1212. Metallica / Kill 'em All. 1983. 5/5

Like any new band, there is no magical pathway to fame and fortune. Most of it is hard work mixed with some good and bad fortune, and more than a dash of talent along with being in the right place at the right time. And so it was for Metallica in the same way as so many other bands. The lead up to their chance to record their debut album was littered with band member changes and the luck of coming up with the right combination at the right time.
The story of how the band came into being and its evolution to one of the biggest bands in the world has been told and retold in many various formats. The coming together of guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich through a newspaper ad is fate in itself, and with Ron McGovney and Lloyd Grant they recorded a song named “Hit the Lights” for a “Metal Massacres” compilation. The recruitment of Dave Mustaine as full time guitarist and co-vocalist brought a fury to the band, in more ways than one. The band recorded their “No Life ‘Til Leather” demo tape that found itself distributed everywhere by fans, and their exposure grew exponentially. Tension with Mustaine eventually led to the departure of McGovney, which allowed the band to bring in Cliff Burton, someone who had caught their eye as they played around the scene, but only on the proviso that they relocated to San Francisco.
The band felt ready to head into the studio for real, but were unable to find anyone to come up with the money required to pay for the recording, as they were unable to find a record label who was willing to front the money. In March 1983, the foursome back their belongings in a truck and drove across the country to New York, where Jon Zazula, a record store owner and eventual founder of Megaforce Records, agreed to help them out. This ended up requiring him to mortgage his house and almost go bankrupt in the process. These were the lengths to which the band and their supporters had to go to get this album off the ground.
A couple of weeks after arriving in New York, Dave Mustaine was fired after a gig, for different reasons depending on which story appeals to you. His overt drug taking and alcohol consumption, along with volent interactions with the band members, gave Hetfield and Ulrich, in their opinion, no choice but to move on without him, despite his obvious talent as a guitarist, singer and songwriter. His final request of the band was that they not use any of his songs when they recorded their debut album. In his place, the band recruited Kirk Hammett, a former student of Joe Satriani, who it is said learned all of the band’s songs on the flight to New York. A good thing too, because the album’s recording started less than three weeks later, and was completed in two weeks.
And so, with all of this turmoil and hard work behind them, it came time to put their brimstone and fire onto vinyl, and spread their word to the masses, to see if the masses would agree that Metallica was indeed one of the hottest new bands in the US.

One of the things that, in my opinion, worked best for Metallica in recording “Kill ‘Em All” is that there is a varied output in the songs that is not necessarily noticeable unless you are really a fan of the work. And one of those major factors is indeed spurned former member Dave Mustaine. Even though he asked the band not to use his songs, there are ways to get around the literally meaning of that, and ensure that the songs can indeed be retained. Mustaine gets four co-writing credits on the album of the ten songs recorded, and to be fair he perhaps should have received more credit than that. The four songs where his name appears are “The Four Horsemen”, “Jump in the Fire”, “Phantom Lord” and “Metal Militia”. “The Four Horsemen” began life as Mustaine’s “Mechanix”, with sexually-innuendoed lyrics about a girl at the gas station. Dave of course eventually used his version of the song on Megadeth’s debut album “Killing is My Business... and Business is Good!” Here though, Hetfield re-wrote the lyrics to concentrate on the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and added a bridge and solo in the middle of the song in order to create a mostly new song. “Jump in the Fire” was apparently the first song Mustaine ever wrote, again utilising sexually charged lyrics. Hetfield again reworked the lyrics, this time as the devil urging people to commit sin so they end up jumping into the fire of hell. Both “Phantom Lord” and “Metal Militia” apparently had minor cosmetic changes from the originals written by Mustaine. All of these are very recognisable songs from the album, and helped to push its eventual popularity, and as a result Mustaine still deserves part of the acclaim, though it must be admitted that James and Lars’s additions to the songs made them not only better songs but more identifiable to their fan base as a whole, rather than making cheap innuendo in the lyrics such as the glam metal genre had done up to that time through bands such as Motley Crue. The lyrical changes in particular allowed Metallica to stand apart from those songs and bands, something that stood them in good stead going forward.
Another of the varied factors can be attributed to Cliff Burton. The story goes that James and Lars first saw Cliff when he was in his previous band, and he was doing his own wailing bass solo, and that was what made them think “here is a guy who could be something special”. Of course, it is that exact same bass solo that the band then recorded for this album, adding Lars’s drums into the second half of the song and calling it “(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth”. It is this kind of unique song and gift that made “Kill ‘Em All” so special at the time, and his contributions throughout the album are amazing, especially in “Motorbreath” and “Whiplash”.
The remainder of the album retains this high water mark. The opening of “Hit the Lights” brings the album to fever pitch from the outset, and given its familiarity with the fans at the time it was the perfect song to open with. “Motorbreath” is electric, with amazing speed both in guitar picking and drumming, and is the short and sharp rebuttal to that which comes before it. “Whiplash” does the same to complete side one of the album in a fury. “No Remorse” is a vastly underrated thrash anthem, one that seems serene to start but finishes in a tide thrash glory, while “Seek and Destroy” has lasted the journey, still in set lists today and still sung as hard by the crowds as it was back when it was released.
In the current day it is hard to imagine a more brutal and incisive beginning to a band’s history as “Kill ‘Em All”. Coming from the bay area as they did, where so many of the most influential thrash bands of all time hailed from at that time, this album not only kick started Metallica’s career, but inspired those around them to follow in their footsteps and create their own dreams as well.

I still remember as clear as a bell the day when I first discovered this album existed. It was May 1986, and my mother had dragged me to a new shopping centre called Macarthur Square, and as she was having a wonderful time walking through the big department stores, I found this out of the way record store, and wandered in and start to browse, not expecting to find anything that I could afford or would probably know anyway. I made my way through the racks, and came to the one labelled “M” - and here was an album by Metallica. Now, it had only been a few months since my friends and I had discovered Metallica, and those amazing albums “Master of Puppets” and “Ride the Lightning”. But I confess that at that time, I had no idea that there had been an earlier album released. So my excitement levels went through the roof. Here was a Metallica album I didn’t know, with some great song titles. So I nagged my parents to loan me the money to buy it, and the deal was done. Then came the interminable wait to get home so I could put it on my parents stereo and discover it for the first time. The wait ended up being more than worth it.
37 years on from that moment, and 40 years since its release, nothing much has changed. “Kill ‘Em All” remains one of those amazing moments in the band’s existence, and also one of the true masterpiece debut albums of all time. The mixture of raw aggression with anthemic moments intertwined, the melding of the lead and rhythm guitar with the bass lines that really matured their songs beyond what they would have been with another bass guitarist, and the youthful screaming of the vocals that highlighted the enthusiasm and desire of the young band to reach beyond the confines of their San Francisco beginnings.
My original copy of this album was lost in a flood some 22 years ago. The copy I have now is the recently remastered and re-released version. But that hasn’t stopped the majesty over the past couple of weeks, taking this out of the cover, placing it on the turntables, and hearing the fade in if the band going nuts, before the opening riff of “Hit the Lights” crashes out of the speaker, and the goosebumps still appear, and the shudder down the spine still follows. Because this still rates as one of the great albums. It may not be as focused or matured as Iron Maiden’s ”Piece of Mind” that was released a few months earlier, but nor should it, given the different stages those bands were at. And Maiden of course were one of the bands that inspired this album in the first place.
This is still the album you can grab when you decide to take a cruise on the highway, turning it up loud and letting the songs do their work. We did it when we were 17 and 18, it was one of the great albums for that kind of experience. I can confirm that it is still worthy of that kind of treatment, though it is a different experience streaming it over Spotify in the car than having the cassette player blasting it out in 1987.
I supposed you’ve guessed that I still love this album. Perhaps I don’t go to it as much as I used to in those late teenage years and early 20’s, but that is because of the sheer volume of albums I now possess than any dimming of my love for this album. The band that I was in during those years attempted many of these songs in those days, and while we nailed a couple, we made a mess of a few others. This one has always been my favourite to play and listen to in that regard.

989. Metallica / Death Magnetic. 2008. 4/5

It had been a long hard road for Metallica the band. Not in regards to popularity, because they still sold out shows and had fans falling over themselves to see them. But the mixed reaction to their releases since 1991 must have caused questioning within the band and their management. Three studio albums that had their core fan base up in arms, a live album with a symphony in support, and a double album filled with cover songs was hardly the track record one would expect from a band of Metallica’s stature. One wondered if there would ever be an album again that could be embraced by the faithful.

In many ways, Death Magnetic was the ‘comeback’ album Metallica had to have.

I have no qualms in admitting that I had written off Metallica forever after the release of St Crapulous. The initial excitement of that album wore off so quickly once the realisation was that it sounded awful and was a completely depressing series of tracks. As a result I had decided I would not be buying the next album, and would have no problem if I never had to listen to it. And this may well have been the case if, at the time the album was released, I had not been working with a 19 year old fan boy who insisted on bringing the album to work and playing it, as well as demanding that I buy it and invest myself in it. From that point I slowly allowed myself to listen to snatches of songs, until eventually I did relent and purchased the disc. Because, as it turned out, Metallica seemed to have found themselves, even if it was in bits and pieces.
What was it that brought all of this on? Was it because on the St Crapulous tour they had begun playing more songs from their halcyon period, including songs from ...And Justice for All that they had abandoned for years, and as such realised not only how good those songs were but how much their fans appreciated them? Was it the introduction of Robert Trujillo to the studio for the first time in the writing and recording process? Was it the jettisoning of Bob Rock as producer for renown metal icon Rick Rubin to take the helm? Is it merely that the band realised the songs need guitar solos from Kirk, and for James to sing as he used to sing? Was it all of these things, or a conglomerate of pieces of them? I don’t know, but whatever it was, it was about bloody time!!!
Given that this is the case, I still think half of the songs are terrific, and the other half average or just above average. It goes without saying that writing and recording a song entitled “The Unforgiven III” is an unforgivable act. Honestly, was it just a bridge too far to expect that the band could completely sever their ties from the 1990’s and leave this behind them? The fact that this is also the most average song on the album is almost incomprehensible. Did Rubin not hear this and strongly advise the band to move in a different direction? They could have replaced this with any of the four songs they later released on Beyond Magnetic and the album would have been lifted. The other songs that I am less than enamoured with here could probably have been improved just by shortening them. The shortest song on the album is the final track at five minutes. The next is “Broken, Beat & Scarred” at 6:25 – one of the songs that would have been improved by a few cuts. “The Day That Never Comes” revisits those ugly days of the 1990’s in the way it sounds as well, and its eight minutes in length becomes unbearable about halfway through. “Cyanide” is better than these three mentioned songs, but both it and “The Judas Kiss” could have used a bit of refining.
The songs that light up the album are the ones that brought new hope for a brave new existence for Metallica fans. Opening with “That Was Just Your Life” and into “The End of the Line”, the album kicks off on the most positive note in years. It’s what first drags you in to the album. It certainly did for me. “All Nightmare Long” is my favourite song on the album, closely followed by the closer “My Apocalypse”, which mimics “Damage Inc” so closely that it has to be deliberate. There is also the instrumental track “Suicide & Redemption”, the band’s first since “To Live Is to Die”, which also is too much of a coincidence not to have been a planned reminder of past glories.

With so much bad blood having flowed under the bridge, it probably wouldn’t have taken a lot to put together an album that could be claimed to be ‘better’ than recent releases. Instead, there had been a major rethink, and the band has come through with the goods. No, it isn’t a return to their glory days. No it is not the next Master of Puppets. What this can claim is that it is a better than average metal record that would probably rate much higher with most people if it had been recorded by another band, but because it is Metallica it will always be judged against those halcyon albums. Put that aside, forgive the creaks that three or four songs offer here, and it is a very enjoyable metal album.

Rating:  “Hunt you down without mercy”.  4/5

988. Metallica / Reload. 1997. 2/5

I wrote a review for Metallica’s previous album Load about four years ago. You can find it both here on Rate Your Music and on my blog Music From a Lifetime. It was a lengthy piece, where in essence I decried the complete revamping of the band’s sound and standing in the metal world to put out such a disappointing load of old bollocks. You could save yourself some time here by either reading that and applying it also to Reload or by just ignoring both. Because there is no joy here from the rubble of that release.

The fact that this album came out fairly soon after Load, and was titled Reload was a concern. Was it all written together? Whether it was or wasn’t, a mere 16 months passed between the release of the two, whereas five years had passed between Load and Metallica, and there had been talk of releasing the two as a double album. The danger then was always that given they decided against that idea and released them as separate albums the band had chosen the best songs they had written at the time and placed them on the first release, leaving the second choice tunes to be collated here on the second album. If that is indeed the case, it doesn’t say much for the whole writing sessions.
“Fuel” is the one song – the only song – that could hold its place on a Metallica album from the previous decade. Even then, it isn’t as fast and furious here as it is when it is played live, but it opens the album on the right foot, and no doubt there were millions of fans all over the world like me who, when they first put this album on, thought that this was the return of the band they knew, that the previous album was perhaps just an aberration.
But from “The Memory Remains” onwards, there is a real constant groove, and by that I mean it isn’t fast and it isn’t overtly heavy, it is more a pattern where the drums and guitar find their groove and sit with it. Does it sound good? There’s no doubt it is catchy in places, and James’ current vocals suit the style. But is it heavy? My word no. Or is it anything like the kind of stuff that we grew up with? My word no. “Devil’s Dance” takes a similar approach, really focusing on the downward pitch of the vocals to implicate a slow and steady line throughout.
“The Unforgiven II” is most definitely unforgiven. It is an abomination. I don’t care how much they loved the first transition of this song on Metallica. It had already been a running joke in our circle of friends that Metallica would do a sequel to their other brain numbingly boring song “Nothing Else Matters”, and call it “Something Else Matters”. How close were we with the arrival of this song? And this is truly a whole pile of rubbish. There is nothing here that inspires the senses, it really does just make you run screaming for the skip button. “Better Than You” would probably be okay if it had and speed at all, forcing its way through the averageness to be a heavier faster song. Alas no such luck.
“Slither”. Is it a groove? Is it a crawl? I don’t know but it is just a borefest. “Carpe Diem Baby” honestly lulls you off to sleep, such is the lack of inspiration and the soothing flow of guitar and vocals. Yes, soothing flow. Doesn’t sound like a metal record does it? Sounds like an easy listening collection. “Bad Seed” is much like “Better Than You” in that with a burst of energy perhaps it would be better than it turns out to be. “Where the Wild Things Are” is most definitely NOT where the wild things are, because we have a really dull, boring and lifeless rhythm riff throughout the whole song with whatever vocal technique James wants to use here. And it goes on forever! It’s just not an aesthetically pleasing song in any way shape or form.
“Prince Charming” is pretty much the most upbeat song on the album. Not that that is saying much, but after the meandering snoozefest that has come before it, at least you start to wake up once this song comes on. However, “Low Man’s Lyric” fights hard with “The Unforgiven II” for worst song on the album. Honestly, is this what we’ve been reduced to, judging worst songs on a Metallica album instead of how do we choose a favourite? This is rubbish of the highest order. “Attitude” tries to convince us that the band still has it. ‘Born into attitude’ is what James sings to us, but who are they kidding? There’s no grunt here, no high paced drums or guitar, just lyrics over a mid-tempo song without any aggro or bent. Seriously, are they trying to have us buy into this? It’s a groove, not a thrash. It’s not even really heavy, it’s a standard hard rock song that AC/DC could do better. “Fixxxer” closes out this collection of songs in much the same way as the rest of the album. Too long, too slow, reflective not reactive.

This is unrecognisable as a Metallica album. Truly, play it back-to-back with any of their first four albums, and you could only make the assumption that this is two completely different bands. And the length of time between those two eras isn’t that damn long. This came out in 1997, just eleven years after Master of Puppets, and nine years after ...And Justice for All. It is a huge leap between genres in such a relatively short space of time. But this was the way metal was heading in America at the time. Thank goodness for Europe, which was embracing speed and power in their metal rather than head down the track of stripped back Southern influence bluesy groove alternative grunge music. It’s a far cry from the pantheon of metal to the depths that this album dives to. Perhaps even more tragically, the bottom for Metallica’s music (but certainly not popularity) had perhaps not even been reached yet.

Rating: "Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire"  Which isn't this. 2/5

987. Metallica / S&M. 1999. 3.5/5

Unlike some of their contemporaries from the 1980’s, Metallica seemed to power through the 1990’s decade as though the obstacles that seemed to be in the path of many other heavy metal bands did not exist for them. On the back of their studio albums “Load and “Reload”, the band toured the world non-stop, selling out stadiums wherever they went, and though parts of their fan base were not as enamoured with their musical direction as other parts, they continued to pick up new fans on their journey whose new adulation offset any negatives.
Following this they released their double album cover songs compilation “Garage Inc”, which combined their already released cover songs from previous eras and a bunch of newly recorded cover songs, which again sold so well that they even did a short tour promoting just those tracks. Only Metallica it would seem could sell out concerts playing songs of which none of them were actually Metallica songs.
So, what was next? A new album? Well it seems the band was not ready for that step just yet, and instead they and their management came up with the idea that perhaps they could do something else a bit out of character. The covers album and tour had worked. Thankfully, the band did not go as far as to record and release an unplugged album, though that concept did creep into their shows around this time, something that should never see the light on an official album release. Instead, the band went down the path of playing their bombastic heavy music on stage with the accompaniment of a symphony orchestra.
The idea for this had been around for a while. Michael Kamen, who would eventually compose and conduct the orchestral arrangements for this album, had also been involved in the backing for the song “Nothing Else Matters’ from the Black album, and had suggested at that time that the band could possibly perform some of their material in this way. It was not an unusual approach with the concept having been done since the 1960’s, perhaps most famously by Deep Purple with Jon Lord’s “Concerto for Group and Orchestra” in 1969. Although it took some years to come to fruition, the band and Kamen finally put their heads together to knock out the song list and the arrangements and the performance, which became the album “S&M”

One of the highlights of the album is the beginning, with Ennio Morricone's wonderful "The Ecstasy of Gold", which Metallica has always played as their opening music at the start of each concert. Here, of course, it can be played live by the symphony orchestra in attendance, and it sounds amazing. A real treat from the start. When it comes to the combination of the orchestra and the band, then perhaps the lead off track on the album is still its best response. "The Call of Ktulu", the wonderful instrumental that concludes the "Ride the Lightning" album has always been a majestic piece of music, and here the symphony and metal combine beautifully to create what does sound like a masterpiece. The song is pure enough in itself when the band plays it live, and doesn't need the extra behind it. Butas an enhanced feature, its a beauty. And, coming off "The Ecstasy of Gold" it is the perfect way to start this album and experience. And then, the segue straight into "Master of Puppets", the first call on James's vocals, and of course just the utter power and brutality of the track itself. How would the symphony ride along with this? Well as it turns out, pretty bloody well. The combination of strings and brass alongside guitar and drums, and especially how it ebbs and flows through the middle melodic guitar break back into the MASTER MASTER WHERE'S THE DREAMS THAT I'VE BEEN AFTER and then the full blown guitar solo is quite majestic. Once again the band and Michael Kamen have done a terrific job.
And the fun doesn't stop there. "OF Wolf and Man" crashes out of the speakers with band a strings squealing at you, and taking you on the journey of the song in grand style. This was always one of the stars of the 1991 release and the live version here is every bit as good. And then... My goodness... "The Thing That Should Not Be" is such a monster track on its own, and it sounds terrific here. Then we have the "Reload" heavy hitters of "Fuel" and "The Memory Remains", to slightly opposing offerings. "Fuel" is such a furious song that while it sounds good here doesn't benefit as much from the setting it is played in, while "The Memory Remains" seems to grow legs with the backing of the extended instrumental source, and sounds larger and more responsive as a result. The crowds backing chants help it as well. This is followed by a new track, one that is only found on this album, "No Leaf Clover", which does defy the recent releases by sounding very good, and has become a track that has outgrown its appearance on this album.
Orchestrally, the joining of the songs from "Load" and "Reload" seems to be a snug fit, and perhaps that it because of the way those albums were composed with a less intense and aggressive musical tone that instinctively suits the symphonic renditions. "Hero of the Day" and "Devil's Dance" are the perfect examples here. Both have their moods well covered by the orchestra behind them, allowing the flow of the song to meld with the backing created by Kamen for these tracks. "Bleeding Me" also always felt like it had a purpose further than what Metallica perform on the studio version, and those differing musical platitudes sound better filled here with the backing of the orchestra and the parts written for them to exacerbate them.
Not all the songs gain much from the setting. "Nothing Else Matters" is not amplified by having the symphony backing and remains much as it does for how you individually enjoy it. "Until It Sleeps" does sound good with the backing, with it fitting seamlessly around the original track, while "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is hampered by the extra sonics making the rather simplified track a bit overcharged. So too to the second new song prepared for this album, "- Human", which doesn't match the enjoyment of the earlier new track. And yet another track that has its own power and majesty, "Wherever I May Roam", is given a completely different feel by the orchestics added in for this show, and while the song sounds great it has its guitar power drowned out which lessens its impact.
For the most part, I feel the same way about the rest of the songs on the album from this point on. The only possible point of difference is "Outlaw Torn" which cannot be saved from itself no matter what they added or subtracted from it. But "Sad But True", "One", "Enter Sandman" and "Battery" are all songs that have their own ambiance, a gravitas that allows them to hold their own without additional backing. So while the addition of the composed symphony that envelops them here sounds great, and it was always going to be interesting to hear what they did with those songs for this concert, it does perhaps slightly hinder each track rather than make it a special version of itself. That is certainly the case with "One" that has all of its dramatic passages completely nullified by the orchestra pieces that were written to amplify it.

I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to get around to buying this album if it had not been for the kids I was playing cricket with at that time. Being a 30 year old around 16-18 year olds meant that they were often pushing their music on me to insist that I listen and give it the thumbs up. And I hadn't really any early enthusiasm to get this album when it was released, but after being hounded for weeks that 'you've gotta listen to it, it's awesome!!' I relented and bought myself a copy. And... It was fine. The dual CD - and of course the DVD of the performance, which was probably better as you could see everyone playing their part - was worth a listen. And I won't deny that the opening of that first CD, from the first strains of "The Ecstasy of Gold" through to the end of "No Leaf Clover", is still pretty good to this day. But beyond that, I could easily dismiss the rest. And to be fair I probably have. Over the years when I have listened to this album or watched the DVD, I get to the end of "No Leaf Clover" and then look for what is next in the rotation.
And perhaps this is one of my bugbears. Metallica have never released an official live album, if you do not include the "Live Shit: Binge & Purge" box set from 1993, which has the CD live show from Mexico City on that Black Album tour. Eventually they took on the role themselves through their own company and now offer people the chance to buy every live show they ever play, in soundboard quality. And that's a great thing. But for all of the amazing shows they performed prior to 2005 or so, you have to rely on bootlegs.
So this being the only other officially released live album... and I know it was a gimmick of the time and they rode that wave all the way to the shore... I would probably have preferred a live album without the orchestra. They even did a show they filmed for MTV on their tour to promote "Garage Inc" with all those cover songs live. They could have made THAT a live album, which still wouldn't have solved the main point of my argument. Which again, is this. This album is fine. It has some great songs on it and great versions of songs in a concept that drew more people in to experience what the band had to offer. And I enjoy it as outlined previously. They even did a SECOND one of these 20 -odd years later, which I had never seen nor listened to. Because what you want is to hear the four members of the band, and that's about it. And here you don't have that.
I understand why there are people out there that adore this album and the versions of the songs it contains. I really do. For me though, unless it is on a rare occasion such as having to review it for a podcast episode on its anniversary, I'll be happy to leave it on the shelves.

986. Metallica / St. Anger. 2003. 1.5/5

My fondest memory of this album was its release, when Utopia Records in Sydney had a midnight opening to be the first place in the world to sell the new album. My circle of friends travelled up, drank beer in a bar for 6 hours beforehand, then went in with a few hundred others, getting other material and then waiting in line to pay for those and collect a copy of the album, all the while listening to it over the store’s stereo. One of my mates enquired as to what was the rubbish they were playing, and when he was informed it was Metallica’s new album, the reason we were there, he used some language and decreed he would not be wasting his money on this abomination. As it turned out we were pretty much at the end of the line, such that when we reached the counter they had sold out of the album we had come for. Some of us were furious. I just laughed. An evening well spent, especially when I walked into K-Mart three days later and got the album for $13 less than I would have paid.

In the same way as we knew how the recording of the Metallica album went down because it was filmed and released, we have the same here with St. Anger because of the documentary “Some Kind of Monster”. So we know there was anguish when Jason left the band before writing and recording. We know there was anguish when James went into rehab. We know there was pain and anguish when he could only be in the studio for four hours a day as a part of his rehab. It’s a wonder they got anything coherent recorded at all. Certainly the process throughout was flawed. All I know is that it was better than Jason’s new band Echobrain’s album.
But how much better? The putrid taste of Load and Reload still hung in the mouth, and all we had was a hope that the band also realised they had been a mistake and that we would gain something that was a lot closer to the material we wanted. Well. We didn’t. We got something that was almost completely unexpected and unreconciled. We got an album that was what they called as ‘stripped down’. The problem was, it was stripped of everything. The band went from being produced to overkill to barely needing a producer at all. From all reports, they wanted the album to sound like it was recorded in a garage. Well, challenge completed, because that’s exactly what it sounds like. But why the amateur hour? It defies all logic. But looking at the album, logic seems to have gone out the window. For example, let’s look at the following:
1. Lars’ drum kit and drum sound. In the good old days, Lars had the greatest drum kit, and played it as the greatest drummer in the world. His drum sound was what drummers aspired for. Now, he has a three piece kit, and the sound of the kit is deplorable. Well to be accurate, the snare. The snare sound, apparently produced by turning off the mic to it during recording, is deplorable. And what is worse, it is there for the whole bloody album. No matter how I am feeling about the album, I just keep coming back to that bloody snare. It sounds AWFUL!! It detracts from every damn song on the album. Garage bands all over the world try to find any way possible to eradicate this snare sound from their dodgy four track recordings in order to have it sound like the Metallica drum sound on their albums from the 1980’s, and yet Lars goes out and embraces this amateurish sound. It is the single biggest problem with this album. Once you add to this that a seven year old could play the drums as written and recorded on this album and you have to wonder exactly what has happened to the man who was once idolised by every drummer in the world.
2. James vocals. Having crooned his way through the 1990’s having had to transform the way he sang due to blowing out his voice, he comes in here on St. Anger and seems to move into a scream and yell combination that might indicate he has had enough of that. The problem is, it comes across as forced. No one expects him to be able to sing like he did when he was 19 years old, but the middle ground between that and what he had been doing is not this. Thankfully he found it later, but for the most part his vocals on this album are again like a kid in a garage band, one who knows he can’t sing great but he will overcome it with attitude. Mind you, with that godawful drum sound to have to sing over perhaps this was the only way he could get heard over the din.
3. No Kirk solos. This was always a major, major problem for a band that has a lead guitarist in it, and one of the best at that. Just because the current mood of nu-metal when this was recorded had a directive that meant all the guitars had to mesh into one doesn’t mean you have to follow! All it did was forever tie this album to this time in metal history, one that will never be fondly remembered, and also completely waste one member of your band from not only expressing himself but from adding his own flavour to the songs and the album as a whole. Just really poor thought processes there.
4. Bob Rock on bass. He’s a competent player, and in general ever since Cliff Burton passed Metallica has tried to hide the bass on their albums anyway, but the individuality of a band bass player is basically also missing here.
On top of this, because of the way it is recorded with just Lars and James being relevant and heard and because of the length of the songs that never change throughout, this album feels like one long painful song. Yes, if you walked past a garage and heard a band jamming in there for an hour and a half straight, it would probably sound just like this. That is a long time for little variation, and to have to put up with listening to that fucking snare.

There are bits and pieces of songs that I like on this, but really no songs in total that I enjoy from start to finish. I tried to like it, if for no other reason than I thought the band was trying to make amends for their previous dive for the depths, but on reflection this actually washes up to be worse than those, for those reasons stated above. Again, there is every probability that if I was of a different generation I would have embraced this thoroughly because other generations grew up with nu metal and enjoyed it. That’s not me though, and though a couple of these songs do sound better in a live environment, overall this is a major disappointment.

Rating: “I’m madly in anger with you”. Yes, I’m talking to you Lars! 1.5/5

985. Metallica / Metallica. 1991. 4/5

The anticipation leading up to the release of Metallica back in 1991 was almost unbearable. In the three years leading up to it we had had ...And Justice for All blow us away, followed by our first sighting of the band in Australia on the Damaged Justice tour which was unbelievable. Then a few short weeks before its release the single “Enter Sandman” had been released, and again caused an outbreak of mayhem. It was a foregone conclusion that the new album was going to be amazing and none of us could wait to hear it. Perhaps we expected too much. For parts of it, we didn’t expect what we got.

No doubt the experience of this album was different for those that didn’t grow up in the 1980’s and grew up with the first four Metallica albums as the template you expected. Those that came in at this point probably have a greater love for what Metallica ended up producing through the 1990’s as a result, because Metallica set the new blueprint in place. Overall it is of a more even tempo, a less frantic and more mature sound, utilising more grooves than out-and-out duelling riffs and a much more simplified drum technique. All Metallica fans know about how the album came to be made, it was all filmed and released on the “A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica” video. Bob Rock came in as producer, James blew his voice out, there was a feeling from within the band that they needed to continue to adapt. On its release and it having been digested by all over a matter of months, there were (and are) those who felt it was a sell out by the band, a deliberate softening of their sound in order to gain radio airplay and make more sales. Most of the evidence available at that time and since suggests this isn’t the case. In the first instance, you wouldn’t say that a song like “Sad But True” is a softened song simply because the tempo is reeled right back. In the second instance, this album becomes a bridge to the following two albums, where the style of songs that the band produced headed further in the direction this one had taken from its predecessor. It is just the start of the path, and if it was selling out for more money then surely the backlash that occurred during the decade from their core fan base was enough to show that it wasn’t going to work. Instead, the band went in the direction they wanted to for their own reasons, not the call of the dollar.
In 1991, my initial reaction to the album was positive. When you are 21, you seem to have more time to listen to the same album a hundred times in a week, and I’m pretty sure this is what I did with Metallica. The opening track I was already more than familiar with, as “Enter Sandman” had not only infiltrated all of the music video shows but had even creeped onto the radio in places. I loved the slow heated rage of “Sad But True” with the nuances and range that James uses to push his emotions through. The return to the fast paced “Holier Than Thou” spitting at you from out of the speakers always increase the heart rate. The majestic rising and falling of “Wherever I May Roam” has that atmosphere that drives your emotions faster than you would imagine the tempo of the song could. “Don’t Tread on Me” was harder to get into, its song structure always felt more offbeat than I was comfortable with. Then the drive into “Through the Never” erased any doubts and always brought back those glad tidings. “Of Wolf and Man” was another immediate favourite, one I would sing at the top of my lungs in my downstairs bedroom. “The God That Failed” I always cast in the same category as “Don’t Tread on Me” as one of those middle range songs. The mood created by Jason Newsted’s bass riff at the start of “My Friend of Misery” would send chills down my spine when it started, and the closing song “The Struggle Within” is probably the song that most closely relates to the thrash roots of the band, with the speed, complexities and heavy riff always finishing off the album on a great note. While it was the first Metallica album that I didn’t absolutely love all the way through from start to finish, I still played it for months and loved it as best I could.

As that happy and carefree 21 year old, I was never able to reconcile the two problem songs of the album, and as a happy and careworn 47 year old I still have the same problems today. “The Unforgiven” never ever sat easy with me. Can I tell you why? Not exactly, no. As many thought at the time, it felt like a ‘radio-friendly’ song, one that would appease those who listened to commercial radio. And “Nothing Else Matters” was and even firmer example. It broke the Metallica mould well and truly. Of course, the ballad was a well-known entity in the metal world, but for the most part it was a feared entity for my generation. We could take them from bands such as Scorpions and Motley Crüe because that was a part of their makeup, but it wasn’t a part of Metallica’s DNA, and that was scary.
I always came back to these types of Metallica songs by comparing them to “Fade to Black”, which isn’t a radio-friendly song but was the slower paced, clear guitar, soulful vocal song from the band’s past that you could judge these songs against. Because there is no selling out with “Fade to Black”, it is just an awesome piece of song writing and music. Listen to it, and then listen to “The Unforgiven” and “Nothing Else Matters”, and judge the difference between them. I’ve said this before, but maybe if I came across Metallica at the age of 14 in 1991 these songs would resonate with me as much as “Fade to Black” does with me in my own age bracket. Is it just a timing thing – that because I grew up with the early albums and can’t cotton onto these two songs because I expected more, then and now? That argument could be made and would make for a worthwhile discussion. The conclusion for me here is that these did sound like radio songs and that is what they became. Even listening to them today, and especially their performance at concerts I have attended, they just left me feeling flat.

With the groundwork set, the path for Metallica’s progression (or regression) in the 1990’s was laid down here. In 1991 I loved this album but with reservations. In the changing world of music at the time where grunge was exerting its influence no one knew how much heavy metal was going to be affected. This album still stands as a testament to Metallica’s ability to adapt to their own maturing loves, and while it has its detractors for one reason or another there is no denying that much of this is terrific material which is still a hell of a lot better than what most bands can produce.

Rating:  “What is it, what have you got to lose”.  4/5

962. Metallica / Hardwired... to Self Destruct. 2016. 3.5/5

I had truly begun to wonder if Metallica would even bother to ever release another album of new material. In a day and age where money is made by touring rather than selling albums, did they even need to bother? They will forever sell out concerts around the world playing everything off the albums of their first ten years. After the horror of much of the material from Load and Reload and St. Anger, did they need to put themselves through all of that again? Sure, Death Magnetic had half an album of good material, but do you actually want to hear any of that live? All of this sounds negative, but in the long run, on the announcement that they had indeed pulled their finger out and recorded a new album, I can honestly say that, on this occasion at least, I was looking forward to hearing what the band had come up with.

What is the deal with releasing double albums? Iron Maiden did it with The Book of Souls, and now Metallica has done it here with Hardwired...to Self-Destruct. Is it a payoff for the length of time between releases, or just an inability to edit and cut out songs to fit it all on one disc? The ludicrous situation comes when you have to put out THREE vinyl albums to fit the material on it! Obviously, if every song is strong enough to warrant inclusion then this is okay. Much like Maiden’s last release, I’m sure the consensus is that a little editing could have been done.
At least you can say that on this album, Metallica has had a crack at finding that lost ground from 25 years ago. It’s not completely successful, but as with the previous album there are at least places here where you can hear that not everything has been washed away from the original item. It would not be an accident that the first three songs that were released as teasers to the album were “Hardwired”, “Atlas, Rise!” and “Moth Into Flame”, as they are still the three songs that give you the best feeling about the album and the band. Harder, faster, vocals that spit and guitars that flame. They won’t necessarily be everyone’s favourites on the album, but they are the ones that best portray the old warm feelings that Metallica once harboured in all fans. “Now That We’re Dead” sits between these, and while the tempo is not the same as the others, the groove works despite its similarity to pieces of Load.
The slower songs still dredge up bad memories of stuff from Load and Reload. It’s that slow sludgy lack of momentum that really harks back to that era of Metallica, an era that sends shivers down the spine for all the wrong reasons. “Dream No More” is the first impact of this. This could almost have come from the sessions from those albums. “Confusion” also drags up memories like that, but probably more from James’ layered vocals, which are a staple of their releases from the 1990’s. “Halo On Fire” finishes much better than it starts. “ManUNkind” is only average at best, mixing as it does some Sabbath-like riffs along with a halting tempo that I find difficult to like.
“Here Comes Revenge” is a creeper, starting out somewhat morbidly before growing throughout until it concludes with you moving to the music without even realising you are doing it. “Am I Savage” is another where the tempo just doesn’t sit quite right. Again it’s that 1990’s tempo, one where the band moved to after its conversion period, and while the build to the end of the song improves dramatically overall it is average.
I must admit that while “Murder One” is not a bad song, I don’t understand why you would write a song in tribute to Lemmy Kilmister that is played at this tempo. Surely it would have made more sense to get it up to the tempo of those great Motorhead songs that he wrote – I’m not suggesting rip them off, but make it a celebration of the man and his music. Instead, we are stuck in this low tempo grunge that had little to do with his music at all. Strange. “Spit Out the Bone” though ends the album on a positive thrashier note. It’s just a little strange that the preceding songs were of such a different vibe that this is suddenly thrown at you as the closer. It lifts your perception, but in many ways it is a false perception.
As a band the individuals still all have what it takes. Robert Trujillo, while in some places still appearing to be overwhelmed by the wall of guitars in the mix, does an excellent job once again. His part is as support player in the band, but he is terrific again and when he is allowed to break out it is noticeable. Kirk Hammett, following the disasterous St. Anger no-solo experiment, again proves he can put together his craft at a high point. James Hetfield strives to find that middle point between youthful screams and middle age lower tone with his vocals again, and for the most part succeeds. The elephant in the room is still the drums. They sound fine, and at least Lars has never repeated that god-awful sound that he decided was awesome on St. Anger. But honestly, has he even put any effort in to what he’s playing? Yeah, he’s rich and clicked up enough credits in those early albums to allow him (and the band for that matter) to do whatever they like, but seriously? Like millions of my generation, when ...And Justice for All came out I spent hours and hours trying to play those songs just like Lars did, and it was fantastic. He was the top of the pile then. Now I reckon my nine year old could play this album with barely a listen. It’s not the only reason the songs these days can’t match their earlier stuff, but to me it’s a major one. Lars inspired generations of drummers with his playing in the 1980’s. Now everyone has gone past him. It’s a little sad to see, and hear.

Initially I thought the album sounded good, with pieces attracting me immediately, and some not so. At the time, it was my assumption that, like many albums, it would grow on me over time the more I listened to it, and that I would be better for it. To be honest for me that wasn’t the case here. The songs that grabbed me straight away I still listen to happily. Most of the songs that I had trouble with have mostly remained that way. If you played only the opening track and the closing track to someone, they would probably think this album could be a rival to the first four albums the band released. If you play two of the songs from the middle, that same person may think this was a rival to those albums from the 1990’s. That’s how subjective it is. I think it is overkill, and by having the courage to remove two or three songs and making it a 60 minute single disc album it would have worked better. But hell, what would I know.

Rating:  “Plug into me and I'll save you from emotion”.  3.5/5

826. Metallica / Master of Puppets. 1986. 5/5

There are some moments in life that will stick with you forever, no matter what you go through and no matter how insignificant they may appear at the time, or to others later on when you relate it to them. They aren't always life-changing moments per se, but more often than not they will be. When it comes to music and albums, I have a number of these moments. As it turns out, I remember with clarity the first time I heard Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, the day I bought their Powerslave album, the moment I first picked up Gamma Ray's debut Heading for Tomorrow, amongst others. Along with these, I remember the first time that the band Metallica was mentioned to me, and the first time I heard the name of the album Master of Puppets.

I had returned to school for the start of Year 11, on one of the first days of March 1986. My friends and I had started on a quest towards discovering the love of heavy metal music. Some had started earlier than others, and my own initiation had only really begun towards the end of the previous school year. On this day, we were discussing what we had all done on our summer holidays, when one of our number said he had heard of this band called Metallica, and had read good things of them. Another of our group concurred that he had heard similar things, and that we should try and get some of their music. It was then that the first informant did a deal with his accomplice, suggesting that if one of them went out and bought an album called Ride the Lightning that he would go out and buy the album entitled Master of Puppets. And so it was agreed. That morning conversation, sitting on plastic school chairs gathered in a circle underneath the trees in a corner of the seniors common area, is still crystal clear in my brain. I can still see and hear it all now. Within the week, through the magic of two people each buying a vinyl album and the rest of us throwing blank cassettes at them to record them for us, we all had these albums, and a life long love affair with a brilliant album had begun.
How do you properly review an album that isn't just one of my favourite releases of all time, but is as much a part of who I am and how I have become that way over the years? Music takes on different roles for different people. Many people just like music and enjoy it when they listen to it. It means more to me than that. I wouldn't go so far as to proclaim that Master of Puppets changed my life and opened my eyes in any sort of biblical sense, but it did become an amazing tool over the years as I grew from awkward teenage geeky nerd to awkward twenty-something geeky nerd to slightly awkward forty-something husband-father geeky nerd. It became an album that I could listen to no matter what mood I was in, and it would almost instantly transform me from that mood into whatever mood I wanted to be in. I have other albums like that too, but this is one of the best, in almost every regard.

"Battery" is a monster of an opening track, lulling you in as it does with its clear guitar, almost classical, before the single drum beat and riff flay into the frenzied start of the song. I'll never forget the number of times you could sneak this album onto the stereo at a party, and people would comment on how lovely the opening bit is, and then start screaming for the album to be replaced the moment the song cut in to its heart.
"Master of Puppets" is arguably the finest heavy metal song ever composed and written. It immediately caught my attention and imagination when I first heard it, and along with "Fade to Black" was the first song to draw me into the Metallica fold. Why? Probably the fact that Metallica could mix this brilliant high energy fast guitar and drum aggression with the amazing clear melodic guitars that make the middle break of this song and so much of "Fade to Black" from the previous album, and all without tarnishing the quality or the integrity of the song. This song has everything, and I will still sing every damn word at the top of my voice with the correct amount of aggression every single time it comes on.
"The Thing That Should Not Be" is a different animal entirely from the opening two tracks. A rumbling, creeping bass line and guitar riff sludges along with Lars' mid-tempo drum work to create an unbelievably atmospheric song. Back in the days when vinyl was transferred to cassette to listen to on portable tape players, to fit this album on one side of a 90 minute cassette I had to forgo one of the tracks. This was the one I chose, in deference to most of my friends who chose another song (see below for further explanation). This wasn't because I disliked the song - completely the opposite in fact. But as a teenager, looking to have the fiercest vibe as possible in my music, this was the song I felt could be abandoned in this instance. It's still brilliant, and the days of CDs and digital tracks means no choice now has to be made.
"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is another classic, and one where Metallica broke the mould on song composition. Again, it has elements that set it apart from a typical heavy metal song, without losing the roots of what they play. The intro to the song is just fantastic, and in many ways it defines how Metallica (at this point in their career) stood apart from all other metal bands.
"Disposable Heroes" opens up side two of the album in a panicked frenzy, bringing out the best in brilliant riffage, supersonic drums and anguished, angry vocals. The war cry of "BACK TO THE FRONT!" and "I WAS BORN FOR DYIIIIIIING!" is spine chilling stuff, and still brings goosebumps whenever I listen to the album. There's nothing much left unsaid here.
"Leper Messiah" follows, and again doesn't leave anything to the imagination on the subject matter of the song. Great riffs abound, and the drumming here is terrific. This is the song my friends had missing from their cassette copy rather than "The Thing That Should Not Be". Coming home to Kiama from a road trip to Bega with two mates whose band I was in at the time, I played my copy of this album, and when this song came on they asked "What's this?!?" They'd never heard it before, didn't even know it existed. Having played and repeated it about twenty times during the course of the trip home, I got a phone call the following day to tell me to start practicing it, because we were playing it in the band. The power of the song is right there.
"Orion" is the instrumental of the album, and almost steals the show. This is an amazing piece of music, building and flowing all the way through, changing its mood as it does, and utilising every member's talents in the process. Cliff Burton's sensational bass playing, which is the crux of the song, James and Kirk's mournful guitaring through the middle section before breaking out into the solo section to conclude the song, while Lars' drums just hold it all together. Magnificent.
"Damage Inc." concludes the album with brutality, speed and power, reminiscent of the band's earliest work. There's no time to breath through this track, with Lars ripping through drum rolls as the others blaze along on their guitars with ridiculous triplet picking. Sure the other songs here reek of a maturity from the speed and thrash metal roots from which the band emerged, but it's pretty much thrown overboard here as they shred their way through the final five and a half minutes of the album, just to remind everyone that they can still do it.

Lyrically, there have been few albums that have been so coherently and explicitly and expressively belligerent as Master of Puppets. Hetfield's lyrics paint portraits here that are impossible not to see in full Technicolour vision. In the good old days of vinyl, when you could open the gatefold or pull out the insert, put the record on the player, and sit cross legged on the floor and read and memorise all of the lyrics on the album, I would at times not necessarily take in the full power of the lyrics, but just make sure I knew every word to sing along to. But on Master of Puppets it is impossible to steer away from the stories being told by the amazing invective thrust upon you. Even just taking a few lines from each song is not enough to give the full picture, but it is a start.

"Lashing out the action, returning the reaction, weak are ripped and torn away"
"Pain monopoly, ritual misery, chop your breakfast on a mirror"
"Messenger of fear in sight, dark deception kills the light"
"Whisper things into my brain, assuring me that I'm insane"
"Barking of machine gun fire does nothing to me now, Sounding of the clock that ticks, get used to it somehow"
"Marvel at his tricks, need your Sunday fix, blind devotion came, rotting your brain"
"Fuck it all and fucking no regrets, never happy endings only dark threats"

The band is at the peak of their theoretical powers. Not only that, Hetfield's vocals are the finest on this album than any other - they have matured from the high pierced screams from the first albums, and have not devolved into the lower register he was forced to take once he blew out his vocal chords on later albums. This is where they are at their best, and it falls in with everything else this album provides.

I have lived and breathed, headbanged and moshed, air guitared and lap drummed, and air-raid siren sung this album for almost thirty years now, and it never gets tired and it never gets old. It forms a major part of my final school years, my short-lived university years, my work life, my marriage and my family life. The band I was once a part of played four of these eight songs, and probably would have played all of them if we'd been together longer. It still brings together my small circle of lifelong friends whenever we put it on. It brings out some of the best moments of my life, because it always seemed to be played at those moments. This remains for me one of the finest three albums ever written and recorded. It is an all time classic and an absolute masterpiece

Rating:  Drain you of your sanity, face the thing that should not be!  5/5.

776. Metallica / 11-6-2003 3rd Show Le Trabendo [Bootleg]. 4/5

A week after the worldwide release of their album St Anger, Metallica embarked on an inventive promotion ploy, playing three gigs on the same day in three separate locations in Paris, France at well known venues. Each gig lasted an hour before packing up and heading for the next gig.
This bootleg is from the third and final gig, played at Le Trabendo. Again, as with the La Boule Noire gig, the recording is good and surprisingly clear for an audience recording, though the tape and microphone do seem to pick up a bit of squelching or feedback, which would bring it back to be a B recording.

The set list again incorporates a mix of songs, which perhaps harps closer to the popular 'modern' era than the previous two gigs. Having started off with "Blackened" they crash into "Fuel" for the first time on the day, which is also probably their hardest song in recent aeons. This is then followed by two further songs from ...And Justice for All, being the brilliant "Harvester of Sorrow" and then "One". Was it a deliberate ploy to have three of the first four songs from that album?
The chosen piece from St. Anger for this gig is the title track, which again shows it's positives and negatives. The song still starts off terrifically, led by James' trademark intro of "Riff!" But once you get to the clear guitar, the high vocals overlaying that, and the weak-arse backing vocals of Rob and Kirk, the song is destroyed. Yikes.
So how do you recover from that? Well, you bring out the big guns, with "Enter Sandman" for the first time on the day, and that old staple of brilliance, "Master of Puppets". After a short drink, the band returns to complete their day with thrash, that being "Creeping Death" and "Hit the Lights".

This is another good bootleg, and together with the first two boots, it covers an interesting day in the history of Metallica. They are all worth a listen, if only to hear where the band was at the beginning of the Rob Trujillo era, and how they have progressed or fallen in your own eyes since.

Rating:  With all our screaming, we are gonna rip right through your brain  4/5

775. Metallica / 11-6-2003 2nd Show Bataclan [Bootleg]. 4/5

A week after the worldwide release of their album St. Anger, Metallica embarked on an inventive promotion ploy, playing three gigs on the same day in three separate locations in Paris, France at well known venues. Each gig lasted an hour before packing up and heading for the next gig.
This bootleg is from the second gig, played at Paris Bataclan. However, the audience bootleg sound is not as good as on the first gig, certainly it is a bit muddier and could probably be best rated as B- in this regard.

This second gig has a brilliant set list, and the high energy set is appreciated by the crowd in attendance. Once again, it is great to hear a bootleg that not only has a good recording of the band and each instrument, but also takes in the crowd's involvement, making you feel as though you are a part of it. Having started off with "The Four Horsemen", there is a brilliant performance of "Leper Messiah", driven along by the crowd's raucous singing. "Leper Messiah" is one of my favourite Metallica songs, and this version here is a cracker. This is followed by another of the band's thrash level songs, "No Remorse", with more brilliant crowd involvement, and the band appears to be enjoying it too. Too fast for you? Well, next comes "Fade to Black", which doesn't allow the crowd to let up for much more than a few seconds.

James then asks the crowd if they have St. Anger. General agreement ensues. Then he asks "who likes it?", and the crowd gets even louder. I wonder how many of those in that crowd that day would still say the same about that album now? Anyway, here they play the title track from the album, which much like most of the songs they played live from that album never really seem to come across as easily and enjoyable as the other songs in the set list. Only early days for those songs being played live I guess, and no doubt they improved a great deal, but "St. Anger" feels forced here. James introduces the band following this, with a huge reaction from the crowd on Rob Trujillo's introduction, as these were some of his first gigs having joined the band. They then charge back up again with a rollicking version of "Ride the Lightning", followed by a fingers-flying "Blackened", before an 'encore' of old favourite "Seek & Destroy" and "Damage Inc."

Once again, this is a brilliant bootleg, with a brilliant set list and a great balance between the band and the crowd.

Rating:  Honesty is my only excuse  4/5.

"Leper Messiah" at Bataclan

774. Metallica / 11-6-2003 1st Show La Boule Noire [Bootleg]. 4/5

A week after the worldwide release of their album St. Anger, Metallica embarked on an inventive promotion ploy, playing three gigs on the same day in three separate locations in Paris, France at well known venues. Each gig lasted an hour before packing up and heading for the next gig.
This bootleg is from the first gig, played at La Boule Noire. The recording is quite good for an audience recording, best rated as B+ in this regard. And the crowd really gets into it, which always makes a bootleg sound better when you can hear their enthusiasm, and cheering, and their singing along with the words.

The set list and performance is excellent. Mixing up a selection of great early hits, the only song to come from the new album is "Frantic", which frankly still comes across rather tinny here. It is also noticeable that Lars is using a very skinny kit, because there are a lot of things in these songs sound less full than they should be. No doubt the moving of gear quickly would have been behind it, but that's not to say it couldn't have been improved.
Rousing versions of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Master of Puppets" are followed by the crowd favourites "Harvester of Sorrow" and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", with the crowd being led enthusiastically in chorus by James. St. Anger's "Frantic" follows along with "Sad But True", before a trio of old school heavy hitters in "Battery", "Creeping Death" and "Motorbreath" round out the set in style.

The winners here are the generally pre-1988 set list as well as the crowd involvement. It lifts your enthusiasm while you listen along, and is the hallmark of all of the best bootlegs - hearing the crowd, but not having the two or three near where it is being recorded from dominating in conversation through the gig. Well done recorder!

Rating:  It is... going to... take your breath away!  4/5

Full bootleg

767. Metallica / 1983-03-05: The Stone, San Francisco, CA, USA [Cliff's 1st Show] [Bootleg]. 5/5

The availability of, and ability to track down, bootleg recordings of bands in recent years has increased remarkably with the advent of the internet and other various modes of recording and distributing such albums. Nowadays practically every concert played is recorded by someone, and the sharing becomes more widespread.
There are some real gems that can crop up from days past, ones that still hold up years later, ones that have recorded a piece of history. Some of these pieces of history can also be pieces of crap, depending on the quality of the recording, or the quality of the performance involved. This bootleg has the best of both, which is fortunate, as it marks a big moment in the history of Metallica. The band had just parted ways with original bass guitarist Ron McGovney, and had found a new guy named Cliff Burton to take his place. His first show with the band was on 5th March 1983 at The Stone in San Francisco, and the band had brought in their open air reel-to-reel to record the show. From that came this bootleg.

This really is a superb bootleg. It is raw, and it captures the band in their ultimate rawness. It's interesting to hear the vocals especially. They aren't note-perfect, which to be honest is refreshing given they were yet to release a studio album. You can hear early indications as to why James's voice eventually blew out, even from this point in time. Dave Mustaine takes the lead on the opening tracks "The Mechanix" and "Phantom Lord", both of which he helped to compose, before handing over lead vocal duties to James. The setlist is terrific, and the band doesn't sound all that different from the one that eventually led to the studio. Filling out the set came the band's three favourite cover songs, "Am I Evil" (with Mustaine's guitar cutting in and out during the solo) and "Blitzkrieg", both of which eventually made the B side of the single for Creeping Death, and "The Prince". Here you can also hear for the first time Cliff Burton's bass solo, which on the album was entitled "(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth". What an amazing sound he gets out of that bass guitar, and it's just amazing to hear it here for the first time with this band.

This show was just two months before the band entered the studio to record their debut album Kill 'Em All. Everything that ended up on that album appears here in their live setting, except for "Hit the Lights", and of course the re-working and re-naming of "The Mechanix" to become "The Four Horsemen". It was also just one month before the sacking of Dave Mustaine as lead guitarist, and the hiring of Kirk Hammett as his replacement. As such, it is one of the few bootlegs around that has this quartet performing. Have a listen to this, and then pull out Kill 'Em All and notice the differences. Apart from Kirk's solo's, there really isn't that much!

Rating:  Whoever thought she'd be better, at turning a screw than me.  5/5

Listen to the complete show here!

733. Metallica / Lords of Summer (First Pass Version) [Single]. 2014. 2/5

In the absence of any new material for the last six years (if you choose to ignore Lulu, which I most definitely choose to do!), this single was released in the middle of 2014, as a portent to the possible sessions that were going on in regards to possibly putting together material for a possible new album. Possibly. So, like very other poor sap out there, I plonked down my hard earned to have a listen to what Metallica circa 2014 sounds like.
I am somewhat at a loss as to why the song that was written and released had to be over 8 minutes in length. I mean, it comes across as though they just had about six different riffs out there, so if we throw them all together in varying parts of this, then extend them as long as we possibly can, then we will have something we can sell the public on. Oh, and it's over 8 minutes long, so you know it must be quality.

Really? I mean... really?!

I don't hate this. Let's get that out there. It has merit. Or at least, pieces of it have merit. I can hear some good things in here, but I can't hear anything that really makes me want to sing, or headbang, or even vaguely tap finger-drumsticks on the table. And why the time changes? I thought they had gotten all of this out of their system long ago. In the past they fit, now we go from frenetic shredding to slow strumming then back to mid-tempo, all within about 60 seconds. That annoys me. So do Hetfield's vocals when he goes into his "St. Anger" high pitched wailing. Enough James, St. Anger sucked, let's go back to singing in mid range.

Is it the drumming that annoys me the most about this? I think so, even more so than James' vocals. Seriously, if Lars makes his drumkit any smaller he'll be playing the bones instead of the drums. And you really notice it here. It is simplified stuff, because he simply doesn't have any variety in his kit anymore to do anything else! Check out the thousands of drummers in metal bands around the world right now - the ones Lars inspired back in the 80's when he was the out and out king of drumming. They have toms galore to play rolls on. They play their double kicks at lightning speed, because Lars did it. Every drummer in the world is now more powerful and more proficient in music because of Lars... except Lars himself. He is now denigrating his own music, because he wants to play on a box and a piece of tin. I don't get it. This song is not as full sounding as it should be because Lars does not have a drumkit to play onto make it sound that way.
And the solo mid-section just goes on way too long.
Anyway...

If this song makes the next album, then beware the rest, because they need to work a bit harder if they are going to make something that captures the public's attention for the right reasons. This isn't it.

Rating:  Lords of summer have returned... to mediocrity perhaps... 2/5

717. Metallica / Ride the Lightning. 1984. 5/5

1983 had heralded the meteoric rise of Metallica, through imperious gigging in the growing metal hot spots of the US, the sacking of their volatile lead guitarist / vocalist in Dave Mustaine mere days before entering the studio to record their debut album, drafting in Kirk Hammett to replace him (on guitar at least), and then more touring including Europe following the release of “Kill ‘Em All”. All of that interesting story can be found on the episode on this podcast dedicated to that album in Season 5. Check it out, it’s worth it.
Given the position the band holds in the music industry in the modern day, it is sometimes difficult to reconcile that at this stage of their career, the band had no money, barely able to afford food and often crashing at fans houses on tour to save having to pay for accommodation. It’s easy to forget that all bands start out this way, that they all have to scrimp and fight to keep the dream alive. Despite the fan base growing through the exposure of the band due to their debut album, it barely raised a ripple on the charts due to almost zero exposure on radio. It meant that the band had to make their money on club gigs wherever they could book them and in trying to pick up prime support slots. Less than a decade later they were headlining their own stadium tours, but at this point they were like every other band starting out. They also twice had gear stolen while on tour, and even had to borrow gear from fellow rising stars Anthrax to complete a tour. It was also a time when James Hetfield was still unsure about continuing as both lead vocalist and guitarist, at least in the live setting, and the story goes that he approached John Bush, lead vocalist for Armored Saint, and offered him that role in Metallica. Bush apparently turned him down, referring to stay with his band who was made up of friends e had grown up with in school. It wasn’t the only time vocalist/guitarist in other bands considered the same problem. With the course set now, however, Hetfield moved past this and solidified his legacy.
The band had begun to write new material while on tour to support their debut album, and now looked towards their sophomore album. They brought in Flemming Rasmussen to act as producer, purely through Lars Ulrich who had enjoyed the sound he had brought to Rainbow’s album “Difficult to Cure” and felt he could add something to Metallica’s sound as well. It was to be a decision that proved fortuitous over the coming three albums. The band moved to his studio, Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen – almost literally. Unable to afford accommodation, the band slept in the studio during the day, and then recorded there at night, as the studio was booked out at the time for all daytime sessions. Though they already had some tracks written and had indeed already begun performing them live – others had to be composed in the studio, something that the band had not done prior to this. It makes it even more remarkable that the album was completed in just three weeks, a time schedule that had been necessary as they had more touring already booked in for not long after this finishing date.
And through all of this, Metallica and Rasmussen put together the album that was to become the first great mark of the band. And it became “Ride the Lightning”

“Ride the Lightning” was a step up from Metallica’s debut album “Kill 'Em All”. And yet, they did not compromise the thrash roots that the band had helped to inflame on that first record. Rather, the band took the fast, heavy and complicated guitar and drum patterns from that opening stanza and found a way to take their music a step further without losing the elements of thrash that the band had come to create. It has been noted in interviews and books over the years that a lot of this had to do with bass guitarist Cliff Burton, who was able to bring more of his influence into the writing for the second album. By helping to bring in a harmonic and melodic approach to the guitaring, the composition of the songs took on a more mature style than the out-and-out speed and aggression that formed the debut album. That isn’t to say that the songs here lose that, it's just that it is a more tightened and formulated style. Take “For Whom the Bell Tolls” as an example. It is not a furious thrash song, and is overall a rather simplified song for the drums and the guitars, with Cliff Burton's bass riff being the dominating factor throughout the track. The drums sound heavy through the major use of the toms and the ‘duh-duh-duh-DAH" timing which is exacerbated by the guitar riff, and James’s vocals that cry out to the audience, willing those listening on in anthemic style. It is still a terrific song, but not one that would have fit in with the whole package of the debut album. It has always been played faster live, where it needs to be, but here on “Ride the Lightning” its mid-tempo speed still harnesses the energy of the electrified performances around it (bad pun, yes).
Lars Ulrich’s drumming has also been reigned in on this album, with Rasmussen encouraging the young upstart to stick to his timings without slowing or speeding up during a song. This helps the tempo in songs such as “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Fade to Black”. It also becomes more intricate when the song requires it rather than just going for pure speed. His drumming during “The Call of Ktulu” in particular is spectacular, filling holes and enhancing pieces with his rolls and fills.
On top of this, Hetfield’s lyrics take on a more world aware drive than from the first album, where the majority of songs are about music and their fans. Here he runs a full gamut, with his first shot at nuclear war on “Fight Fire with Fire” and a further war tome in “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, the ode of a man on death row in “Ride the Lightning” and referencing consideration of suicide in “Fade to Black”, cryogenics in “Trapped Under Ice” and a mental health battle in “Escape”, and a return to the bible tomes of the first album’s “The Four Horsemen” in the brilliant “Creeping Death”. As a result of Hetfield’s lyrical overtones, the songs become more interesting as a result, and combined with the maturing of the music writing and performing, it elevates this album to another level than their fans would have seen since the band’s inception.
The beginning of the opening track "Fight Fire with Fire" draws on that immediately, the clean acoustic guitar beginnings lulling the listener into a state of ambiance, before cranking into the thrashing guitar riffs that envelop the speakers into the heart of the song. Just brilliant. Immediately the band has shown it is willing to change things up a little, but on their terms, and only for a short breath of a moment. The title track "Ride the Lightning" segues straight following this in the best possible way, and now showcased an ability to not have each song based purely on speed, and yet not lose the intensity that each track is submitted. The solidity of the verses is then topped ff by the increase in tempo and down-picking into the bridge. It remains one of the band's great tracks. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” follows, the solid, no-nonsense track that, as discussed, is a foundation to the slight tweaking Metallica have made with their out here on this album.
There are two tracks on this album that do highlight what made Metallica stand out from the crowd as a result of this album. The first of those is "Fade to Black", a song that in the modern day might be categorised as a ‘power ballad’, and what some people in the mid-80's called Metallica's 'sell-out' song. How wrong they were. "Fade to Black" instead showcased all the strengths of the band, without losing the intensity and power of their music. It has become one of their signature pieces, because it showed that as a thrash metal band, they were able to diversify their sound without compromising their roots and the music that their fans had been drawn to them because of. It is arguable that this did eventually occur down the track, but that is a conversation not required here. Instead, “Fade to Black” combines thoughtful lyrics on a difficult subject with a mix of acoustic and clear guitars into a thrash heavy riff crescendo, and an exit solo cascade that is one of the finest in the band’s history. Power ballad my arse, this is the result of a top shelf thrash metal band climbing to another level, to a peak that other bands of their ilk could only dream of reaching, and one of course that Metallica itself continued to rise above.

Shifting onto Side 2 of the album, and the album keeps on giving. Opening up with the brilliant "Trapped Under Ice", the speed returns in true style and hammers along with glee. Listening to the speed that the guitars are being down-picked at causes cramps in fingers just thinking about it. Kirk’s exquisite soloing in this song is superb. Hetfield’s young high-pitched vocals reaching mid-scream throughout also make this song such a great ride. This is another example of a Metallica song that sometimes gets lost under all of the other amazing songs they have written, and doesn’t deserve to be. Back in the day, I know in my friend group at high school it was one of our most favourite songs by the band.
The hugely underrated "Escape" follows. It seems to be a song that has slipped through the cracks of Metallica folklore, and I for one have never really understood that. Hetfield's vocals in particular are great in this song. Okay, so maybe it is this album’s “Quest for Fire” or “Crush” or even Judas Priest’s version of “Johnny B Goode”, but that doesn’t make it unlikeable. Perhaps part of the reason this song is so undervalued is that Hetfield himself has come out and said it is his most despised Metallica song, and as a result the band has only ever played it once live, when they played the entire “Ride the Lightning” album in 2012. I hate to say this, James, but there are albums worth of songs coming up that are worse than this track! It also has "Creeping Death" following it, which is a pretty unfair task. “Creeping Death” is certainly one of Metallica's most favoured songs, and surely one of the best five they have ever written. Everything about this song is epic – the opening riff, the verses and story telling, the singalong chorus, the solo section, the middle bridge with built in stomping crowd chant designed en masse, and then the awesome ending. It is impossible to amplify exactly how amazing this song is. Forty years later it is still as good as it was back when it was released. A gem.
The closing song on the album is the second of the two songs that helped Metallica pull away from the crowd. The instrumental "The Call of Ktulu" is an amazing track, combining every great aspect of the Metallica legacy. It too combines those clean and acoustic guitars with the thrash and heavy metal throughout different stages of the song, telling its own tale even without lyrics to do so. At almost nine minutes in length, it simply shouldn’t work, and yet it is arguably the cream on top of the rest of the album. A long full instrumental track to conclude an album? Madness! And yet, following what could be considered the band’s first instrumental in “Anaesthesia (Pulling Teeth)” on their first album, this magnificent track encapsulated just how amazing Metallica had become in such a short time. The building crescendo to finish the album is majestic, and puts down several exclamation points on what is a classic album.

“Ride the Lightning” was the first Metallica music I ever heard, albeit it was at the beginning of 1986, some 18 months after its release in mid-1984. I had returned to school for the start of Year 11 and was a couple of weeks into the new school year. My friends and I had started on a quest towards discovering the love of heavy metal music. Some had started earlier than others, and my own initiation had only really begun towards the end of the previous school year. On this day, we were discussing what we had all done on our summer holidays, when one of our number said he had heard of this band called Metallica, and had read good things about them. Another of our group, who was and remains my heavy metal music dealer that I often mention on these podcast episodes, concurred that he had heard similar things, and that we should try and get some of their music. It was then that the first informant did a deal with his accomplice, suggesting that if one of them went out and bought the newly released album entitled “Master of Puppets” then the other could go out and buy the band’s previous album “Ride the Lightning”. And so, it was agreed. That morning conversation, sitting on plastic school chairs gathered in a circle underneath the trees in a corner of the senior common area, is still crystal clear in my mind. I can still see and hear it all now. And within the week, through the magic of two people each buying a vinyl album and the rest of us throwing blank cassettes at them to record them for us, we all had copies of both of these albums, and a lifelong love affair had begun.
There are other memories that this album brings to me whenever I listen to it or discuss it. I will never forget the day when, on a school bus trip to some outing that had been preordained for us, we asked the driver to put this album on over the bus’s stereo system. The beginning of the album, the acoustic opening to “Fight Fire with Fire”, brought responses from many of the girls on board of "Wow, isn't this nice music!"... before the anguished cries of "OH, what is THIS shit!" as the real guitars kicked in and the frantic headbanging of those who knew the album began in earnest. It was the perfect response to the start of the album, from lovers of metal and its detractors alike.
Another is how I have gone about buying each new stereo system I have ever owned – three of them to this point in time, but also various other smaller boom boxes and the such. Every time I have gone out to buy a new system, I have always asked the in-store staff if I could play something on it, to judge if the system is right for me. And that song has always been “Fade to Black”. Because if a stereo system can handle the power and intricacies of that song, then it can handle anything. It caused some ruckus at a couple of stores in doing that, but I refused to buy a system without hearing this song on it first.
I rarely go too long without having this album on my stereo. But over the last month, in preparation for this episode, I have played it a LOT. At least twice a day over that four week period. And I never get tired of it. Every song is a gem, every moment is a pleasure. Each listen transports me back to those days at the end of high school, sitting with my friends at lunch times, listening to albums on repeat, with this one at the top of the queue with “Master of Puppets”, along with “Piece of Mind”, “Powerslave”, “Somewhere in Time”, “The Ultimate Sin”, “Tribute”, “Heaven and Hell” and “Sacred Heart”. Such great memories every single time.
Forty years on from that release date, and everything that makes "Ride the Lightning” one of the best and most admired albums of the metal genre is still there and relevant to listeners new or old. It still stands the test of time, and is still as important as it was when it was released. The memories and nostalgia that it brings up for me whenever I listen to it continue to make this one of my favourite albums of all time.