METALLICA – St. Anger

Call me narrow minded, call me afraid of changes, or call me not so serious when I give this CD 2 points. Just because it is released by Metallica, or Rockallica like they wanted to be called when Metal was getting less popular in the mid-90s, it doesn’t have to be any good. This is pure shit. Not like THE shit, which I believe is a slang remark meaning “the real thing” in the US nowadays, but this is plain and pure shit. Bullshit. And it can’t be difficult to hear that? This review is sure based on multiple listens – not one spin only while Boris holds a gun to your head, like the early reviewers had to deal with.

The drumsound on this record can best be described as Lars Ulrich taking the Metallicans he has left in his basement – yeah, those cans they were selling years ago, I am sure he kept a lot of them – he flips them upside down and smash them with hammers. Very cool… I thought music was for pleasure, but this metallic sound just gives me serious headaches. Why release something that gives people headache?

The vocals are too clean and do not fit the overall aggressive sound at all. Problem is, Metallica lost a brilliant singer when James Hetfield learned to sing… The lyrics are repetitive and seem to lack focus. 20 years ago, James would have spit out the word “anger”, now he sings it. This CD shows that the Metallica guys are too rich to make angry music. Yeah, there are tendencies with the riffs here and there – some sound like …And Justice For All / Metallica-era – but also those ideas are wrapped in shitty sound. If the song is a little promising to begin with, the presentation/wrapping of it kills the pleasure anyway.

The songs would have been slightly better if they lasted 3-4 minutes. They are much too long. When music completely lacks flavor, more than 4 minutes is overkill. Melodies are not the focus any longer for these guys, only trash can drums and lousy guitar sound matters. Every god damn song gets annoying after 3-4 minutes, some even from the first minute, as there are no guitar solos on this pile of shit. That’s common knowledge by now. The reason is said to be that Kirk already showed he can play guitar. Well, Lars once proved he could play drums (did he?), James once proved he could write the greatest riffs and keep a melody to his singing despite the aggression, and the bass player? Well, he left…

The only reason why this sells almost 500k the first week, is because people are stupid. “Well, it’s Metallica, so I am sure it’s good – or I must find out what they’re up to.” Hey – spend your money on the upcoming CDs by Brainstorm and Nevermore instead! Fuck the hype!!!