06-09-2003, 04:15 PM
Finally got a chance to listen to this album today. I tried listening with an open mind, forgetting what Metallica once was, and judging it on it's own merits.
It blows. Hard. The songs are repetitive, like they wrote a bunch of 2 minute songs and then stretched them out into 5-8 minute songs without really adding anything. The lyrics are uninspired at best, corny and pathetic at worst. It seems like James is trying hard to prove to everyone, "See even though I'm rich and middle aged, I still haven't lost my EDGE GRRRRRRRRRRRR TEEN ANGST 4EVER!!11!" It's so fake. And the mixing is terrible - the snare sounds hollow, it almost sounds like Lars is playing with a bunch of cracked cymbals, and I can't fucking stand tuned down guitars. It was fun when Korn was doing it back in 95, but now...enough already.
If this were any other band, it would just be another bad record that I honestly never would have even thought to listen to. The fact that it's Metallica makes it that much worse. Even though they haven't written a good song in 14 years, I guess subconsciously I kept some hope alive that they might one day return to something resembling the band they once were. If this was their attempt at recapturing the old Metallica spirit, as all the pre-release hype was designed to lead one to believe, they more than failed. A thrash/speed metal record it certainly is not, just another watered-down worthless nu-metal release for all the MTV kids to lap up without putting an ounce of thought into what they're listening to and why.
It blows. Hard. The songs are repetitive, like they wrote a bunch of 2 minute songs and then stretched them out into 5-8 minute songs without really adding anything. The lyrics are uninspired at best, corny and pathetic at worst. It seems like James is trying hard to prove to everyone, "See even though I'm rich and middle aged, I still haven't lost my EDGE GRRRRRRRRRRRR TEEN ANGST 4EVER!!11!" It's so fake. And the mixing is terrible - the snare sounds hollow, it almost sounds like Lars is playing with a bunch of cracked cymbals, and I can't fucking stand tuned down guitars. It was fun when Korn was doing it back in 95, but now...enough already.
If this were any other band, it would just be another bad record that I honestly never would have even thought to listen to. The fact that it's Metallica makes it that much worse. Even though they haven't written a good song in 14 years, I guess subconsciously I kept some hope alive that they might one day return to something resembling the band they once were. If this was their attempt at recapturing the old Metallica spirit, as all the pre-release hype was designed to lead one to believe, they more than failed. A thrash/speed metal record it certainly is not, just another watered-down worthless nu-metal release for all the MTV kids to lap up without putting an ounce of thought into what they're listening to and why.