Metallica - Death Magnetic "early album review"
Shawn Smith Collective
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Got to the article from Encyclopedia Metallica:
Early Metallica CD review
By Tony Hicks
Thursday, August 21st, 2008
http://www.ibabuzz.com/insertfoot/2008/08/21/early-metallica-cd-review/
Nobody puts Kirk Hammet’s guitar in the corner.
I got to spend the afternoon today (Thursday) at Metallica HQ in Marin, listening to the band’s new record “Death Magnetic,” which comes out Sept. 12 (that’s what my sheet says, even though new CDs usually come out on Tuesdays, not Fridays).
Funny enough, while listening to Kirk Hammett regain his guitar hero status on “Death Magnetic,” I sat almost in the exact same spot Hammett sat in the “Some Kind Of Monster” documentary, which chronicled the chaos of Metallica making their last record “St. Anger.” It was in that spot that Hammett argued with drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock that their then-new practice of writing songs without guitar solos was, um, not to Hammett’s liking.
Arguing against the notion that guitar solos were “dated” Hammett ended up being dead-on when he said not having guitar solos dated Metallica’s music to that particular time. “St Anger” sounded like it was following the lead of early 2000s metal bands. Apparently Hammett and the rest of the band are tired of following bands who grew up worshipping them.
They only gave me one listen, with an engineer and record company rep in the room, so a comprehensive review is fairly pointless. Coincidentally, the one CD review I wish I could re-write was my 2003 “St Anger” review. In a rush to get a story in the paper, I only listened to the album a couple times. Apparently I was so happy to hear Metallica revert to its heavy ways that I gave it an A-, neglecting to realize that it wasn’t a very good record.
So no grade now. I will tell you that no one, but NO ONE leashes Kirk Hammett on “Death Magnetic,” and the result is some of the best playing of his career. You can hear lots of echoes of their first four albums (not to mention one echo from the kindler, gentler 90s on “The Unforgiven III”). One leftover from “St. Anger” is that “Death Magnetic” features few songs sounding like they were written around a vocal hook, which was how Metallica got their sneering faces on MTV so much in the 90s. The difference from “St. Anger,” is that the riffs, while still heavy, aren’t crashing about searching for a place to settle within the songs. The songs have better structure and just sound better. Metallica is back to powering fast, central riffs, occasionally breaking ranks and tempo for some Iron Maiden-ish breakouts, then building to … you guessed it, the muscley solo from Hammett.
But don’t get too excited. While better than “St. Anger,:” the songs again seem so intent on proving Metallica still brings the thunder that something is occasionally out of place. There’s barely a vocal hook in sight - something the band could pull off more than capably on the early records, even if it was shouting a few words to pass for a chorus. Somehow it just doesn’t work so well anymore. But Hetfield and Ulrich may have been so pleased at how well the band sounds the first time in the studio with bassist Robert Trujillo, they just blew off the the choruses. The whole band sounds tight and absolutely stacked. Some of the songs sound like they came from jams, including the instrumental “Suicide & Redemption,” which built slowly into layers of blistering Hammett.
And, I have to say, while it’s nice to hear Metallica get back (mostly … so far … I think … after one listen) to what they do best instead of experimenting, It’s also nice to hear Hetfield no longer struggling with his personal demons lyrically, getting back to yelling about mangled flesh and whatnot.
I promised not to do a detailed review and think I did anyway. To be fair, i’ll get back to you after the record comes out. Better yet, we can talk amongst ourselves. between now and Sept. 12, the band will be streaming 1-2 songs at a time at metallica.com
Early Metallica CD review
By Tony Hicks
Thursday, August 21st, 2008
http://www.ibabuzz.com/insertfoot/2008/08/21/early-metallica-cd-review/
Nobody puts Kirk Hammet’s guitar in the corner.
I got to spend the afternoon today (Thursday) at Metallica HQ in Marin, listening to the band’s new record “Death Magnetic,” which comes out Sept. 12 (that’s what my sheet says, even though new CDs usually come out on Tuesdays, not Fridays).
Funny enough, while listening to Kirk Hammett regain his guitar hero status on “Death Magnetic,” I sat almost in the exact same spot Hammett sat in the “Some Kind Of Monster” documentary, which chronicled the chaos of Metallica making their last record “St. Anger.” It was in that spot that Hammett argued with drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock that their then-new practice of writing songs without guitar solos was, um, not to Hammett’s liking.
Arguing against the notion that guitar solos were “dated” Hammett ended up being dead-on when he said not having guitar solos dated Metallica’s music to that particular time. “St Anger” sounded like it was following the lead of early 2000s metal bands. Apparently Hammett and the rest of the band are tired of following bands who grew up worshipping them.
They only gave me one listen, with an engineer and record company rep in the room, so a comprehensive review is fairly pointless. Coincidentally, the one CD review I wish I could re-write was my 2003 “St Anger” review. In a rush to get a story in the paper, I only listened to the album a couple times. Apparently I was so happy to hear Metallica revert to its heavy ways that I gave it an A-, neglecting to realize that it wasn’t a very good record.
So no grade now. I will tell you that no one, but NO ONE leashes Kirk Hammett on “Death Magnetic,” and the result is some of the best playing of his career. You can hear lots of echoes of their first four albums (not to mention one echo from the kindler, gentler 90s on “The Unforgiven III”). One leftover from “St. Anger” is that “Death Magnetic” features few songs sounding like they were written around a vocal hook, which was how Metallica got their sneering faces on MTV so much in the 90s. The difference from “St. Anger,” is that the riffs, while still heavy, aren’t crashing about searching for a place to settle within the songs. The songs have better structure and just sound better. Metallica is back to powering fast, central riffs, occasionally breaking ranks and tempo for some Iron Maiden-ish breakouts, then building to … you guessed it, the muscley solo from Hammett.
But don’t get too excited. While better than “St. Anger,:” the songs again seem so intent on proving Metallica still brings the thunder that something is occasionally out of place. There’s barely a vocal hook in sight - something the band could pull off more than capably on the early records, even if it was shouting a few words to pass for a chorus. Somehow it just doesn’t work so well anymore. But Hetfield and Ulrich may have been so pleased at how well the band sounds the first time in the studio with bassist Robert Trujillo, they just blew off the the choruses. The whole band sounds tight and absolutely stacked. Some of the songs sound like they came from jams, including the instrumental “Suicide & Redemption,” which built slowly into layers of blistering Hammett.
And, I have to say, while it’s nice to hear Metallica get back (mostly … so far … I think … after one listen) to what they do best instead of experimenting, It’s also nice to hear Hetfield no longer struggling with his personal demons lyrically, getting back to yelling about mangled flesh and whatnot.
I promised not to do a detailed review and think I did anyway. To be fair, i’ll get back to you after the record comes out. Better yet, we can talk amongst ourselves. between now and Sept. 12, the band will be streaming 1-2 songs at a time at metallica.com
<a href="http://www.shawnsmithsinger.com">Shawn Smith</a> / <a href="http://www.thebandbrad.com">Brad</a> / <a href="http://www.allhailthecrown.com">All Hail the Crown</a> / <a href="http://www.satchelpartnership.com">Satchel</a>
(Shawn Smith's official website, but not Thee Shawn Smith)
(Shawn Smith's official website, but not Thee Shawn Smith)
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They say every sin is deadly but I believe they may be wrong...I'm guilty of all seven and I don't feel too bad at all
Wembley Arena, London, UK - 29th May 2000
Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester, UK - 4th of June 2000
Reading Festival, Reading, UK - 27th August 2006
Bridge School Benefit, Mountain View, CA - 21st October 2006
Bridge School Benefit, Mountain View, CA - 22nd October 2006
Wembley Arena, London, UK - 18th June 2007
Shepherds Bush Empire, London, UK - 11th August 2009
O2 Arena, London, UK - 18th August 2009
Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA - 28th October 2009
BBK Festival, Bilbao, Spain - 9th July 2010
Bridge School Benefit, Mountain View, CA - 23rd October 2010
Bridge School Benefit, Mountain View, CA - 24th October 2010
Bridge School Benefit, Mountain View, CA - 22nd October 2011 (Eddie Vedder - Solo)
Bridge School Benefit, Mountain View, CA - 23rd October 2011 (Eddie Vedder - Solo)
Isle Of Wight Festival, UK - 23rd June 2012
Hammersmith Apollo, London, UK - 30th July 2012 (Eddie Vedder - Solo)
Hammersmith Apollo, London, UK - 31st July 2012 (Eddie Vedder - Solo)
Milton Keynes Bowl, Milton Keynes, UK - 11th July 2014
Bridge School Benefit, Mountain View, CA - 25th October 2014
Bridge School Benefit, Mountain View, CA - 26th October 2014
Hammersmith Apollo, London, UK - 6th June 2017 (Eddie Vedder - Solo)
I love slow, soft bluesy Metallica, it showed a maturity in their songwriting......The Memory Remains is a kick ass song.....
I guess because I'm not a metalhead I find 8 minute thrash workouts with constant time changes kinda dull.....
Katowice 2007
London 2007
They say every sin is deadly but I believe they may be wrong...I'm guilty of all seven and I don't feel too bad at all
I like it because it isn't 8 minutes of riffing and snarling.....it has groove and rhythm.....
They say every sin is deadly but I believe they may be wrong...I'm guilty of all seven and I don't feel too bad at all
lol
i admit it, Im not a huge Metallica fan, I just like Black album and the Loads.....like me a little blues metal.....
http://www.thequietus.com/articles/metallica-death-magnetic-reveiwed-track-by-track
My favorite exerpt:
"Hopefully legions of young metallers will hear this and smash their bedrooms up with cricket bats, happy at last that their generation has a Metallica album that cuts muster."
"Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come...."
forget the fact that he's probably influenced most modern metal lead guitar players...
LMAO! Thinking back, I believe this is the same reviewer that not only gave the album an A-, but went on and on about how it was superhumanly fast and heavy and structured and on and on...and really said it was this amazing stuff that blew him and other press away. And then when I super-excitedly ripped open the packaging to play this masterpiece...I must've gotten a defective CD because my "Metallica Masterpiece" turned out to be St. Anger.
Yeah I can't disagree with you more Jeremy...Kirk is a stellar guitarist. I'm not gonna sit here and compare him to anyone, but he's excellent.
(Shawn Smith's official website, but not Thee Shawn Smith)
I read the following on the "other music" board on the Metallica forums:
"at best, Mike McCready was always a fairly average rock lead guitarist, give or take a couple of stellar moments"
I'm not serious (sorry Mike - you rock, dude), but just wanted to illustrate the point that everyone has their own opinions. IMO, Kirk is a stellar lead guitarist.
"Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come...."
We need to track this review down. It's imperative
Found the review I was thinking of - this Tony Hicks dude is off the hook, because this review was from Martin Carlsson of Close Up Magazine. Get ready, because you won't believe this crap. I'm not joking.
Taken from the archives at Encyclopedia Metallica
ST. ANGER REVIEW
Here is a review / report translated from the Swedish Close-up magazine and site
Close-up's Martin Carlsson leaves an exclusive report from the studio north of San Francisco where Metallica's working on their new album "St. Anger".
I swear on the bible, on my mother's grave or whatever - the following text is nothing less than the complete truth. This statement needs to be made, quite simply because you're probably not going to believe me. I almost wonder if I've really listened to the new Metallica album "St Anger" myself, or if somebody has been playing a trick on me and played me some new, exciting aggro-band. You see, "St. Anger" is a chock, one of music history's greatest! It is as if "Load" and "Reload" has been deleted from the map, as if the Black Album never existed, as if the Metallica we've come to know never really existed. The five songs (all of which are as of yet untitled but the title-track) I've heard exhibits a sound so EXTREME and raw that all you can do is sit there chocked with your jaw on the floor.
I'm not joking.
Twenty journalists are gathered in the control-room of the studio north of San Francisco. We get comfortable. The air is vibrating with excitement, and then? BAM!! The first song (working title: Frantic) kicks in with hypnotic, almost industrial Slayer-riffs. What the fuck is going on? "You live it or lie it", chants James Hetfield and goes on with "my lifestyle determines my death style". It is ultra-tight metalcore like it has never been performed before. Lars ulrich's fat drum-sound is replaced with an oilrig-similar snare that's usually reminiscent of robotic industry-metal. "Do I have the strength?", a wondering Hetfield screams in the middle of the chaos. It is a maddening Blitzkriegstrategy with attack-waves of battering riffs, attacking from every angle for five minutes and 54 seconds.
I'm not joking.
The war as just begun, and I really mean THE WAR, because this music would be the perfect soundtrack to the media coverage of the war on Iraq. The title-track blazes away with a ultra-fast bulldozermosh that leaves Max Cavalera far behind. We are talking monster-metallized punk from another planet; a twisted and overdosed Dischange just released from rehab! We are talking beyond sound-speed, especially regarding the drum-work. The double-bass pounds away mercilessly and Lars Ulrich's use of the snare are almost -get this!- blast-beats!! It's going to be interesting seeing him trying to repeat this live - if the dane is usually soaked from sweat and carried to the lodge after traditional concerts, then he's going to need an oxygen-mask and hospital personnel to wake him back to life after this. Following this amazing intro comes a softer part where Hetfield sings "St. Anger around my neck, he never gets respect." This ten second long part, recurring a couple of times in the seven minute and 24 second long song, is the only part that could be classified as soft. The Producer Bob Rock (also on bass) assures me that this is the calmest, most stripped-down part on the whole album. WOW! A riff similar to "Creeping Death" follows. Hetfield howls "Fuck it all and fucking no regrets" (an exact recapitulation of the classic in "Damage Inc."). Towards the end of the song he screams "I need to set my anger free"... and this is exactly what he and Metallica does: releasing all their anger.
I'm not joking.
Song number three starts up like an updated "Ride the Lightning": MEga-fat thrash-metal in midtempo speed. The vocalist spits: "It and you can look out motherfuckers, here I come!". Sepultura's "Roots"-era sound reminiscent in this song, with the refrain "It world" repeated again and again. Before the song ends at five minutes and 51 seconds, Hetfield shouts "enough, enough, enough"
I'm not joking.
Have you missed the complex song-structures of "And Justice for All"? Compared to this around eight minutes long piece (working title "Monster"), the songs of the 1988 album seem more like simple Ramones' ditties. A progressive blanket of sound that warms like a massive and super-intricate Tool, only a thousand times heavier! Hetfield chants over a delicious part that goes into what could be called a chorus with some use of fantasy: "We the people, are we the people?". This phrase is repeated two times and "some kind of monster" three times before the singer concludes "this monster lives". There is actually something here that could be called groove, not entirely unlike Pantera although vastly heavier. The guitars are so damned insane, so damned evil, so damned incredible! The fact is that there isn't anything remotely like a traditional guitar-solo in any of these five songs. Hetfield and Kirk Hammett use their instruments like surgical tools. The guitars shrieks and scream as if Tom Morello and Kerry King made a deal and decided to take the Devil's music not one but ten steps further.
I'm not joking.
The most wicked part is however the last, whose working-name is "All Within My Hands". A very strange piece with an instrumental intro of one minute and fifteen seconds. The tempo is ultra-fast, taking so many twists and turns that you get all dizzy. "All Within My Hands" is shouted and then sung in an Alice In Chains manner. And the ending? MAN OH MAN! Like a possessed madman Hetfield screams "Kill kill kill kill!!" ad absurdum - we're talking deranged shrieks coming from a psychopathic Tom Araya (think Slayer's "Kill Again" only even more insane). You'd think it was over after that. But no. It is like watching an exciting thriller with so many surprises that you finally don't believe an ending is forthcoming. Yes, after a heavy-as-lead finale it winds down at eight minutes and 55 seconds.
I'm not joking.
20 Journalists finally leave the control-room and look at each other. No one needs say anything; the looks say it all: What in god's name have we just experienced? That Metallica, once tired old farts, have made a complete 180, and now sound like a bunch of hormone-reeking bucks in heat, is the most incredible thing that's happened in music history. "St. Anger" is the real "Reload". "St. Anger" doesn't sound like anything the group has done before, it hardly even sounds like Metallica. "St. Anger" is a modern, super-brutal metal-album that is going to chock and knock the entire music world. Melodies? Nope, there's not much here that reminds one of traditional melodies or arrangements such as verse, bridge, chorus. The 10th of June could become known as the day that shook the world. If you haven't catched on yet:
I'm not joking.
Martin Carlsson Source: Close Up Magazine
Encyclopedia Metallica
http://www.encycmet.com
(Shawn Smith's official website, but not Thee Shawn Smith)
They say every sin is deadly but I believe they may be wrong...I'm guilty of all seven and I don't feel too bad at all
I'll never trash anyone for enjoying the album...hell, I wish I enjoyed the album!
(Shawn Smith's official website, but not Thee Shawn Smith)