Metallica Thread

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Just saw Joseph Duplantier of Gojira talk about James and he nails alot what i've always been thinking myself about James.

"James Hetfield. I know, it's surprising. [Laughs] No, it's not surprising, because I've been talking about him. Surprising because James is more a band leader and a singer and nobody thinks of James Hetfield as a guitar player. Some people do, but I really put it up there. I'm not talking about solos.

James Hefield has something… if there was a school, he would be my teacher. If there was a school for rock, he would be my teacher. I want to follow his course. His right hand is a hammer, an unstoppable hammer. He's the foundation of the rhythmic section in METALLICA. I think Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] is just dancing around James's guitar. Everybody follows James.

"One time we were on tour with [METALLICA], we became friends with their monitor engineer because he was doing our monitors too; we hired him," Duplantier added. "We gave him like $100 in cash every day, 'Can you do our monitors? We don't have our own monitor guy.' And he was, like, 'I got you.' Then when METALLICA played, one time he gave me James's spare in-ears. This little box, a receiver. He said, 'Joe, come here,' because he saw me watching James and analyzing his fucking right hand. It's out of this world. It's not necessarily impressive on a technical level. It's the precision and the consistency and it's sharp. He gives me a little radio there and I plug it in, I have my own in ears and I'm, like, 'Oh my god, oh my god! This is James's fucking monitors! What?' I plug them in and put it in my pocket and look at him, and I was amazed to see that there was almost no drums in there. Who does that? What? Maybe there was some hi-hat, but he was flying through the songs, playing and singing and it was only him in his monitors. A little bit of drums to stay connected to the rest, but some people need a lot of drums because they're so chaotic and are just sitting on the drums, like in my case for example. This guy can do a whole show, and I'm pretty sure everybody's following him, even Lars. I think Lars follows James when he plays."

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/gojiras-joseph-duplantier-james-hetfield-inspired-me-to-play-guitar/

[TAC]

James is the engine for sure.

[cramx3]

Well Lars' timing is pretty poor so not really surprising that James keeps the rhythm.

[TheCountOfNYC]

James Hetfield IS Metallica. Their entire sound comes from his right hand and his voice.

[Moor]

https://loudwire.com/game-show-contestant-metallica-questions/

Interesting! I got a 7/10 

[twosuitsluke]

https://loudwire.com/game-show-contestant-metallica-questions/

Interesting! I got a 7/10 

Same, was it also 3, 7 & 9 that you didn't know? 

[Moor]

https://loudwire.com/game-show-contestant-metallica-questions/

Interesting! I got a 7/10 

Same, was it also 3, 7 & 9 that you didn't know? 

In fact it was 3, 5 & 7 

[Anguyen92]

I already mentioned this in the NHL thread, but I might as well throw this in there just because.

So San Jose Sharks' Patrick Marleau broke the all-time record of most NHL regular seasons games played in a few days back and they had this little video to commemorate it.  It just so happens that James was the one narrating the video (which makes sense since the Sharks come out to Seek & Destroy as their entrance theme when they hit the ice in every home game and the majority of Marleau's games played was with the Sharks).

https://www.nhl.com/video/marleau-breaks-howes-record/t-277350912/c-8116673

[krands85]

https://loudwire.com/game-show-contestant-metallica-questions/

Interesting! I got a 7/10 

Same, was it also 3, 7 & 9 that you didn't know? 

Those are the three I got wrong. Seems like a pretty straightforward selection of questions for Mastermind!

[Dream Team]

James Hetfield IS Metallica. Their entire sound comes from his right hand and his voice.

100%. More important to his band than close to every other musician.

[pg1067]

I got 8/10.  I was sure #3 was someone else.  Never heard of correct answer.  Not in a million years would I have gotten #7 (although I've read the guy's name a bunch of times).  The rest were super easy (although I could see someone saying the other Bay Area baseball team for #9).

[Revenge319]

I've decided to go through Metallica's discography for the first time. I've only ever heard a few songs from this band, and that was all within the last year, so almost all of their music is going to be completely new to me. I'm pretty interested in how I'll feel about some of these albums, because I've heard a lot of mixed feelings about some of their later albums.

About half an hour ago, I listened to Kill 'Em All. It was consistently enjoyable overall; nothing particularly amazing on my first listen, but there were a lot of moments I liked. Highlights of the album for me were "(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth", "Seek & Destroy", and "Metal Militia". I'd say I'm impressed with the album, so I'm kind of excited as to what Ride the Lightning will be like, since that appears to be widely considered one of the best Metallica albums, if not the best Metallica album.

[MirrorMask]

Actually Master of Puppets is considered the best Metallica album, but if you rule that one out, most will agree that Ride is up there. It's also my personal favorite album.

Anyway, debating what's better between Ride and Master is like debating between a Ferrari and a Rolls Royce, or who's hotter between Scarlet Johansson or Gal Gadot. Your personal preference will decide, you're about to listen to some utter masterpieces.

[Zydar]

Well you're in for a ride (no pun intended). It will be interesting to see what you think of the Load/Reload albums from the mid 90s.

[Stadler]

As someone that doesn't see the "legendary" in RTL and MOP - they don't suck, but they're not my two favorites in the catalogue - I'm going to be watching this intently.   I'm curious too. 

[fadetoblackdude7]

Enjoy! There is a GIANT leap in maturity from Kill to Ride. I think you’ll enjoy the catalog!

[TheCountOfNYC]

The first five albums (Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, ...And Justice For All, and The Black Album) are amazing. There’s a dip in quality with Load and ReLoad but there’s a lot of good music between the two. St. Anger is definitely the low point for the band. Death Magnetic is good but it’s an exhausting listen due to its length and brickwalled production. Hardwired...To Self Destruct is a return to form, and has elements of their previous albums with some new twists. And don’t even bother with Lulu.

[fadetoblackdude7]

The first five albums (Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, ...And Justice For All, and The Black Album) are amazing. There’s a dip in quality with Load and ReLoad but there’s a lot of good music between the two. St. Anger is definitely the low point for the band. Death Magnetic is good but it’s an exhausting listen due to its length and brickwalled production. Hardwired...To Self Destruct is a return to form, and has elements of their previous albums with some new twists. And don’t even bother with Lulu.

Well said. I agree with all of this, spot on!

[Zantera]

I don't think Load is a dip in quality from Black Album. Nothing on Black Album reaches the level of Bleeding Me or The Outlaw Torn.

[twosuitsluke]

I've decided to go through Metallica's discography for the first time. I've only ever heard a few songs from this band, and that was all within the last year, so almost all of their music is going to be completely new to me. I'm pretty interested in how I'll feel about some of these albums, because I've heard a lot of mixed feelings about some of their later albums.

About half an hour ago, I listened to Kill 'Em All. It was consistently enjoyable overall; nothing particularly amazing on my first listen, but there were a lot of moments I liked. Highlights of the album for me were "(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth", "Seek & Destroy", and "Metal Militia". I'd say I'm impressed with the album, so I'm kind of excited as to what Ride the Lightning will be like, since that appears to be widely considered one of the best Metallica albums, if not the best Metallica album.

Enjoy it dude. Metallica were my absolute fave band for about 10 years. They've been edged out by Coheed and Cambria now but I still adore them. Glad you dug Kill 'em All. The next four albums are just unbelievable really. As much as I'd agree that Load and Reload are a drop off in quality (only because the first five are sooooo good), their 90s output is still really strong. You HAVE to include Garage Inc and the S&M live album as you go through their discography. Honestly those two albums are just something else. I'd rank them over the majority their catalogue!

[Revenge319]

Actually Master of Puppets is considered the best Metallica album, but if you rule that one out, most will agree that Ride is up there. It's also my personal favorite album.

Anyway, debating what's better between Ride and Master is like debating between a Ferrari and a Rolls Royce, or who's hotter between Scarlet Johansson or Gal Gadot. Your personal preference will decide, you're about to listen to some utter masterpieces.

Oh yeah, I've heard a lot of praise for Master of Puppets as well. I'm very interested in that album as well.

Well you're in for a ride (no pun intended). It will be interesting to see what you think of the Load/Reload albums from the mid 90s.

Honestly, I think in a weird sort of way I'm anticipating these albums and the ones following it a little more than the ones that are highly praised. But I'm interested in all of them, of course, seeing as I'm marathoning their main discography.

Enjoy it dude. Metallica were my absolute fave band for about 10 years. They've been edged out by Coheed and Cambria now but I still adore them. Glad you dug Kill 'em All. The next four albums are just unbelievable really. As much as I'd agree that Load and Reload are a drop off in quality (only because the first five are sooooo good), their 90s output is still really strong. You HAVE to include Garage Inc and the S&M live album as you go through their discography. Honestly those two albums are just something else. I'd rank them over the majority their catalogue!

I can thank S&M for being the main thing that got me interested in Metallica, so I'll totally be giving that a listen at some point. I'll probably listen to it (along with Garage Inc.) after finishing the studio discography.

[DTA]

Well you're in for a ride (no pun intended). It will be interesting to see what you think of the Load/Reload albums from the mid 90s.

Honestly, I think in a weird sort of way I'm anticipating these albums and the ones following it a little more than the ones that are highly praised. But I'm interested in all of them, of course, seeing as I'm marathoning their main discography.

Load/Reload is to me their absolute peak of creativity and musicianship. It has the same fate as Iron Maiden's No Prayer For The Dying and Megadeth's Cryptic Writings in that vocal members of the fanbase have declared them inferior and it's somehow become acknowledged as the truth. The albums are incredibly dense from a production standpoint with tons of well-written songs and melodies. But it's not thrash so they must not be great, right? The first 5 are all excellent too, but there is no quality drop-off with the Loads despite what others say.

[425]

Count me among those who consider the Load era to be an incredibly creative era for Metallica. The only reason neither of those albums is at the top of my list is because my favorite material is split up across the two albums and mixed in with some stuff that doesn't work as well for me. If I put my favorite songs from those sessions onto a single disc, that easily would be my favorite Metallica album.

[cfmoran13]

Count me among those who consider the Load era to be an incredibly creative era for Metallica. The only reason neither of those albums is at the top of my list is because my favorite material is split up across the two albums and mixed in with some stuff that doesn't work as well for me. If I put my favorite songs from those sessions onto a single disc, that easily would be my favorite Metallica album.

There's a Metallica podcast called Metal Up Your Podcast (great title!), https://metalupyourpodcast.simplecast.com.  They have a 2-part interview with Mike Gillies, a sound engineer who worked with Metallica in various capacities from The Black Album through Hardwired.  He goes in-depth on both the Load/Reload and St. Anger albums.  Some pretty cool minutiae.

[Zook]

https://loudwire.com/game-show-contestant-metallica-questions/

Interesting! I got a 7/10 

Same, was it also 3, 7 & 9 that you didn't know? 

Those are the ones I didn't know as well. I guessed on 2 and got it right. I'm not sure if I learned the answer previously, but he just gives off that impression.

[TheCountOfNYC]

The first five albums (Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, ...And Justice For All, and The Black Album) are amazing. There’s a dip in quality with Load and ReLoad but there’s a lot of good music between the two. St. Anger is definitely the low point for the band. Death Magnetic is good but it’s an exhausting listen due to its length and brickwalled production. Hardwired...To Self Destruct is a return to form, and has elements of their previous albums with some new twists. And don’t even bother with Lulu.

Well said. I agree with all of this, spot on!

I’ve been waving the Metallica flag since I’m three years old and I heard Master of Puppets for the first time. They’re my first and greatest musical love.

[jammindude]

Bought Ride the Lightning off the new release rack when I was 15 years old. It was the heaviest thing I had ever heard in my life, and I played it til the grooves wore out of my record. Used to have the original Creeping Death/Garage Days picture disc, and a promotional glow in the dark Fade to Black 12” single...but they were stolen during my wild years.

I was waiting in line for MoP. We heard they had been blowing Ozzy off the stage (to point that the rumors were that it was a repeat of the VH/Black Sabbath shows of 79 and people were still chanting for more Metallica when Ozzy took the stage). We thought those rumors were awesome and bought our tickets to the Ozzy show in hopes that we could boo him off the stage and get more Metallica....but Ozzy canceled several shows (supposedly laryngitis) and Metallica were off the tour. That was my failed final opportunity to see Cliff alive. 

Saw them on the Puppets tour headlining made up for it. I was also at both shows that were filmed in Seattle for the Live Binge and purge set.

I’ll never forget being in my first thrash band when the guitarist brought home the black album and we listened to it together in the band practice room for the first time. The first reaction was: “What....the F***....is this? I can *DANCE* to this!!!! WHAT THE F***”

I grew to appreciate it later, but it’s still their first album with skippable tracks. I was pleasantly surprised by the low number of votes it got in the “best Metallica album” thread.

I love St. Anger. It is the “junkyard dog” to the black album’s “groomed French poodle”.

And Lulu is not the garbage people say it is. It’s a very different animal, and it’s not Lou Reed’s finest hour. But there are some shining moments. I think Junior Dad in particular is a fantastic epic.

Just my two cents.

[Revenge319]

I listened to Ride the Lightning just now. Honestly, I'm not sure what to say about this one at the moment. It's a good album, I know it's something I like, but I just don't have anything specific to say about this one. But I'm not worried about that. I've only listened to the album once, and there's been quite a few albums I've listened to before where I don't think too much of it my first time, but come to love it upon giving it a lot more listens (BTBAM's Colors and PT's The Incident are the best examples of this). Highlights of the album for me were "Trapped Under Ice" and "The Call of Ktulu". And like with KEA, there were a lot of individual moments I enjoyed. For as little as I have to say about the album, I can at least say that there's nothing I dislike about it, so I think that's a good sign that I'll grow to enjoy it more on repeated listens.

[Revenge319]

I listened to Master of Puppets just now. Out of the three albums I've heard thus far, I would say this one's my favorite. The first two were pretty good, but Master of Puppets is even better. In addition to being consistently good, the title track was particularly great. Awesome song all around. Besides that, "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "Disposable Heroes" were also highlights of the album for me. Three albums in, and I'm glad I decided to do this marathon. There's a lot of cool stuff that I've found, although there's not much I've heard that I'd call amazing (except Master of Puppets, that song really stands out in terms of quality). I'm really anticipating the next two albums now, and I hope I like them just as much as MoP if not even more!

[Podaar]

Revenge319,

Are you listening once and then moving on or giving each album a few listens? Just curious.

[Revenge319]

Revenge319,

Are you listening once and then moving on or giving each album a few listens? Just curious.

I'm listening to them once and moving on, but I do plan to return to each one. I'm just doing it this way so I can get through the discography quicker. I think first impressions are important, but unless I absolutely hate an album on the first listen or something like that, I always intend to return to it. I actually gave KEA another listen sometime between my first listen of that and RTL, and I plan on listening to RTL and MOP in-between listening to the others for the first when I get the opportunity, and I'll be doing the same for the other albums I listen to as well.

I understand that this might seem like an odd way of going about it (I can understand how getting to understand an album first before moving on would be a better idea), it's just something I've done for other artists in the past when discovering their discography for the first time, so I'm used to it. I think it's just when I'm interested in seeing everything an artist has to offer, I want to hear all their albums in succession and then return to each individual album to really absorb, as opposed to absorbing one album at a time before moving on to the next. And when it's an artist I'm particularly liking, I suppose I'm just excited (or perhaps impatient) to get to the next album.

[kirksnosehair]

So, I've been listening to St. Anger and while I definitely get the complaints about the way it sounds, it's definitely mastered hot as hell and the snare drum sounds like someone beating on a trash can, but musically I definitely dig it.


Sounds like a bonus disc from The Black Album only the guy mastering it spilled coffee on the console and didn't realize he pushed the gain on the main outs up to 11 

[kirksnosehair]

God, that snare 

[Revenge319]

I just finished ...And Justice For All. I'd say it's on-par with Master of Puppets, but I'm unsure which one left a stronger impression on me. I really like the run from "Blackened" to "One", and "To Live Is To Die" was a pretty cool instrumental, too. "The Shortest Straw" was kind of a low point; it was good, but a bit too repetitive. But other than that, this was a very good album and I definitely want to revisit this one.

[twosuitsluke]

It's great to hear how you are finding this journey dude. My experience of exploring Metallica's catalogue will always be one I hold dear.

They were the first band I truly obsessed over. I really savoured every album. I'd been exposed to The Black Album by my older brother LOADS when it was released. He was 16 and I was 8. That album was played a lot, and it all seeped into my musical DNA. Then in like 2002, a work colleague brought The Black Album into work one day and after not hearing it for years I realised I knew every song!

I bought the album like a week later and listened to it for months, just that one Metallica album. There was this Kerrang Legends magazine that came out at the time documenting the bands history. I devoured it and spent ages agonising of which order to purchase the rest of their albums. I ended up getting Ride next and then spent months with that album. I then bought Master/Justice simultaneously and again just listened to those two albums, analysing it all. Finally I got Kill 'em All and ventured onto Garage Inc and S&M. By this point it was like mid 2004, and at that point they were pretty much the only metal band I listened to.

I miss the way you discovered music when you were  younger and didn't have a thousand bands to try to keep up with. I could never devote the time to one band now, like I did back then. I can picture where I was the first time I listened to all those Metallica albums and they hold such a special place in my heart.

I know there's so much music out there Revenge, but if you can put time aside to really savour these albums I think you'll be glad you did.