The Metallica Thread v. Reloaded

[MirrorMask]

Halo On Fire (this is considered a ballad ?)

I don't, nor I do consider Bleeding Me a ballad which is slower overall than Halo.

While I confirm my total appreciation and  for Spit Out of the Bone, I guess Halo on Fire is actually my favorite track on the album. Fantastic song!

[pogoowner]

Some songs would profit from further trimming.

Yup. When it comes to music, longer is not always better, and there are definitely some opportunities for trimming on this album that would make it an easier, more enjoyable listen. Some of the excessive intros/outros, for instance, where they have a tendency to repeat too many times without really adding anything to the song.

[ariich]

Halo On Fire (this is considered a ballad ?)

I don't, nor I do consider Bleeding Me a ballad which is slower overall than Halo.

While I confirm my total appreciation and  for Spit Out of the Bone, I guess Halo on Fire is actually my favorite track on the album. Fantastic song!

I keep seeing ballads (or lack of) being mentioned, but I don't see why it's relevant. Metallica have hardly any proper ballads in their entire catalogue, and pretty much all of those are on the black album and Load/Reload. There's a variety of pace, moods and styles including gentle sections of songs - surely that's what matters. 

[Architeuthis]

Some songs would profit from further trimming.

Yup. When it comes to music, longer is not always better, and there are definitely some opportunities for trimming on this album that would make it an easier, more enjoyable listen. Some of the excessive intros/outros, for instance, where they have a tendency to repeat too many times without really adding anything to the song.

Funny reading this coming from a DT fan! 

[Kotowboy]

I agree that long Metallica songs these days aren't always their best ...

But I think after such a long wait - an 8 track 50 minute album would have felt like short changing the fans IMO...



Not to mention that if HTSD was indeed an 8 track album lasting 50 mins - people would be like IS THAT IT ?! 8 years and that's all you did ?

[?]

Not to mention that if HTSD was indeed an 8 track album lasting 50 mins - people would be like IS THAT IT ?! 8 years and that's all you did ?

They could've made an EP out of the leftover tracks á la Beyond Magnetic.

[Elite]

Not to mention that if HTSD was indeed an 8 track album lasting 50 mins - people would be like IS THAT IT ?! 8 years and that's all you did ?

Wouldn't that be their own fault though? Nobody told them they HAD to wait 8 years.

[pogoowner]

Some songs would profit from further trimming.

Yup. When it comes to music, longer is not always better, and there are definitely some opportunities for trimming on this album that would make it an easier, more enjoyable listen. Some of the excessive intros/outros, for instance, where they have a tendency to repeat too many times without really adding anything to the song.

Funny reading this coming from a DT fan! 

One of the reasons DT doesn't do much for me anymore, aside from what I consider their classic material!

Speaking of intros, though, the quiet intro to ManUNkind is really cool, but then they didn't go anywhere with it. I kind of wish they had developed that idea more, rather the the rest of the song.

[Kotowboy]

Not to mention that if HTSD was indeed an 8 track album lasting 50 mins - people would be like IS THAT IT ?! 8 years and that's all you did ?

Wouldn't that be their own fault though? Nobody told them they HAD to wait 8 years.

Also nobody told them they HAD to make a new album at all...

I'm just saying that whatever they did - people would say they shoulda done the opposite.

[cfmoran13]

I guess Halo on Fire is actually my favorite track on the album. Fantastic song!

Right there with you.  The first time I listened to the song and heard James scream "FAST, is desire", I was like "Hell, yeah!"  I really dig "Here Comes Revenge", too.

[Kotowboy]

I don't dislike any of the songs but If I had to rank them all - Murder One would be last.

I just like all the other songs more...

[cfmoran13]

"Murder One" and "Am I Savage?" are the only two I skip.  They don't do a thing for me.  To me, everything else is at least "pretty good". 

[MirrorMask]

I keep seeing ballads (or lack of) being mentioned, but I don't see why it's relevant. Metallica have hardly any proper ballads in their entire catalogue, and pretty much all of those are on the black album and Load/Reload. There's a variety of pace, moods and styles including gentle sections of songs - surely that's what matters.

I consider ballads or songs with enough slow sections to be mostly categorized as such: Every track #4 of every album minus Load, St. Anger and this new one plus Nothing Else Matters, Mama Said, Low Man Lyric and The Unforgiven III.

Then of course we could debate forever on what is a ballad, a slow song, if the songs that end up fast can be categorized as more complex songs etc but the "songs that you can pull out the lighter to and use them to make out with your girlfriend" are those ones for me.

[OpenYourEyes311]

Loving this album. Disc 1 is KILLER, and has probably all 6 of the top 6 songs of the album. Still getting into Disc 2.

I love that some of the songs remind me of other albums, whether it's Load, TBA, Death Magnetic, Justice, etc.... Am I Savage reminds me of Loverman from Garage, Inc. (but good).

Also loving Lords of Summer and Spit Out the Bone. So excited about Metallica right now.

[Phoenix87x]

I like disc 1 more than disc 2, but regardless, its a really decent album over all.

[TheCountOfNYC]

I keep seeing ballads (or lack of) being mentioned, but I don't see why it's relevant. Metallica have hardly any proper ballads in their entire catalogue, and pretty much all of those are on the black album and Load/Reload. There's a variety of pace, moods and styles including gentle sections of songs - surely that's what matters.

I consider ballads or songs with enough slow sections to be mostly categorized as such: Every track #4 of every album minus Load, St. Anger and this new one plus Nothing Else Matters, Mama Said, Low Man Lyric and The Unforgiven III.

Then of course we could debate forever on what is a ballad, a slow song, if the songs that end up fast can be categorized as more complex songs etc but the "songs that you can pull out the lighter to and use them to make out with your girlfriend" are those ones for me.

Until it Sleeps (track 4 on Load) is considered a ballad while Kill 'Em All doesn't have one.

[MirrorMask]

Yeah, forgot to mention the debut album and I was unsure about Until it Sleeps. I've always considered it a ballad by default being track 4  but it's difficult to categorize.

[Adami]

Oh Xenu, not the ballad discussion again.

So I'm pretty sure that I like Hardwired more than ReLoad (and I'm a fan of ReLoad). Even though Fixxxer and Where the Wild Things Are are better than most of the Hardwired songs, the rest of the ReLoad songs aren't.

[aurorablind]

I've been listening a lot to this album this week, and overall I'm really digging it.

Songs I love:
Halo on Fire
Spit out the Bone

Songs I like:
Am I Savage?
Now That We're Dead
Dream No More
Hardwired

Songs that are OK:
Atlas, Rise!
Moth Into Flame
Here Comes Revenge
Confusion

Songs i can't get into:
ManUNkind
Murder One


The problem with a lot of the songs is the arrangements. It's like they didn't know where to stop when they put ideas into songs. Every song has something great in them, but some songs just collapses because they have a intro, midsection or chorus that doesn't work.
Confusion is a song I really like overall, but I can't get into the chorus.

However, Halo on Fire and Spit out the Bone blows my mind.. I really didn't think they had it in them to create something so good!

[MirrorMask]

I basically agree with you, especially on the standout tracks. I just like more all your OK songs save Confusion, which I'd swap for Murder One in your list. But more or less I'm there as well.

[ariich]

I keep seeing ballads (or lack of) being mentioned, but I don't see why it's relevant. Metallica have hardly any proper ballads in their entire catalogue, and pretty much all of those are on the black album and Load/Reload. There's a variety of pace, moods and styles including gentle sections of songs - surely that's what matters.

I consider ballads or songs with enough slow sections to be mostly categorized as such: Every track #4 of every album minus Load, St. Anger and this new one plus Nothing Else Matters, Mama Said, Low Man Lyric and The Unforgiven III.

Then of course we could debate forever on what is a ballad, a slow song, if the songs that end up fast can be categorized as more complex songs etc but the "songs that you can pull out the lighter to and use them to make out with your girlfriend" are those ones for me.

Until it Sleeps (track 4 on Load) is considered a ballad while Kill 'Em All doesn't have one.

One is a ballad?

[BlobVanDam]

It appears that the definition of ballad to Metallica fans is "has some clean guitar in it".

[Kotowboy]

Halo On Fire clearly isn't a ballad.

Mama Said probably is.

Dream No More, Halo On Fire, Moth Into Flame, Atlas Rise, Confusion, Spit Out The Bone are amongst my favourites.

If I had to choose one to bin - it would be Murder One simply because it's not as good as the rest.

[Dream Team]

I liked the vicious riffs of DM a lot, but based on production alone HWTSD beats it I think.

Justice/Master (to close to call)
Ride
Kill
HW
DM
Black
Reload
Load
SA

[ReaperKK]

So I know I'm going to sound stupid but I've been so out of the loop with Metallica that while listening to the new album I didn't realize it was a double album until I got home and looked at the spotify song list.

[BlobVanDam]

So I know I'm going to sound stupid but I've been so out of the loop with Metallica that while listening to the new album I didn't realize it was a double album until I got home and looked at the spotify song list.

To be fair, it's only actually one CD worth of music, split across two discs for no good reason, so when listening to it digitally there's nothing to indicate it would be a double album.

[MirrorMask]

Also the bonus disc is actually longer than the album, and yet it fits on one disc 

[Kotowboy]

So I know I'm going to sound stupid but I've been so out of the loop with Metallica that while listening to the new album I didn't realize it was a double album until I got home and looked at the spotify song list.

To be fair, it's only actually one CD worth of music, split across two discs for no good reason, so when listening to it digitally there's nothing to indicate it would be a double album.

It's to deliberately annoy people online who complain about it for no good reason.

Or it's because they wanted it on 2 discs - so it is.

[Bolsters]

Maybe they didn't realise that the RIAA only count double albums twice regarding sales if there's more than 100 minutes of audio.

[Kotowboy]

Maybe they didn't realise that the RIAA only count double albums twice regarding sales if there's more than 100 minutes of audio.

I'm sure they knew...

Hetfield said that the vinyl would sound better if it was two discs - so they made the CD two discs as well.

It's just a nice package having a 3CD album . You can make it one album on your playlists anyway so i'm not really sure what the problem is except to nitpick.

[BlobVanDam]

Maybe they didn't realise that the RIAA only count double albums twice regarding sales if there's more than 100 minutes of audio.

I'm sure they knew...

Hetfield said that the vinyl would sound better if it was two discs - so they made the CD two discs as well.

It's just a nice package having a 3CD album . You can make it one album on your playlists anyway so i'm not really sure what the problem is except to nitpick.

But if you get the physical album, you now have the unnecessary pain of swapping discs after less than 40 minutes just to listen to an album that could easily have fit on a single disc. A lot of albums require double vinyl, because it's an ancient format that doesn't fit much, but I've never seen other bands stick those on two CDs (I'm not including old albums that were released in the vinyl era first), because they're different formats that are unrelated. The band hasn't given a single legitimate reason from what I've read in this thread. I think from the start they just poorly planned it out and expected they were going to have more than 80 minutes of material, then were just committed to the production having two discs and had to give some lame excuse.
Pointing out that something is unnecessary, pointless, and actually a hindrance is not nitpicking.

[Train of Naught]

Maybe they didn't realise that the RIAA only count double albums twice regarding sales if there's more than 100 minutes of audio.

I genuinely think this is probable. Simply because there is no logical reason whatsoever why they would take this approach otherwise.

[Kotowboy]

It's only a hinderance if you listen to the entire album each time you put it on.

Lots of people bought the vinyl edition from what I read - and there it HAS to be on two discs...

Did you buy or are you planning on buying the physical CDs of this album ?

If not then i still don't know what the problem is...

It would be like me complaining that the new Slayer album is 2 discs when i have no intention of buying it anyway.

[BlobVanDam]

What? I've seen you complain about a ton of stuff you have no intention of buying/watching/hearing!

[Kotowboy]

I AM A SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE

At least they didn't put each of the 12 songs on it's own CD like the band Spiritualised did for " Ladies & Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space "