Published on Jun 9, 2003
I went to Wal-Mart on Wednesday, June 4, 2003, and bought this
CD. Happy as a clam, I was about halfway home when I noticed a
little sticker that said “Edited.”
Metallica “censored”?Not in my house. I turned around, returned
to Wal-Mart and got my money back. I told the clerk at Wal-Mart, “I
was driving home and noticed the “edited” sticker.” He replied, “I
never buy CDs here. They’re all edited.” I then went to the Best
Buy store across the street and paid less money for this same
release ($9.99) with all the cursing included. I told the cashier
about the “edited” version and he replied, “I always buy my CDs
here.” That surprises me. . .. not.
When I returned home, now with the uncensored version, I
retreated to my basement to listen to the first new Metallica
studio release since
Reload. I injested this CD, air-drumming and being able to
anticipate some of drummer Lars Ulrich’s cymbal catches and drum
beats on my first listen. The good news: there is no bad news. It
is clear to me that Metallica wanted to hear what would happen if
they took their thrash-metal roots and found a way to bring that
up-to-date and into the growth their sound has made with
Load/
ReLoad. Ulrich has been quoted on the internet as saying he
doesn’t like the phrase “going back,” but that’s what it is; no use
sugarcoating it. There are drum parts and guitar riffs that would
so clearly fit into the
Master of Puppets or
…And Justice For All era of their career. With this
merging of sounds, Ulrich has found his double-bass drums (roots),
and has maintained his snare drum being tuned high, like he did on
their
Mission Impossible II soundtrack contribution “I Disappear.”
Old and new.
Title track “St. Anger” has these lyrics: “Fuck it all and
fuckin’ no regrets / I hit the lights on these dark sets /
Medallion noose, I hang myself / St. Anger round my neck,” quoting
from their
Master of Puppets and
Kill ‘Em All releases. Old and new. Damn. It works.
I am amazed by the aggressiveness on this release and how
Metallica has merged this anger and hostility with calm sections
and riffs that groove. “Some Kind of Monster” and “The Unnamed
Feeling” have sections that bring back memories of other ‘groove’
songs like “Harvester of Sorrow” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” or,
more recently, “King Nothing” or “Devil’s Dance.” I’m not
suggesting that these two elements are not new to Metallica’s
music, but on this release, these common practices of their style
are taken to a new place. That place harbors anger and hostility
and an awareness of imperfections within us all. The perfections of
“Monster” is that the groove between the band members is deep. At
8:26, it’s unlikely this track will enjoy the radio success of
“Nothing” or “Dance.” And no, they don’t sound exactly alike.
The sum of this CD is that it delivers the parts it needs to
return fans that abandoned the band the first time they heard
“Until It Sleeps” either on the radio or on MTV prior to
Load‘s release. The follow-up,
Reload, didn’t bring their fans back either, even though
that disc’s opener “Fuel” was the closest the band had come to
heavy metal in their trademark style. After drifting through back
to back two-CD collections of either someone else’s material (
Garage Inc.) or alternative renditions of their own material
(
S&M), this band has a lot to live up to with this
release. Losing bassist Jason Newsted, the six percent contributor
during his tenure in the band, has not seemed to have any effect on
the band. Replacing Newsted with producer Bob Rock makes sense as
his work with the band since the
Black release has helped mature the band’s sound.
Like someone that reads the last chapter first, I had heard the
first two songs on this release, hearing opener “Frantic” at the
end of last month’s
MTV Icon special. I heard the title track on May 31st, 2003,
while driving from Catholic Mass in the midst of Rock 108’s (
http://www.rock108.com)
“Metallica A-Z Special.” I am glad no officers of the law saw me.
“Shoot Me Again” sticks out as a track that is likely to get my
vote for best track. I like the heavy groove between bassist Rock
and Ulrich. At the exact same moment, “Dirty Window” stands out for
the personal reflections of vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield.
Perhaps summing his recent trip to alcohol rehab, he sings,
“Projecting judgement on the world/ This house is clean baby.” In
“Sweet Amber,” Hetfield Confronts his personal demons, personified
by a woman named Amber. He sings, “She rolls me over ’till I’m
sick/ She deals in habits, deals in pain/ I run away, but I’m back
again.”
The music on this song is fast and loud. The riffs are thick
sounding. “The Unnamed Feeling” culminates the ‘confronting
personal demons’ theme when he sings, “I just wanna get the fuck
away from me.” This release adopts a new mode for the band: few
guitar solos. Since the blisterin’ fancy fretwork on
Kill ‘Em All, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett has helped define
the Metallica style. My personal favorite solos are on classics
like “Master of Puppets,” “Whiplash,” and “Sad But True.” It is
within these songs that Hammett adds a tint to the other colors
(vocals, rhythm guitar, drums, bass) in the song. That song style,
described accurately as “here’s the guitar solo part of the song,
Kirk’s time to shine” is absent from this release. These songs
don’t seem to have any room for guitar solos. Unlike Tourniquet’s
Where Moth and Rust Decay release, where former Megadeth
guitarist Marty Friedman went old school thrash metal, Hammett is
not given those opportunities.
What has taken the place of Hammett’s guitar solos are thick
riffs that sound like death metal in parts, especially on “St.
Anger.” Those parts are where Lars Ulrich has captured his most
impressive performance since
…And Justice for All. His performance on
St. Anger will help him rightly reclaim his position as one
of metal’s best drummers. Not the best, but one of ’em. Last track
“All Within My Hands” puts the exclamation mark on Ulrich’s
performance. While I was initially turned off by Ulrich’s snare
drum tone, it is growing on me. Hetfield finishes this chapter of
Metallica history by screaming “Kill kill kill kill kill” to end
this song. On
Ride the Lightning‘s “Creeping Death,” he sang “Die die
die.” So anywhere you look, you have death.
This release is getting better with each listen. If you feared
this release would be a continuation of the
Load/
Reload era, your fears can be erased. These songs are all
stuffed with riffs that stitch together to form 2003’s most
powerful release. I am eager to hear how many of these songs, and
which ones, will be merged into Metallica’s live set list.
You get a taste of what these songs might sound like live when
you sit through the included DVD, which doubles the amount of time
you get this release. The band plays these songs in their rehearsal
studio. Director Wayne Isham, responsible for many of the band’s
videos (like the San Diego video from
Binge & Purge) tries all sorts of camera tricks to keep
your interest. There’s black and white footage woven into color,
there’s reverse lighting, there’s all sorts of things. You get to
see glimpses of their rehearsal studio, which features the head
from the statue on the
…And Justice for All cover hanging from the rafters.
Metallica could have done more for this DVD. I was disappointed and
I enjoy watching the band play live. I was expecting something
other than “hey, let’s capture Metallica playing the ‘same songs’
on the CD in the same order as the CD.”
While I do like the idea of showing new bassist Robert Trujillo
playing these songs since he isn’t on the non-DVD CD, I expected
something beyond the obvious from the band, like showing the band
members talking at least a little bit about the songs themselves,
perhaps giving us a glimpse into their thoughts. I would have
especially have liked to hear Hetfield, in his down-on-earth
manner, talk about his rehab and what it took to write songs like
“The Unnamed Feeling” and “Purify.” I speculate the sort of
information I think is missing on this DVD will be on a home video
that will probably be released within the year, showing alternative
takes of the footage shown here. This DVD comes across as a teaser
of what we should be seeing from the band in the future.
All in all, this release survives the Internet hype and
triumphs.