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whether you think thats good or bad, but they have been in album mode for more than a year, and they are "almost done with drum tracks"


My predictions will most likely fit with the title of a bizillion customer reviews on amazon.


'Better than St. Anger, but still sucks'

Funny how many people are spending time waiting on this album just so they can tear a hole into it, regardless of what it's like.

It's like people saying Prince has got worse because he's no longer 25, horny and singing about sex. These men aren't long-haired scruffbags who are pissed off at the world anymore. James Hetfield is a very honest man and apparantly very wise, he's not the kind of guy who would be something he isn't just because that's what people want. Nowadays they're just guys who like playing metal, or rock, or whatever.

The turmoil and such from their younger years is gone and it probably did fuel the best material, but they've moved on and if you don't like it, don't listen, but don't sit there and wait for it just to bash it.

I thought St. Anger was poor for a lot of reasons, and none of them were anything close to "It's not Master of Puppets!". The songs weren't half bad, some of them, but the production sucked and it felt rushed, it was hard to listen to. With Rick Rubin, maybe that can change, who knows.

-AC

I will be happy as long as that clanging drum sound is gone.

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Funny how many people are spending time waiting on this album just so they can tear a hole into it, regardless of what it's like.

It's like people saying Prince has got worse because he's no longer 25, horny and singing about sex. These men aren't long-haired scruffbags who are pissed off at the world anymore. James Hetfield is a very honest man and apparantly very wise, he's not the kind of guy who would be something he isn't just because that's what people want. Nowadays they're just guys who like playing metal, or rock, or whatever.

The turmoil and such from their younger years is gone and it probably did fuel the best material, but they've moved on and if you don't like it, don't listen, but don't sit there and wait for it just to bash it.

I thought St. Anger was poor for a lot of reasons, and none of them were anything close to "It's not Master of Puppets!". The songs weren't half bad, some of them, but the production sucked and it felt rushed, it was hard to listen to. With Rick Rubin, maybe that can change, who knows.

-AC

I have massive amounts of respect for metallica, I don't really care what they do, i just want them to make music that sounds good what ever it sounds like.

But St. Anger didn't sound like music, I don't know what it was.

I'd say that's a very ridiculous stretch to say it didn't sound like music.

It sounded live, in studio, with zero studio effects besides poorly regulated production.

-AC

i am a huge metallica fan. i LOVE their old stuff. but for me i can see the other influences and i actually like a lot of the new stuff. load and reload werent that bad, and i like some of the stuff from st anger.

like alpha said, this band is no longer 25, boozing every night and on drugs. they now have families. its going to make th emusic different. also, as you get older you become more open to other influences and wish to experiment. i personally like these influences in metallicas music because i'm into that kind of music.

looking forward to new album.

also, the songs "the new song" and "the other new song" wont be on the new album.

As long as it doesnt sound like a bunch of shitty myspace band amatuers as ST anger did, and sounds like metallica i will listen to it. Even if Lars looks at the metallica fan as sheep.

St anger failed because like a few of the observations on this board, the band is no longer young, but thats exactly what the band tried to sound like...young and misanthropic

I can't wait to hear it, although my favorite member left to do his own thing which in the end was really inspiring to me musically. ( except for the gay ass TV show he did, thats a discussion for a later time).


My favorite albums as follows:

1. Load//reload
2. Master of Puppets
3. ...and justice for all
4. Ride the lightning
5.Kill em all
6. Black album
7. St. anger

also love Garage inc, no leaf clover, minus human, and I disapear

Originally posted by OB1-adobe
My favorite albums as follows:

1. Load//reload
2. Master of Puppets
3. ...and justice for all
4. Ride the lightning
5.Kill em all
6. Black album
7. St. anger



You prefer load and reload to master and justice never thought i would hear that.

I don't care if they try and do totally new things, I mean they are more than metal band from the eighties. They're just fvcking really good.

I just care if it sounds good and the songs have depth and don't all sound the same.

I love it when they did this kind of stuff too:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cs-CZ1wBqfA

Load/reload is one album to me. Most people thing they put out load, toured, and then went back into the studio from scratch wrote new songs and recorded them and lazily called it Reload. Its the best double album I've ever heard. It has freaking balls.

Panter, korn, whatever... their shit sounds the same and they never really change

As long as it has solos on it!!!!!! Load and reload? Really? Sometimes I wonder if apart from half of "And Justice For All" Metallica have EVER done anything decent since Cliff died.

Why do people put emphasis on Cliff Burton?

Master of Puppets is arguably the greatest metal album ever purely because of James Hetfield, and I'll remind anybody who forgets that. Metallica were never about bass, so it's inconsequential who is in the band. It's just become accepted to cite Cliff's death as the turning point and ignore the fact that Justice, The Black Album and every album since, have been wholly decent or have decent to very good songs on them.

Load even has some very good songs, Reload has about two. Metallica specialised in metal because they were metal players, when they switched to more rock based stuff, people still thought they were trying to play metal, and shunned it. Either that or they just shunned it because it wasn't Puppets, or because they got a new haircut.

Who gives a shit? If Metallica make music I dislike, I'll say I dislike it, if not, I won't. I'm just sick of people slamming long-term artists' newer music simply because it's not their older music, I've heard it so much lately.

"Zeitgeist by The Smashing Pumpkins isn't Mellon Collie or Siamese Dream!", "Planet Earth and 3121 by Prince aren't Purple Rain!", "Snakes and Arrows by Rush isn't 2112!".

Yes, of course they aren't.

People confuse a band or artist not making music equal to what THEY consider their peak, with actually having gone downhill. I think Prince's last three albums could easily rank among his best, yet people will say no because Purple Rain was, to them, his unsurpassable peak.

The same with Metallica. To some, St. Anger may have been their best ever, but it's incomprehensible to people who won't accept that as far as the final product goes, "peak" is subjective.

-AC

Most metal people would have loved St. Anger if it hadn't been by Metallica imo.

I suspect good things from this album actually. From what I've heard it seems to be more thrashy and back to their roots.

Originally posted by Nellinator
Most metal people would have loved St. Anger if it hadn't been by Metallica imo.

I suspect good things from this album actually. From what I've heard it seems to be more thrashy and back to their roots.

Uh.........I don't think so.

The way that album is mixed it sounds completely unheavy. YOu can hear bass on the album, but you can't feel it. Same with drums.

Metallica's drums have always sucked. Lars Ulrich is definitely not the bright spot of the band. Also, the bass playing has been crap since Newstead left. The songwriting and guitar was actually decent, the production wasn't as good as previous albums but the songwriting is the most important imo.

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Why do people put emphasis on Cliff Burton?

Master of Puppets is arguably the greatest metal album ever purely because of James Hetfield, and I'll remind anybody who forgets that. Metallica were never about bass, so it's inconsequential who is in the band. It's just become accepted to cite Cliff's death as the turning point and ignore the fact that Justice, The Black Album and every album since, have been wholly decent or have decent to very good songs on them.

Load even has some very good songs, Reload has about two. Metallica specialised in metal because they were metal players, when they switched to more rock based stuff, people still thought they were trying to play metal, and shunned it. Either that or they just shunned it because it wasn't Puppets, or because they got a new haircut.

Who gives a shit? If Metallica make music I dislike, I'll say I dislike it, if not, I won't. I'm just sick of people slamming long-term artists' newer music simply because it's not their older music, I've heard it so much lately.

"Zeitgeist by The Smashing Pumpkins isn't Mellon Collie or Siamese Dream!", "Planet Earth and 3121 by Prince aren't Purple Rain!", "Snakes and Arrows by Rush isn't 2112!".

Yes, of course they aren't.

People confuse a band or artist not making music equal to what THEY consider their peak, with actually having gone downhill. I think Prince's last three albums could easily rank among his best, yet people will say no because Purple Rain was, to them, his unsurpassable peak.

The same with Metallica. To some, St. Anger may have been their best ever, but it's incomprehensible to people who won't accept that as far as the final product goes, "peak" is subjective.

-AC

Spot on.

Something tells me this album isn't coming out sometime between now and June. Because they posting all of these tour dates and festivals on there website.


I'm mostly eager to hear this record for two reasons.


1. First album with Rob Trujillo playing bass

2. First album being produced by Rick Rubin

I'd like to hear a little of the album just because I read that it was more like their earlier stuff... Do they HAVE to write more songs like their earlier stuff? Hell no... Would I be more inclined to buy it? Probably...

Is it just me or does Trujillo not even look like a Metallica member? Everytime I watch a live vid with Trujillo, its like "Hey, there's Metallica and a muscular Samoan..." He doesnt really look like he belongs. But hey, as long as his bass playing is sick (which it is) then its all good I suppose. Newsted and Burton really looked like they belonged. I dont know, maybe its just me. ANYWAY! The album..

I wouldnt say I'm particularly excited about this album, but I will definately give it a good listening to when its released.(God forbid that I download it though...lol...) If its good, then its good, I will reserve my judgement until its release. But it is as those above said, Metallica are no longer the young thrashers they used to be. They have families now, and they are older and much more mature. You cant change that. Due to this, their music has changed, and I doubt it will ever return to the intense thrash metal they played in their earlier days. Because of this, I doubt the album will appeal to me. I'm not really into anything past the Black Album and even the Black Album doesnt compare to the albums preceding it(Keep in mind that this is only my oppinon.)But as I stated earlier, I will reserve my judgement until after I hear the album. I'm just glad that The New Song and The Other New Song wont be on the album, I did not like those songs.

To Alpha Centauri:

Though I for the most part I agree with your statements I do disagree on one thing. Emphasis should be placed on Cliff Burton since he contributed his writing to many of the Metallica songs. Also when you state that Metallica has never been about bass, I believe you are simply referring to And Justice For All...As for previous albums bass is audible. For Whom The Bell Tolls also has the famous bass line at the beggining. Metallica's musical composition ablities grew greatly on Ride The Lightning and I believe this can be easily aquainted with Burtons hand in the songwriting. Note that I am not saying he wrote the songs completely. But to deny that Burton had a major influence on Metallica's sound is something I truly believe to false.

He simply didn't, though.

It was always about the guitars, not the bass. If he was here now, nobody'd give him a second look.

-AC

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
He simply didn't, though.

It was always about the guitars, not the bass. If he was here now, nobody'd give him a second look.

-AC

How could he not have an impact on their sound when he was a songwriter in the band? The songwriting on Ride The Lightning was much different from Kill em All. Ride was the first album where Burton had a hand in writing songs. He is credited with 6 out of the 8 songs. Then we go on to Master of Puppets which retains the songwriting on Ride. After Burton died the change happened again. Though its a small difference, the songs on And Justice For All...had a different feel than those on Ride and Master. Though the bass was harder to hear than the guitars, doesnt mean that he didnt write any of the material. In most Metallica albums the bass is doing the same thing as the guitars, so who is to say that Burton didnt write those riffs?

Originally posted by Nellinator
Most metal people would have loved St. Anger if it hadn't been by Metallica imo.

I suspect good things from this album actually. From what I've heard it seems to be more thrashy and back to their roots.

I agree, although, i dont think it would have made an amateur band popular. The music on St. Anger, really isnt that bad and some of it is border line genius. I have to admit, I first bashed this album, not fully understanding why. It didn't sound like Metallica and it didn't feel like Metallica. I have, only recently come to realize, this isn't a bad thing. Sure, the lyrics lack any kind of meaning or emotion, but upon reviewing the album again. I think Hetfield did a decent job at giving emotional deliveries to emotionless lyrics.

My more refined complaints about the album are, some of the songs become annoyingly redundant. In previous albums, the band used solo's to break the monotony. Doing away with solo's is fine, but many of the songs on ST. Anger are just far to long for what they are. Five to eight minutes of the same lyrics and melody repeated is just to much. I would also have liked just a bit more production on the instrumental recordings. The band did a decent job in giving a convincing, live studio sound. Personally, I think they should have just recorded the music live in a studio, instead of cutting performances together. The band is talented enough to record live, in unison...,why not do it?

At any rate, i have come to appreciate what Metallica attempted with ST. Anger. I truly believe they tried to give the fans something original to make up for the slapdash productions of Load and Reload. They may have failed on some aspects, but i think they did a fine job at keeping their integrity intact while taking a creative chance. I urge some of you people to go back and listen to ST. Anger again. Try to hear the music for what it is and not what it isn't this time. You may find something you like.

Originally posted by Micheal_Myers
How could he not have an impact on their sound when he was a songwriter in the band? The songwriting on Ride The Lightning was much different from Kill em All. Ride was the first album where Burton had a hand in writing songs. He is credited with 6 out of the 8 songs. Then we go on to Master of Puppets which retains the songwriting on Ride. After Burton died the change happened again. Though its a small difference, the songs on And Justice For All...had a different feel than those on Ride and Master. Though the bass was harder to hear than the guitars, doesnt mean that he didnt write any of the material. In most Metallica albums the bass is doing the same thing as the guitars, so who is to say that Burton didnt write those riffs?

So we're to just assume Burton wrote those? If he didn't die, he'd be nowhere NEAR as acclaimed as he is. James Hetfield is and has always been the heart of that band. Technically and creatively.

He embodied the emotions felt on Puppets and such. That album was a guitar album.

Burton wrote things in the style of his own playing, bass wise, he could never play what Hetfield does, so to assume he wrote those riffs is ridiculous.

-AC

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
So we're to just assume Burton wrote those? If he didn't die, he'd be nowhere NEAR as acclaimed as he is. James Hetfield is and has always been the heart of that band. Technically and creatively.

He embodied the emotions felt on Puppets and such. That album was a guitar album.

Burton wrote things in the style of his own playing, bass wise, he could never play what Hetfield does, so to assume he wrote those riffs is ridiculous.

-AC

Your joking right? I mean sure, if he didnt die,your right, nobody would have given him a second look. But the fact is that he DID die and people recognized a change in Metallica's sound as a result(When the writing really was all Hetfield).That doesnt mean he never wrote riffs. The fact here is that Cliff Burton is given credit for 6 out of the 8 songs on Ride The Lightning. Burton contributed to the writing of those songs whether you like or not. I am not gonna go and assume things, so I will ask you this. Have you ever been in a band before? It is not uncommon for the bass player to write riffs that the guitars will play. And Burton was a fantastic Bass player who obviously could play the things Hetfield did on his guitar....because he did play those things. The bass in Metallica ussually follows the guitar riffing for the most part. Who is too say Burton did not write those esspecially when he is credited for contribution to the song?

Ride the Lightning is a bit poor though, in my opinion.

It has a few good songs, but they never hit their legendary peak until Puppets, and if you think Burton wrote those riffs, then you're simply biased.

-AC

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Ride the Lightning is a bit poor though, in my opinion.

It has a few good songs, but they never hit their legendary peak until Puppets, and if you think Burton wrote those riffs, then you're simply biased.

-AC

I respect you oppinion, how ever, Ride The Lightning is my favorite Metallica album.

Right off the bat I can tell you that Burton was the main composer of Orion. And I even really recall an interview with Hetfield or Lars of which I really dont remember. But I clearly remember them stating " Master was really Cliff's album..." I wont reguard that as clear evidence since I cannot provide the interview. But I can tell you that Burton contributed to 4 out of the 8 songs on Puppets. Keep in mind that my arguement is not that Burton MADE Metallica. Your arguement that Hetfield is the most influential member is indeed accurate. My arguement is that Burton did indeed have an effect on Metallica's sound at the time.

wow!


This sounds like shit!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YiPk3Sa-l4M&feature=related

hetfield lost his intensity a long time ago. I cant remember the last metallica song i heard where i felt as though hetfield sounded genuine.

With that said, he still has the most metal voice.

Go ahead and flame me, but from that little preview, this seems like its gonna be the best Metallica album since Black. I still dont think it will match up to anything from their early days, but this could be a comeback.

Originally posted by ragesRemorse
I agree, although, i dont think it would have made an amateur band popular. The music on St. Anger, really isnt that bad and some of it is border line genius. I have to admit, I first bashed this album, not fully understanding why. It didn't sound like Metallica and it didn't feel like Metallica. I have, only recently come to realize, this isn't a bad thing. Sure, the lyrics lack any kind of meaning or emotion, but upon reviewing the album again. I think Hetfield did a decent job at giving emotional deliveries to emotionless lyrics.

My more refined complaints about the album are, some of the songs become annoyingly redundant. In previous albums, the band used solo's to break the monotony. Doing away with solo's is fine, but many of the songs on ST. Anger are just far to long for what they are. Five to eight minutes of the same lyrics and melody repeated is just to much. I would also have liked just a bit more production on the instrumental recordings. The band did a decent job in giving a convincing, live studio sound. Personally, I think they should have just recorded the music live in a studio, instead of cutting performances together. The band is talented enough to record live, in unison...,why not do it?

At any rate, i have come to appreciate what Metallica attempted with ST. Anger. I truly believe they tried to give the fans something original to make up for the slapdash productions of Load and Reload. They may have failed on some aspects, but i think they did a fine job at keeping their integrity intact while taking a creative chance. I urge some of you people to go back and listen to ST. Anger again. Try to hear the music for what it is and not what it isn't this time. You may find something you like.

yeah St.anger is not bad album, it's just a bad Metallica album. The only good songs on there imo are My world, invisible kid, unnamed feeling, and purify. Frantic could have been good if it wasn't for the "Frant tic tic tic tock" thing which was so cheese ball. The song St. anger is 3 riffs for 7 minutes, SKOM could easily get 4 minutes slashed off. Other than that the album is just random with some awsome moments found here and there. Load/reload I actually really like. If one were to put those records together, take th best tracks, you would 1 album of 15 great songs

Originally posted by OB1-adobe
wow!


This sounds like shit!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YiPk3Sa-l4M&feature=related awesome!

Death magnetic.

It leaked yesterday. Holy shit it's badass. all nightmare long, judas kiss, that was just your life, end of the line, my apocalypse.....

Yes, those are song titles.

-AC

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Yes, those are song titles.

-AC Aww, you figured it out all by yourself!!!!

I'm sure you spent 15 minutes afterwards sitting there clapping like a retarded seal.

So why list them and then say nothing else?

What is the culmination of that?

-AC

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
So why list them and then say nothing else?

What is the culmination of that?

-AC Those ar the ones the "omgzorz, itz not teh thrash" closed minded drones would probably like.

I've heard 30 second demos here and there, but this is the only full length song I could find: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=41722462

Seems to drag on a bit, but that happens once and a while with Metallica songs since they insist on 8 minute long songs every once in a while.

I just downloaded the new album. So far it seems ok. I have listened to all of the tracks once and it is a definite improvement over ST. Anger. The new songs all have a prominent melody and the guitar solo's have returned. A few of the songs run too long, like St. Anger and none of the songs have the epic openings that Metallica has been known for. I haven't listened to the songs enough to give a fair review so i won't say much more until i have had time to appreciate the efforts. I will say, though, it seems that the band has listened to the fans criticisms and have tried to recapture their roots. I'm just not sure if they tried to hard. It definitely isn't a pain to listen to though and Hetfields vocals do not sound like they were recorded in a tin can this time around.

Suicide and Redemption and end of the line are my favorite tracks so far.

More songs are popping up on YouTube.