Artist: Metallica
Label: Elektra Records
Release Date: 6/5/03
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Title: St. Anger Artist: Metallica Label: Elektra Records Release Date: 6/5/03 |
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Abyss's Review:
You gotta hand it to Metallica. No matter what your opinions are of the last few albums, they've always been genre pioneers. They're the first band that most people think of when they hear the term metal, and now that the music industry is facing hard times due to the downloading of digital music taking a big chunk out of record sales, the music industry can look to Metallica again. Remember, it was these guys who spearheaded the fight against Napster, and now, with St. Anger, they've come up with a simple, yet foolproof way to combat music piracy. No, it's not an innovation in anti-copying software, or any gimmick like that, as I said this is foolproof: they've simply come out with an album that no one will want to bootleg. The idea is pure genius. Problem solved.
"Despite my disappointment with this band for the last 12 years or so, I am truly shocked by how bad this record is." Despite my disappointment with this band for the last 12 years or so, I am truly shocked by how bad this record is. While I didn't like the last few records, it was always due to their direction or vision. I hated the thought of one of the most talented bands in the world wasting their songwriting prowess on backward-looking, stagnant pap. But even through Load, Re-Load, and the Black Album, I found myself frustrated because, buried underneath all of the mediocrity, they still seemed like the same band. The riffs and hooks had flashes of brilliance, and while they were bland, they were still good in their own way. What I mean is the band still seemed to be a talented band, they just sold out, or lost their way. Their new album gives me the closure that I never had. They just don't have anything left. St. Anger is just plain bad.
First off, the production choices are just baffling. The entire album sounds as if it was recorded on a four-track in someone's garage. The guitars are completely muffled, and the drums sound like Lars is hitting a set made up of those disposable aluminum pie tins. It really does sound like a demo, and I'm having a hard time believing that anyone involved can be happy with the way the sound came out.
The production alone is enough to call this a bad record, but where this album really loses it is in the songwriting. While earlier reports of a more heavy sound might be true, I really didn't think it was possible for these fellows to come up with riffs this innocuous. All of the songs sound exactly the same, having no groove and not even a semblance of hook. And the vocals! Jesus, James doesn't even sing anymore, he just awkwardly barks the most generic cadence into the mike like an uninspired punk singer. I even find it hard to believe that all of the 'new' Metallica fans will accept this album as anything more than a tragedy. Jason Newsted leaving when he did makes a lot more sense now. While I used to get annoyed by the band's arrogance in the face of their fading relevance (I mean even they, in all their denial, had to notice that "Creeping Death" got a hell of a better response live than "Fuel" did), I actually just feel a little sorry for them now. I know that sounds stupid, after all, these guys are review proof. They're like the Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen - it doesn't matter how many crappy albums they put out later in their careers, they're going to sell out Madison Square Garden every time. It feels like something from my childhood has died.
"This album has not a single saving grace. One word review: Laughable." Of course, you know who I really feel sorry for in all of this? Dave Mustaine. That's right, poor Dave has been upstaged by his old bandmates yet again. He can't even say he's come out with a worse metal album, because Risk blows this thing away. In fact, the worst song on Risk is better than the best song on St. Anger. Metallica haven't just lost their edge, they've become impotent.
It looks like Metallica's contract with the Devil has finally come to an end. I do suggest you listen to this record, just so you don't think this review was pointless Metallica bashing. This album has not a single saving grace. One word review: Laughable.
Death's Review:
In honor of Metallica's traditional live intro, taken from the movie The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, I give you "The Good," "The Bad," and "The Ugly" about St. Anger:
THE GOOD
"Overall there is more of a 'garage,' underproduced aesthetic, and that is definitely not what I want or expect from Metallica. Lars' snare drum sound is just plain awful."
St. Anger is heavier than Reload or Load, and probably heavier overall than the Black Album. There are several double-bass drum parts, and several fast-picked riffs. The songs are longer, less "blues rock" based, more angular, and generally faster than we've heard on the last couple of albums. There are no country-rock ballads. The riffs are a bit more technical than 1990's Metallica. The songs are longer, and there are dynamics and time changes. A couple of the riffs are kinda catchy (the first riffs in "Frantic," up through the double-bass riffs in "St. Anger," the main riff in "Invisible Kid," the slow heavy part of "The Unnamed Feeling"). James Hetfield's vocals show a certain cultivated rawness, leaving the listener with a sense of edginess and forcing a degree of emotion to shine through. It is also now clear that Lars Ulrich can indeed still play drums.The packaging also rocks. I like the digipak - on sale opening week at Best Buy in West L.A. for $9.99. You get a cool presentation, with Pushead artwork, and 2 discs inside - a full live DVD of the band rehearsing the entire new album (a first for any band?) and of course the CD. Plus, you get a passcode that gives you access to a web site that has three full live Metallica concerts [including Middletown, NY, from June 1994 - recorded (if I remember correctly) the night of the OJ Simpson slow-speed chase]. All in all, it is good value and if you are a big Metallica fan, there's a lot to explore here.
THE BAD
Is Kirk Hammett even on this album? There are no guitar solos. To me, that is unbelievable and almost unforgivable - a Metallica album without guitar solos is a greater sin than Metallica making an MTV video, wearing makeup or denouncing metal. Load is a better guitar record.. The songs are done in a mostly nu-metal style, obviously Metallica's attempt at remaining "contemporary." A good measure of the perceived heaviness comes from the downtuning of the guitars. The production is awful. The "dirty" guitars are a mixed bag. While they are not right for "Metallica" in my opinion, they do evoke Black Sabbath/Down/C.O.C. and are kinda cool at times I guess. But there is not enough "metal"-sounding distortion, and there is a studied lack of precision which is annoying. Overall there is more of a "garage," underproduced aesthetic, and that is definitely not what I want or expect from Metallica. Lars' snare drum sound is just plain awful. It's horrible. It sounds like a tin can or a bouncing basketball. It has to have been made this way on purpose in an effort to sound "nu" - but my god, it so detracts from everything else that's going on as to almost render the album unlistenable at times. It gives me a headache. Bob Rock should be punished for allowing such a crime against my eardrums to have occurred.The songwriting is often flat. It goes nowhere. The songs are long, but they often seem to have just pieced together the same two-minute song three times to get to six minutes plus. The album cover looks like Keith Haring combined with a Rage Against the Machine cover - not metal. The picture on the cover of CD booklet totally doesn't fit with the rest of the artwork. Even though his drumming has gotten aggressive again, there are still many spots where your ear begs for him not to hold back - Lars definitely could have gone a lot sicker and he wusses-out all over this record. Not a lot of big, fast, aggressive fills. James' voice cracks way too much and sounds whiny and lost at points - way too nu-metal. In order to access the web-based concerts, you have to register a bunch of personal data. The lyrics often come off a bit silly. Too many cute turns of the phrase, too many multi-syllable phrases repeated with one part changed ("Frantic-tic-tic-tic-tock" -- "Purify - you and I"). Some of the background vocals come across as forced and distracting ("You flush it out! You flush it out!").
THE UGLY
"The immediate reaction many people are going to have to St. Anger is this: a bunch of 40-ish guys desperately trying to stay hip and failing laughably at every turn."
The immediate reaction many people are going to have to St. Anger is this: a bunch of 40-ish guys desperately trying to stay hip and failing laughably at every turn. Desperation is probably one of the most unattractive qualities in humans. Age is something we all shy away from. But Metallica is 6 years older than they were when they came out with Reload -- and obviously these guys were concerned with staying relevant. But St. Anger sounds like a sober James and a Lars and a Kirk with a lot less hair equals a bunch of guys with a fresh chip on their shoulder but nothing to back it up with. In the end, St. Anger feels confused. The arrangements are haphazard. The production is weak. The songs are forced. The performances purposefully delivered raw, sapping the precision.THE BOTTOM LINE
Despite the harshest of criticisms levied above, this is a return to form for Metallica in some respects, and I am enough of a Metallica fan from back in the day to still enjoy seeing the album on shelf in the store, bringing it home, opening the packaging, checking out the web content, watching the DVD, etc., etc. It was exciting. It was an "event". Too bad the album kinda sucked, and once again failed to live up to the hype; once again, Metallica failed to live up to my expectations. As diminished as those expectations had become through the years, the hype machine kicked back in and everyone started telling me how metal this new album was going to be. Nobody told me that I'd be listening to a basketball bouncing instead of drums and that there wasn't going to be any guitar solos. I do like some of St. Anger. "Frantic's" main riff is pretty cool, and James sounds cool on parts of this song. It is catchy. So is "St. Anger", even though it is also cringe-inducing at points. After a while I get used to these songs and they sound OK, even cool. I really like the second half of "Invisible Kid" - that and the "Unnamed Feeling" are my favorite songs on the album. Hetfield is the star of "Kid" - he sounds like Glenn Danzig at one point and suddenly the fire is back. "Unnammed Feeling" has cool riffs and a great vibe. This is dark Metallica at its best since the dawn of the 1990's.All in all, St. Anger is a mixed bag. Like Metallica, I'm confused about St. Anger. It is both awful and kinda OK. A couple of the songs stick in my head. All in all, it's a mixed bag. There's some good, some bad, and some ugly.
Hel's Review:
James, for the love of Cliff, will you PLEASE stop singing!! For me, even beyond the abysmal production (which is an immediately obvious disaster), James' "singing" is the absolute, most objectionable single thing on the entire record. It's horrible, and has only been getting worse over the last several years. No one could possibly so completely destroy his vocal talent single-handedly, so I must believe he's had "professional" training. For shame! Gone are the growls and gutturals we were so fond of in the 80s. Now he warbles and cracks and slips and slides around "notes" - to use the musical term very loosely. Apparently, he's even forgotten how to scream properly (see "My World"). James used to be angry, his face turning red and his veins popping as he spewed his rage. Now, apparently, his "lifestyle determines his deathstyle" - whatever, dude.
"Even beyond the abysmal production (which is an immediately obvious disaster), James' 'singing' is the absolute, most objectionable single thing on the entire record." Ah, so this brings us to the lyrics. They are complete nonsense. Drivel. AA-ness not so cleverly disguised. When Load was released, I began to play a game, changing the lyrics ever so slightly to mock the band with their own words. My game is no longer fun - there's no challenge - they do all the work for me. "They flush it out"? Please. My last joy has been smashed. Now, all I have are irritating inanities, backed by musical hooks that in combination make them stick in your brain like the worst, most annoying pop songs ever written. You know, the kind that make you consider taking a hammer to your own head and attempt to drive it out by force. Worse, even.
"From the perspective of the loyal fan left bleeding and broken alongside their path to popularity, this album clearly misses the mark and is not nearly enough to wipe the sneer of disgust off my face." Most insulting of all may be their attempts at "updating" their music. Almost as if they sat down and said, what's hip now? Gee, I hear time changes are back in style. Great, so here's what we'll do - we'll write the heaviest thing we can think of, then put the sappiest thing we can come up with right after it - that's contrast right? Ok, so what about guitar solos? Oh, no, can't do those, they're not cool anymore. Oh, but we do need to put in some of those catchy shouted phrases. Yeah! Like, we could yell, "They flush it out"!
Man, that was making me nauseous just thinking about it. Unfortunately, listening to the album only makes it worse. They clearly don't understand simple things, like, time changes = good, crap = BAD. While there are glimmers of the Metallica I once loved behind the "updating," it is abundantly clear that they have no idea what the hell metal actually is these days. I appreciate that they are trying to pander to the heavy music crowd once again, and are back to making efforts at more complicated music. But from the perspective of the loyal fan left bleeding and broken alongside their path to popularity, this album clearly misses the mark and is not nearly enough to wipe the sneer of disgust off my face when I hear it. I guess the point is that they "don't even know what the question is." Hey, maybe my game is still a little fun after all.
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