New Metallica Album
Reply #24 – 2003-06-17 10:58:29
I haven't heard the full album yet, but the songs I've heard on the local hard rock radio station haven't really impressed me. I feel Metallica was at the top of their game with "...And Justice For All" and it's been a slow down-turn since then, so I'm not surprised that Saint Anger isn't that great. Just my two cents. well, I don't know about anyone else, but I can't count how many times some band has released a new album and the majority of people I know that like past work from that band instantly dislike the new material...and then a month down the road they can't stop listening to it. It's the "this isn't exactly the same as the previous stuff" syndrome. Seriously, if you like any given band, listen to their latest album five times before you decide it's the worst crap you've ever heard. More times than not, if you've already been enjoying any of their music, you'll end up enjoying some of their new stuff too. Hearing a chorus once on the radio isn't going to give you much of an idea about anything, ya gotta hear it a few times in your favourite listening environment. As a general statement, I fully agree here. Many albums that are now classics and considered masterpieces got their share of bad reviews and negative comments when they were released. And the comment "oh, <insert title of any previous album> was sooo much better" is also used quite often. For example, anybody who owns the Shine On box by Pink Floyd can check the reviews of Dark Side of the Moon in the book: a lot of those are like "Pink Floyds earlier work is great, but this is pretty weak", etc... Now, about this new Metallica album. I haven't listened to the full album yet, but based on the title song I think the music itself is not that bad. I'm certainly glad Metallica decided to play long, fast and agressive heavy metal songs again (I've missed that for a long time). However, the terrible mastering is simply unforgiveable. What the hell were they thinking ? I also think And Justice for All is somewhat ruined by poor mastering, but it's nowhere near as bad as this. I've also read many times that there are no guitar solos on the album. What's up with that ? I love good guitar solos, and it used to be one of Metallica's strengths. Part of the reason why One is such a great song is the awesome guitar solo at the end. My feeling is: the potential was there, but ultimately it is ruined by these bad points I've mentioned. Lastly I want to mention that overall the critics don't seem to agree with the immense bashing the album received in this thread so far. If you look at MetaCritic , 7 of the 11 reviews (at the time I'm writing this) give a rating of at least 80%.