was a tendency towards Eastern melodies and counter-melodies. Sometimes Chinese, sometimes Indian, but I certainly found many of the arrangements being played in Eastern scales. To a degree, I think this works better than the "Bond Effect" - Eastern classical meets Western heavy metal...

In summary, I think this album works well, but maybe not well enough. There's no denying it's clever. There's no denying it's fun. And there's no denying it's a giant leap for music-kind. But I was left with a sort of bad aftertaste - did the orchestra really "add" to the Metallica Tracks? Or did it, in fact, dilute it, and make the overall effect less potent. That's for you to decide!

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