Deadeye Deep Dives: Metallica (Chapter 13: 72 Seasons)

[DTA]

Beyond Magnetic is one I listened to a few times when it came out but never beyond that. I think I'll replay it today to see what my current thoughts are. I remember being completely underwhelmed by it and understanding why they never made it to DM but maybe time will have changed my opinion a bit.

[Adami]

Listened to this today.

It's not great. Hate Train has some cool ideas and good moments, Bullet Away is not very good, Hell and Back is not a bad song actually, and I couldn't stand Rebel of Babylon.


Just can't get into the writing or playing (minus a few exceptions) during this era.

[Deadeye21]

Orgullo, Pasion y Gloria - 2009
Setlist: 1. Creeping Death. 2. For Whom the Bell Tolls. 3. Ride the Lightning. 4. Disposable Heroes. 5. One. 6. Broken, Beat & Scarred. 7. The Memory Remains. 8. Sad But True. 9. The Unforgiven. 10. All Nightmare Long. 11. The Day That Never Comes. 12. Master of Puppets. 13. Fight Fire With Fire. 14. Nothing Else Matters. 15. Enter Sandman. 16. The Wait. 17. Hit The Lights. 18. Seek and Destroy.

Welcome to the start of our World Magnetic tour deep dives! Let’s do a quick recap of where we are so far. The Death Magnetic album released on September 12th, 2008. Metallica then embarked on a tour for two years from October 17th, 2008 until November 21st, 2010. All in all, they played 187 dates on the tour, including stops in Asia, Australia and South America, as well as the standard European and North American markets. To this day, it stands as one of Metallica’s most successful, taking in $217,245,629 at the box office.

The tour was rather extensive, seeing Metallica visit venues and countries they’d rarely, if ever, visited before. There were several North American and European legs, scattered in between which were huge shows in Mexico, France, Denmark and Bulgaria, amongst many many more. Today, we are starting with the first shows that we have available from the tour, with today’s release coming from three nights in Mexico City. They hadn’t played in Mexico for ten years, but returned to very receptive fans that helped them to sell out three nights at the Foro Sol stadium.

The DVD of this performance opens with a bit of a documentary, showing how excited the fans were to see Metallica return to Mexico City. This then cuts to just after the house lights have turned out, with The Ecstasy of Gold blaring over the PA and the band getting ready to take to the stage. Their first song of the evening is Creeping Death, which is an energetic opener for sure. The band is in tight form, and I can clearly hear that James’ voice has improved since the Le Bataclan show in 2003. While not as gritty anymore, he’s hitting the notes cleanly with conviction and authority. The bridge is a great showcase of how large the audience is, with a sea of fists and voices repeating “die! die!”

Next up is Bellz, which opens with a great solo from Rob. I’ve always liked it when this song shows up at the front of the show, like with Seattle ’89. Even being a mid-tempo song, it just has such a great vibe to it. Quite clearly the Mexican fans agree with me, as there are lots of great shots of the audience throughout this one. I guess now is a fair time to say that, while I definitely miss Jason’s backing vocals on a song like Creeping Death, I think Rob’s playing feels like a much tidier fit for the band live, especially in the modern day. Kirk has an extended solo out of the studio outro, and we’re dropped straight into Ride the Lightning. This performance of the track is even tighter than Bataclan, which was better than Cunning Stunts. James doesn’t completely lose his place in the lyrics, Kirk’s solo is a lot closer to the album version (and absolutely nailed at that) and I love hearing the crowd chanting along with the beat during the first half of the solo. Kirk absolutely smokes the second half, it’s amazing to take in. Overall, this is one of my favourite live versions of the song (though we haven’t gotten to my actual favourite yet).

Three songs in, but all of a sudden we cut to a few news reports. It’s important to note that this DVD is really a compilation of three nights and, in all honesty, this show doesn’t actually exist. As Lars says in this first interview portion (which does draw on a little too long for my liking), they played a different setlist every night that they were in Mexico City, so we fdo get a good bit of variety.

Up next, still from the second of three nights, is Disposable Heroes. While this does feel slightly slower than the album version, I think it’s slightly heavier with the semitone lower tuning and the slightly slower pace. James sounds awesome in the prechorus sections and I really love Kirk and Rob’s backing “back to the front” lines. Kirk’s solo on this one is performed masterfully, not to mention the harmonised lines throughout. It’s cool to me to see this song performed in its entirety, as the version I saw them perform in 2010 omitted the reprise of the bridge after the solo and the extended final chorus. I can honestly say that I prefer the shorter version, as that short lead section in the final chorus just doesn’t land for me quite as well live.

A fantastic opening segment leads into a massive pyro display without the band on stage. We even get a few fireworks shooting up, as well as the flash pots on stage. As that subsides, we’re left with a red light on stage and James and Kirk starting up the only Justice song in the feature presentation, One. This is a song that they perform at nearly every show, so I feel like I’m able to skip over this. However, what I will say is that I think I prefer the performance from Cunning Stunts for this song. It’s not to say that I think this is a bad performance, it most certainly isn’t. I just like Cunning Stunts a little more, as I think Jason’s bass tone on that concert was perfect for the song and there’s a few extra lines of backing vocal that he provides there that Rob doesn’t. Also Lars’ double bass game was vastly improved for that show compared to this one.

Up next, James dedicates a song to the Mexican fanbase and talks a little about doing your best and endurance before coming straight out with “coz what don’t kill you makes you more strong”. Boom, straight into one of the three  Death Magnetic songs for the main feature tonight, Broken, Beat & Scarred. This isn’t quite as good as the studio version and it’s pretty much because I feel that Kirk and Rob don’t hold up the tagline of the verses enough. They do sound strong for the “show your scars” in the chorus though. For those of you watching along, can I just point out how cool James’ guitar looks on this one? The best part of this one live is easily that kick off into the solo onwards. The final chorus is huge, even with James missing the first line. The solo is badass, that altered riff that we end up on is nice and heavy. It’s a solid performance, I just prefer the song on the album.

And now we take in another interview. Sadly, the powers that be opted to not add subtitles and all the fans are, naturally, speaking Spanish. I can feel these fans are passionate about the band, but unfortunately, I can’t follow the course of this. I do like this guy’s mask though.

We’re treated to a little ReLoad action with The Memory Remains. This feels a little low energy to me, but it’s a good performance of the song. The strongest part of this version is not the band, it’s hearing the audience singing along to Marianne Faithfull’s section even after the band have stopped playing. This has become a natural feature of the song, but I love that moment. Always feels cool.

We are now 8 songs into the set, almost halfway, and we finally get a Black Album cut. It’s almost impressive they held out this long. Sad But True opens with James singing the chorus acapella, before leaving it to the audience to finish it out. Then we get the band coming in heavy. This is another song that I prefer from Jason’s time with the band as I just feel like James tries to sing this too cleanly now and so much of the edge of this song comes from the grit in his vocals. Are there other songs where this is the case? Definitely, but this is the one where it’s the most aggravating for me since their live tones can never feel as strong as the wall of guitars that were on the album version. This is followed by Rob’s short bass ‘solo’, which is just him dropping the tuning progressively.

Here we get another short clip, this one being about changing the setlist every night. This is a very cool clip that helps to explain the process that goes behind the setlist. Lars talks about the idea that the 90s saw them being “too well-oiled of a machine that they seemed to lose their humanity”. I like it. I’ve always appreciated that they do this because it means you can see them at multiple shows and not know what you’re getting apart from the handful of staples that they will definitely be playing. With M72 around the corner, I’m excited to see how much further they can take this concept.

James teases the intro of …And Justice For All before launching into The Unforigven. As far as I can tell, the next handful of songs are from the first night. This one also seems to be lacking something live, even being performed really well. I don’t know that this song ever translated perfectly live, even on the original Black Album tour back in the early 90s. I certainly can’t knock the performance here though, it’s top notch. Everyone plays their parts really well, I like James’ voice in the chorus especially. I honesty cannot put my finger on what I feel is lacking either. This just isn’t quite the way I want to hear the song.

All Nightmare Long is up next. This is brutally heavy with that extra semitone drop. James’ voice is perhaps not as beastly as it is on the album, though he is still giving it his all. I really like that he lets the audience do the “1, 2” from the album leading into the second verse. His second verse is definitely stronger than the first for my liking. Something that I think is going to be really interesting is the fact that we have a performance of this song on all of the main releases we’ll be talking about from this tour, meaning we can get a great picture of how this song changes over the course of the tour. As it is, this sets a nice high bar to compare to in our coming deep dives.

Another interview, of course. I skipped this time, being another fan clip in Spanish meaning that I can’t get a whole lot out of these.

The Day That Never Comes is our final Death Magnetic song for the main show. This is a really good performance, right up there with the opening segment of the show. I think this might be the song that James sings the best on this show, and it might be one of my favourites from the latter half of the set. The main instrumental section is actually really fun to watch with the band interacting with each other. I love the shots of James and Kirk standing together playing those harmonies. Kirk nails the solo and it’s just a great time all around.

As the last note of Day rings out and turs into feedback, Lars starts his 4count into Master of Puppets. This cannot compare to the performance from Seattle ’89. I don’t think any version other than the original S&M can ever top it. That said, it’s another solid performance but I love the way the audience gets to sing parts of the verses for themselves. I really like the delay on James’ high note in the second verse ending. Making this version better than the previous Mexico City/San Diego and Cunning Stunts versions is the fact that we get the whole thing. Yes, the fantastic middle section is here in all its glory! I think this is one of the last times I’ve heard James actually say “fix me” directly before the solo, instead of being weird and saying “pancakes”. Kirk nails the solo, the Bowie riff is tight and there you have a sold performance of Master of Puppets.

We get a great clip about bootleg merch in Mexico that James actually has a lot of respect for here. There’s some real cool stuff on display here.

Something I loved that started on the World Magnetic tour’s set structure is that Metallica would play either One or Day into Master before playing one of their thrashiest songs (Battery, Damage, Blackened, Fight Fire With Fire or Dyers Eve were the usual culprits) before Nothing and Sandman closed out the main sets. Coming from the second night, we have Fight Fire With Fire, and a blistering performance thereof. I think this is actually faster than the album version, which doesn’t throw James even remotely. I think he actually sings it better here than on Ride, giving it a little bit more energy and emotion than the monotonous staccato delivery on the original. Kirk nails the solo and then has a cool stare down with James for the harmony. Lars delivers on the double bass for the drum break before the final verse. It’s a killer performance of the song.

Now, it’s fairly obvious that no matter what else any of these shows bring, we are always going to get Nothing Else Matters and Enter Sandman. We’re also going to have a few other staples make it to every show, but these two are particularly egregious in that there’s hardly any variables to talk about with them. They are so dialled in that I’m fairly sure Metallica themselves go on autopilot when this block rolls around each night. Because we have so many other and, in my opinion, better songs to talk about, we can assume that these two were well performed and move on, right? If anyone actually wants to discuss a particular rendition of either, we can. I have still watched them as part of each show, I just choose to skip over them in the reviews to save character count and save you from reading the same exact review each time. Cool? I will, however, say that I love Kirk’s clean intro solo before Nothing and I kinda like seeing Rob and James start Sandman on their knees. Right, let’s move on into the encore.

There’s another short clip here of the fans with different bits and pieces. I believe these are the fans that won the meet and greet passes for these shows.

The World Magnetic tour saw Metallica play a cover song at the start of their encores. I got to see Stone Cold Crazy at my show, but this encore from the third night opens with The Wait by Killing Joke. This is a pretty rare cover to see come up, so it’s pretty cool to have a properly released version of it here. I really enjoy this song here, though I can see why it’s not up there with Breadfan and Stone Cold Crazy as a song they play constantly.

The encore would generally then go to an early thrash song, either something from Kill ‘Em All o, if you're lucky, Trapped Under Ice. On this show, it happened to be Hit the Lights that occupied this slot. Now, I’m well aware that, much like we hear on the Some Kind of Monster EP, Metallica didn’t always play the full intro to Lights, often picking up directly from the main riff. And that’s what the DVD claims they did here, but fan shot footage from that night confirms that this was one of the rare instances where the full intro was indeed played. Anyway, this is hands down the best live version of the song that we’ve heard so far. James nails the vocals, Rob and Lars keep very tight time together and Kirk’s solos, while not necessarily the album solos, are a great showcase of what he does best.

We go through our final cutaway clip here, looking at Metallica meeting the fans and signing some merch. It’s a nice moment.

We end our main presentation with Seek and Destroy, tuned down to D standard. This is another one I don’t really need to comment on all that much. This is a great closing song, going back to the very beginnings of the band, but also giving the audience a very simple phrase to yell back to the band. I do like seeing this one on the DVDs though, because I love the way that the band decide to turn the house lights back on so they can properly see the audience in front of them. It’s awesome to watch the crowd jumping up and down to the beat. Seek is followed by a quick teaser of Wasting My Hate and that’s our show.

I think this is a hell of a show, but the constant back and forth with the interviews and fan clips does destroy the pacing for me. It’s extremely distracting, and without subtitles, it’s completely unwatchable for me. Had this been a straight concert, I’d have had no qualms ranking this 3rd behind Seattle ’89 and S&M, but I feel like the ‘compilation’ setlist does make things a little unfair.

But that’s not even all there is for this one. While this is the main crux of the show, we have 16 extra songs ready to watch. I’m about to slot in disc 2 and go for a double dip deep dive for this release. Join me in a moment for that one!

[Deadeye21]

Orgullo – Disc 2
1. That Was Just Your Life. 2. The End of the Line. 3. Holier Than Thou. 4. Cyanide. 5. Blackened. 6. Helpless. 7. Trapped Under Ice. 8. Turn the Page. 9. The Prince. 10. No Remorse. 11. Fuel. 12. Wherever I May Roam. 13. Harvester of Sorrow. 14. Fade to Black. 15. …And Justice For All. 16. Dyers Eve.

I guess part of making a compilation setlist work is having all the songs to make it up, and we already talked about the songs coming from three different shows. Now, the question is, what do you do with all the songs you didn’t use. Well, if you’re Metallica, the answer is, apparently, to make a second compilation setlist of everything that didn’t make it to the main show.

On the first night in Mexico City, Metallica started with the tour’s usual opening 1-2 punch of That Was Just Your Life and The End of the Line, both from Death Magnetic. The thing is, That Was Just Your Life seems to work much better at indoor venues with its spectacular laser show. Nonetheless, I think the combination of these two Magnetic tracks creates an awesome duo to open concerts with. The harmony section from Life live is an awesome moment, as is the intro to End of the Line with James and Rob playing the response line of the intro. These songs don’t get quite the same reaction as Creep and Bellz do as openers, but I kinda prefer them personally. The guys seem to have a lot of fun playing these two and it's quite fun to watch, even if it doesn’t make for the best audience response.

The editing on this disc is a little jumpy in spots. What we have here is only the “leftover” songs that didn’t make the compiled main set. What we have here is actually in order of how each of the three nights were originally performed, which leads to odd moments like this one, where Holier Than Thou used the last note of Creeping Death as a hold to its start. On this DVD, the feedback from that last note comes from nowhere and it’s a weird edit. Anyway, here’s a Black Album deep cut that gets fans rocking out. I feel like James doesn’t nail this one vocally, which may be the reason it didn’t make it to the main setlist. Lars also drops a few beats here and there. It’s a shame though as some of the crowd shots for this one look awesome and the quick riff into the solo is a great moment.

On night one, Cyanide was the song that followed BBS. This one being a single at the time definitely helped it to garner some popularity by then, and the grooving tempo leads to some cool chants from the crowd. This is probably my second favourite performance of a Death Magnetic song from these shows. I feel like the interplay between Rob and Lars at the start of each verse is really felt much better live than it is on the album and it’s just a song that James nails live. I’d be quite interested in seeing this one make the list for a few M72 shows. The bridge has such a great vibe live that it would be a shame not to see on the setlist again.

With a lot of the later portion of the main set being the same each night, the next song we get to see is Blackened, which took the place of Fight Fire on night one. They perform this song so well and the crowd eat it up so much that I’m surprised that this isn’t the song they chose to use in the main set. Lars’ double bass is on point and it’s really cool seeing the pyro light up on the word “fire” in each chorus.

Night one’s encore featured Helpless as the cover and Trapped Under Ice for the thrashy tune. I like Helpless a lot, I think they perform it really well, especially Rob with a few tight fills during the prechoruses. Sadly, this is an abridged version which leads from the second chorus straight into the closing solo, bypassing the middle section entirely. I think this is a better cover than The Wait and I’d have found it a better choice for the main set, but I digress. Trapped is great too, featuring a solid performance from Lars and Kirk, though I think the vocals may be just a little too high for James here. This sure doesn’t stop him from giving it his all. I’m really glad we have an official live version this song.

With the majority of the main set having come from the second night, we only have three songs left to talk about from the second show. These are preceded by a quick clip of Lars saying the first night was one of the best shows they’ve ever played and feeling like it can only get better. James and Kirk talk about the different vibe between indoor and outdoor crowds.

Ok, the only main set tune we have here is Turn The Page, the Bob Seger cover. This one kinda feels wrong in a stadium, though Metallica do play it very well here. For me, this song just seems to work better indoors. Kirk’s lead tone from this tour really grates on my ear while he’s playing slide though. It’s a shame because James nails this vocally.

And we’re straight into the encore from night two, opening with The Prince. This is a very odd song but I’ve always loved the version from the Justice sessions, and I think this is a very well performed version of the tune. James sings this song way better than I ever thought that he would at this point, Kirk nails the solo and the whole band stay on top of the almost progressive transitions very well. No Remorse seems to be the perfect song to couple with it, as I’ve always felt the structure of the intro and verses of both were quite similar. Remorse isn’t a usual contender as an encore, but it really works here. This is the shorter version that we were introduced to on the Bataclan show and its performed even better here, even without the Dyers Eve intro jam for an outro.

What I really appreciate with the extra clips on this disc is that they are all about how great the shows have been from the band’s perspective and they help divide the shows by night. They don’t offer the fan’s perspective as much as the main set’s do, but I prefer them.

Fuel replaced Bellz on that third night, making for a very fast opening duo. The energy is very apparent from the get go here and the crowd are strong. The pyro blaze during the instrumental bridge is a beautiful sight! This is strangely one of the best performed songs overall, even if there are other songs that I’m more up with because they’re deep cuts that really speak to me. James nails this one vocally and Kirk’s solo is very powerful.

In an interesting move, they played Wherever I May Roam directly after this, which certainly brings the tempo down a lot. It’s also an odd choice to use an intro tape for the third song in the set imo, but you get that. Where I felt that Page was the wrong song for a huge crowd this is very much the right one, almost standing to further glorify the touring life as the song itself does. It’s another well performed track that I wish had been in the main set, though I suppose that would mean giving up Ride the Lightning and I don’t like that trade enough. Kirk is on fire, and I would almost dare to say that the third night sees him at his most energetic.

Another slower tempo song with massive energy comes for us in the form of Harvester of Sorrow. Did you know that Justice songs sound better with bassz/ Coz they really do. This is crushingly heavy, and you really have no choice but to love this performance if you care about the song at all. Everyone’s on point and it’s just a great performance that stacks up well next to Seattle for me.

Interestingly, Kirk’s usual first solo spot of the night is somewhat here? It starts but then cuts out, but it also starts somewhere in the middle of it? I don’t fully understand the logic here. Anyway, we move on to possibly the biggest song that I’m surprised was cut out of the main set, Fade to Black. I feel like someone mentioned here about Kirk having really singable solos back in the day, and that is really showcased on this performance where the crowd is actually singing the opening solo to Fade to Black at the top of their lungs. It’s a huge sound that has to be admired. I love James’ clean tone on this performance and I think this could be his best vocal performance of the song. Kirk is on fire all throughout this third night so, I think it’s fairly safe to say that this is a killer solo too.

The last two songs for the whole collection both come from …And Justice For All. Firstly, the title track, which made a huge comeback in the setlist in 2007 after not being played in full since 1989, or at all since 1993 in the Justice Medley. James doesn’t deliver it with quite the grit of the original but he get heavy during those choruses. The whole performance is really tight, with Lars nailing the short descending patterns of the second intro. It’s amazing to think this song this song really didn’t get much love from the band until Rob started pushing to play it because they absolutely nail it here. The reprise of the intro is my favourite moment of the second disc without doubt!

The final song of this entire collection is also likely the least performed today. Dyers Eve. Holy shit, they actually did it. Lars doesn’t give this all the inhuman double bass work of the original, but he still holds his own here. James gives a more melodic performance, rather than the unbridled anger of the album version, but it totally works. As far as Kirk is concerned, by having this as the last song on the second disc, we are very much saving the best for last. This is just unreal to be able to hear a live version of and everything here is fantastic.

And that’s it! Next up will either be Francais Pour Une Nuit, or the Six Feet Down Under twin EPs. These live reviews are the path that we’re going to be heading down for a little while here, but that’s fine by me if it works for you all.

[Deadeye21]

Six Feet Down Under – 2010
Tracklisting: 1. Eye of the Beholder. 2. …And Justice For All. 3. Through the Never. 4. The Unforgiven. 5. Low Man’s Lyric. 6. Devil’s Dance.7. Frantic. 8. Fight Fire With Fire

https://open.spotify.com/album/6PZnDE9gWetRTjw3pHbodW?si=CNK9POTBS9mNYFPlIN5f0w

Well, I’m very excited right now. Tomorrow, I’m going for a quick trip to Melbourne to ctach Megadeth and Trivium at their Knotfest sideshows!

Seeing as I’m about to go see some shows on Australian tours, I thought it would be kinda fun for me to tie in a few of these here writeups and visit two EPs that you may not be aware of, both called Six Feet Down Under. These EPs are Australian exclusives from 2010, released to commemorate the band’s first Australian tour since 2004 (man, imagine only waiting six years). This first eight track release combines two songs from each of Metallica’s prior Australian tours from the Damaged Justice tour in 89, Wherever We May Roam tour in 93, the Poor Re-Touring Me tour of 98 and the Madly in Anger with the World tour in 2004.

This collection opens with some lower quality recordings, sadly. Many of these recordings are from fan recorded bootlegs which haven’t stood the test of the time quite as well as other live recordings. What we have to start with is Eye of the Beholder from their show at the Festival Hall in Melbourne, which until 2018 was the only officially released live recording of this one. The energy of the performance is great, but it’s actually quite interesting to hear people in the audience singing along and having one person remark that “James doesn’t need to sing” because the crowd is giving the prechorus and chorus everything they have. I don’t know if it’s something to do with the recording, but it almost sounds like the pitch of this recording is ever so slightly higher than the album version.

The second track, also taken from that same show is …And Justice For All. For me, it’s fairly cool to be able to hear the audience perspective of this since we’re now so familiar with the huge performance of this song from Seattle on the same tour. Jason has almost a bit of a bass solo before Lars starts the iconic drum groove. The audience is all in on the vocals alongside James, who sounds really strong on this song. While this is still a lower quality recording, it does sound fairly decent, considering the age of the tape at this point. There’s a constant squeak but you can learn to tune it out. The performance itself is what matters and they sound like they played just as well as they did on the main release from this tour.

The next two come the Black Album tour. I find it hard to listen to Through the Never as the graininess of the recording is quite overwhelming. James sounds a little beyond his prime trying to sing this one, though the recording does not help matters. The solo and bridge do sound pretty good on this though. Next is The Unforgiven from Melbourne and, while it’s a lot more stable of a recording, this sounds pretty off to me. Kirk’s clean tone is not as dialled in as it is on Orgullo, Pasion y Gloria (I can now mention the tones between eras) and James doesn’t sound like he’s hitting the right notes in a few spots. Kirk’s solo is fairly decent and I like a bit of the extended outro, but all up, it feels a little underwhelming. As I said last night though, I don’t think this song ever translated correctly live.

Back to Perth for two songs from ReLoad. Fun fact, these were actually recorded three months and ten days before I was born. Anyway, up first is Low Man’s Lyric in an almost fully acoustic style. The first thing I notice with this recording is how much cleaner it is, as we’re finally moving into the era where they recorded every show from the soundboard. The next thing that occurs to me is that this song COULD be great if Kirk didn’t use whatever effect he is using on his acoustic to try and sound like the hurdy-gurdy from the album. There’s a moment where he turns it off and it sounds beautiful. But I digress. This song has always been a James showcase and it remains a great James showcase. This remains the only official live version of the song and listening to this makes me wish they’d bring it back for the next Bridge School or All Within My Hands benefit gig.
The other track we have from this tour is Devil’s Dance. Jason’s distorted bass tone sounds evil here and that carries over to the rest of the band. James’ vocal gets lost at a few points but I honestly like this performance a lot. The solo isn’t perfect, but it’s not too bad. Would have liked a bit more backing vocal from Jason here, like what he does on S&M, but otherwise it’s just cool to have another recording of this one.

And then we pick it up almost six years later in 2004. First up, we have Frantic from a Big Day Out sideshow in Sydney (hey hey, festival sideshows. This does tie in perfectly!). The extended jam intro is a really nice touch, and I like Lars starting up the rapid snare hits to get the crowd engaged, though I wish the band could have just locked into this instead of stopping and restarting the song. James sings this much better than he did on the Bataclan recording, though they are a few months into the Madly in Anger tour at this point. Recording wise, this is the clearest quality recording of the bunch as far as the band is concerned, though I feel like the audience does get a little lost. Now, what’s particularly cool about this performance is that Kirk has added a short solo after the bridge and this is one of my favourite performances of that solo. It’s cool how they tried to make up for some of the mistakes they made with the album on tour. Another example of this being that Lars has his snares on…

The last song of this lot is actually taken from the opening song of their headline set in Brisbane. This is Fight Fire With Fire. It’s not the cleanest performance of the song by quite a stretch, but I do like having this for the collection. I think the performance was a little better on the Mexico City shows that we looked into last night, especially in the solo, but all in all, this isn’t too shabby. This is only the first song of their third concert from that year, so taken into consideration it’s not too bad. Kinda cool to have the EP end with James asking the crowd “are you feeling good?” considering that the whole point was to get the Aussie fanbase ready to see them on tour.

This is definitely worth checking out, but I feel the second EP is stronger. We’ll have a look at that in the next chapter.

[Deadeye21]

Before I post my review of the second Six Feet Down Under, I wanted to go back and add the liner notes from the original, as I just found my copy on CD this afternoon.

"Do you want to add a note?" asks Marc at the office. "We've never done this before...."

Well here's your note . . .

Short version of the story: The folks at our record company Down Under asked us to come up with something they could put out to inject some sort of local favour into our upcoming last run of World Magnetic tour dates, which, of course, just happen to be in Australia and New Zealand.

We sat around and scratched our heads, stared at each other (that's scary!!) and then someone came up with the novel idea to release a couple of live tracks from every Trans-Tasman(!!??) tour we've done in our career. It all seemed like a great plan until we figured out that it wasn't until 2004 that we started full multi-track recordings of all the shows. Duh!

So we turned to the ever increasing network of you, the fans, who are always there for us. Before we knew it, we had some pretty decent bootleg options and as we delved further into this, realised that we had the opportunity to release songs that never before had been released as "live b-sides." What a concept!!

The now not-so-short story is that we have eight songs here, two from each tour in 1989, 1993, 1998 and 2004. Please don't sue us if we're wrong, but as far as e can tell none have ever been released before as a "live b-side" on CD. Okay, okay, yes, we know that ...And Justice For All came out on iTunes as a bonus song on "something-or-other" . . . we're not counting that in our "b-side" tally . . . this is our little "note" after all!

We also are aware that some of these songs are in somewhat rough shape (that may be putting it kindly), but it certainly captures the spirit and energy that comes in the wake of our Down Under visits. As we used to say in the past way tooooooo often, please don't take any of this too seriously. It's all part of the fun!!

Enjoy.

[Deadeye21]

Six Feet Down Under Part II – 2010
Tracklisting: 1. Blackened. 2. Ride the Lightning. 3. The Four Horsemen. 4. Welcome Home (Sanitarium). 5. Master of Puppets. 6. …And Justice For All. 7. Fade to Black. 8. Damage Inc..

And so it went that Metallica came to Australia and New Zealand for the final run of the World Magnetic tour (yes, I know, we’re way ahead when we still have a few full shows, plus their bonus tracks, to cover from before this but I did explain it at the top of the first disc). With setlists offering some deeper cuts alongside their new material and greatest hits, it seemed only natural to document the first part of the tour, at least.

Metallica offered up an impressive catalogue of songs to choose from in those first few dates (sadly, missing their two shows in Perth by only a few days, otherwise I’d probably be on an official release, dang!) and they offered the task of choosing the eight song tracklist onto the fans through their official website.
It probably shouldn’t come as any surprise that every track came from 1988 or earlier.

Opening this collection is a ripping version of Blackened from their first of three shows in Brisbane. Right off the bat, you can hear the audience going crazy for this song. This energy is absolutely carried by the band, though it seems that Lars isn’t quite as strong on his double bass work as Orgullo made it seem. Still, the few moments where James lets the fans take over the chorus and the pause into the bridge section show the audience having a great time. I think Rob does a better job of the backing vocals in the bridge here, and James sounds strong all throughout. Kirk’s solo is a little messy here though. The song trails out with James playing around with a little riff and then Kirk’s clean tone kicks in as the track fades out.

Secondly, my favourite song in the discography, Ride the Lightning from the second of two shows in Auckland. I appreciate that they kept an excerpt of James’ speech here, as it does help to set the vibe. “I hope you know all of Metallica’s songs, coz we’ve got some old stuff for you right now”. The New Zealand fans sound strong as they take over the third line of the chorus, and even stronger in the “hey! hey!” that echoes throughout the start of Kirk’s solo. I like the first half of the solo better on this version than on Orgullo, I think he comes damn close to nailing it here, though he gets thrown off at the start of the second half. You can hear him trying to recover it until he eventually kicks in at the most iconic phrase.

The Four Horsemen from their early standalone show in Sydney is next. James teases this next song by saying that the next song is from Kill ‘Em All and that there are four of them on stage. This is a really energetic performance of Horsemen, leagues ahead of the Bataclan version. You can hear an older James giving his best shot to some of the high notes from the original and making it work. I also really love the “die” rally between Rob and James after the second chorus. The gallop is tight and heavy here, which is always a good sign. The audience here is not as strong as other tracks on this EP will show them to be, but the chant before they do get their moment in the choruses. Kirk nails the iconic solo and there you have one of my favourite versions of the song!

Appropriately, we have a 4th track ballad next. Welcome Home (Sanitarium), taken from the first show of the Australian run in Melbourne is fantastic to hear. There’s a certain quality in the clean guitar tones that lend themselves so perfectly to the sound of Sanitarium here. James’ voice here is amazing too. I think this is a track that would go onto my ‘essentials’ live playlist if I had one. Everything here is so on point and it’s all got a very special vibe.

Marking the only true staple of the piece is this performance of Master of Puppets from Brisbane. I couldn’t tell you which night, being they didn’t drop it from the setlist at any point of the World Magnetic tour. The crowd singing during the verses and prechoruses is a real highlight, as it is with most performances. I can honestly say that this isn’t quite as cool as the Orgullo show as the crowd singing the full harmony section is a real highlight of those shows for me. This is a solid performance, but there’s just not quite the same magic there.

The one song that made it to both EPs is …And Justice For All, this performance taken from the second of three nights in Brisbane. It’s quite cool to consider that we have two live performances of this live rarity, both taken from Australian gigs. It helps to set into mind how much the band has changed live in those 21 years. This isn’t quite as tight as the performance on the second disc of Orgullo, but it’s still very strong. Lars still nails the descending transition before the solo section here. Kirk isn’t quite as tight though, struggling a little bit with a few phrases. As always, the reprisal of the intro is a delight! One thing that does strike me here is that they don’t do the full ending to the song, skipping the first harmony and last line of the chorus but going straight into the proper outro from the album version. I kinda prefer it that way, as I always thought it was an odd choice on the album.

Fade to Black is next and here is where I get to voice a controversial opinion! Somewhere in late 2009/early 2010, James stopped performing this song fully on the electric guitar and opted to use his acoustic guitar like he would on The Unforgiven. Now, as much as I think it sounds great, I am not as much of a fan of him doing this as I am of hearing him play with his clean electric tone. It does create a mice interplay between his acoustic and Kirk’s clean lead sound, but it just doesn’t feel the same to me. As such, this version from the standalone show in Sydney doesn’t play quite as well for me as the version from Mexico City. I also don’t think James nails it quite the same vocally. I do like the “do you feel what I feel?” pause before the bridge, though, and Kirk’s solo is great as always.

Rounding out the collection is Damage Inc. from the second of two nights in Christchurch. As far as I’m aware, this is the most recent recording of the song that we have available outside of YouTube. Hearing the full intro pitched down the semitone is haunting, especially with that final bass squeal from the album. This isn’t necessarily the most tight of performances, with James’ vocals feeling quite overshot in the verses. I can see why this song hasn’t been played too often in the interim. The bridge and Kirk’s solo are the definite highlights of this performance, but I believe we do have a much tighter performance of this track coming up in another full show review before long.

And there you have it, just before I head to bed to wake up really early tomorrow morning to catch my flight to Melbourne, we have covered these exclusive EPs that were released just for Aussie fans like me. I really love the fact that these exist. I wish they could have done a part 3 from the SoundWave shows where they dug out all kinds of cool songs. Unfortunately, until 2025 at minimum, this is seemingly the most relevant that Metallica and Australia get to being mutually relevant. It's particularly tragic to think that the version of Ride the Lightning comes from their last show in New Zealand, coming up on 13 years ago. Maybe some day we'll see them Down Under again. Til then, I guess we just gotta hope that 72 Seasons will actually be a good album, since it's the last real news that we here will have from them in a while.

Anyway. Peace out. Til next week, enjoy some tunes, stay safe, I'll see you next time.

[Grappler]

Beyond Magnetic - When this EP came out, I didn't really give it much of a chance.  I was feeling cold towards Death Magnetic and its production.  I just re-listened to it a week or two ago and could enjoy it for what it was, but the lyrics are definitely lacking.  I give the band a lot of credit for doing something cool for the 30th anniversary shows and playing each song live and putting the rough mixes of them out. 

Orgulla - I bought this a while back when it came out.  I remember being shocked to see it in a store, since I had no idea that Metallica had released any official live video since S&M and couldn't recall any sort of hype or press release for it.  At the time, I loved having some rarer songs like Disposable Heroes being recorded live.  I can't recall if I still have this on DVD or if I sold it, but I certainly haven't watched it for a long time. 

Six Feet Down Under - I never looked into these releases and pretty much ignored most of the live EP's that the band put out from St. Anger onwards.  This thread is certainly helping me find the best of those EP's though, which is nice!

[Cruithne]

I used to have a version of Death Magnetic culled from the Guitar Hero stems. That's a really good record.

The actual released CD is almost unlistenable.

[The Realm]

Well, I’m very excited right now. Tomorrow, I’m going for a quick trip to Melbourne to ctach Megadeth and Trivium at their Knotfest sideshows!

Deadeye - what did you think of Megadeth? I was at the show. I'll also be at Trivium tonight.

[billboy73]

Haven't had a chance to comment on Beyond Magnetic yet:

I really like Hate Train and Just a Bullet Away.  The other 2 tracks aren't nearly as good in my view.  Hate Train has some really good riffs, and I really like that chorus.  The post-solo breakdown riff is awesome.  This is the one track that I would maybe try to put on DM.  The only thing I would consider replacing is End of the Line, and in the end, I am not so sure I would do that.  Just A Bullet Away is also really good, the instrumental section is great.  I agree that it doesn't really fit on DM though.

Overall though, I would say the DM sessions were a very fruitful time for the band.

[Deadeye21]

Well, I’m very excited right now. Tomorrow, I’m going for a quick trip to Melbourne to ctach Megadeth and Trivium at their Knotfest sideshows!

Deadeye - what did you think of Megadeth? I was at the show. I'll also be at Trivium tonight.

I thought they were mostly awesome. She-Wolf was a little odd though, don’t know how Dave messed thst one up so badly. Did notice that he let the audience take over the vocals a LOT! Like straight up not even near the mic at parts. Wasn’t mad on In Flames.

Loved Trivium, couldn’t believe my luck when they opened with Kirisute Gomen. Wish I had received the email notification that you had responded, would’ve been great to meet up with someone from the forum.

[Deadeye21]

Francais Pour Une Nuit - 2009
Setlist: 1. Blackened. 2. Creeping Death. 3. Fuel. 4. Harvester of Sorrow. 5. Fade to Black. 6. Broken, Beat & Scarred. 7. Cyanide. 8. Sad But True. 9. One. 10. All Nightmare Long. 11. The Day That Never Comes. 12. Master of Puppets. 13. Dyers Eve. 14. Nothing Else Matters. 15. Enter Sandman. 16. Stone Cold Crazy. 17. Motorbreathl 18. Seek & Destroy

https://youtu.be/I5Zb4w03atU

So, with the World Magnetic releases featuring many of the same songs presented in different venues, I thought I’d fast track this a little, being that all but two songs did appear during the three nights in Mexico City. 

In 2009, the tour made it’s way through Europe, Latin America, North America and Canada and led to the release of 3 of these next few releases within the same year. It’s worth mentioning at this point that I am going in chronological order of date performed, rather than date released. Francais Pour Une Nuit (which translates to French For One Night) was recorded on July 7th, 2009 and released on November 23rd of the same year, primarily in French markets (thiugh you can find this imported from time to time). Orgullo was released in November 30th, though it was filmed in June 4th, 6th and 7th. And then the Six Feet Down Under EPs were from 2010, but I did mention why I wanted to skip ahead to those back there.

Francais Pour Une Nuit was taken entirely from a single show at the Arenes De Nimes in Nimes, France. This is a building with a long history, being one of the best preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world. It was built shortly after the Colosseum in Rome and still hosts two annual bullfights as well as an annual music festival, which in 2009 featured Metallica as it’s headliner.

To me, Francais Pour Une Nuit features the most varied of the main setlists on offer from the three releases of 2009-2010. I think it’s the most visually pleasing of their live releases from this period, largely down to how amazing the venue looks, even more-so when offset by the lights from the stage. I feel like this is a perfect juxtaposition of the outdoor setup and the arena production, with this stage being the same as they’d use for their in-the-round setup, thus featuring the coloured flames emerging from between the amps that lined the centre of the stage. Sadly, this show lacked the awesome descending coffins that made the lighting rig of the Magnetic tour so unique.

Onto the setlist, I think this one is pretty cool, featuring a decent variety of fan favourites, deeper cuts and Death Magnetic tracks. I particularly enjoy the show opening with Blackened, even if it isn’t quite as stirring a performance as the version from Seattle ‘89, and leading straight into Creeping Death makes for an excellent punchy opener. Fuel and Harvester aren’t quite as strong as they are on Orgullo performance wise, though I must add that I think they are better defined sonically here, with much of that performance feeling a little lost in the mix for me.
 
Fade to Black is great here, I feel it’s one of Kirk’s best songs on this one. Very glad that James is tillmusing the electric the whole way through for now. One is very well performed here and the pyro display is just about in full effect here, though I am still looking forward to an indoor show to see the complete show again as this only features the front and rear flames, compared to the ones at the side at a fully in-the-round show. 
Cyanide and The Day That Never Comes are great here too, but it’s All Nightmare Long that takes the title of favourite from Death Magnetic on this one. Still, the song that is most attention grabbing here is Dyers Eve. To this day, it is a rare song to hear performed,  and I think this performance is pretty solid, even if it does feel a little  bit beyond James’ voice and far beyond Lars’ drumming skills to pull it off as aggressively as the original song was intended to be.

The two songs that I will be giving focus to here are found within the encore, which here begins with a jam on the intro of The Frayed Ends of Sanity, where Kirk and Lars get the crowd to sing along to the Wizard of Oz chant. James introduces this as being the part of the night where they get to play a cover song. “Tonight’s special band is Queen”. Stone Cold Crazy is our cover song for the evening, marking the first live performance of the track we get to mention since 1993! I like the performance of the instrumental a little more in this performance, though I can honestly say that this song doesn’t feel the same without the Hetfield rasp of the Black Album era. Being largely dominated by the vocals, the song needs a voice in it’s prime, and while James does sound strong on this performance, I don’t think he is as vocally commanding as he was back then. The Kill ‘Em All track taking up the second position here is Motorbreath. Lars really nails the drum intro here, I think James sings this one particularly well with a few particularly decent notes, the chorus standing up particularly nicely. This is a better performance of the song than the one found on Cunning Stunts in pretty much every way for me.

This one is a very solid release. I think the performance is excellent with James and Kirk standing up at their best from the last few releases. This gets an 8.5 from me.

[The Realm]

Well, I’m very excited right now. Tomorrow, I’m going for a quick trip to Melbourne to ctach Megadeth and Trivium at their Knotfest sideshows!

Deadeye - what did you think of Megadeth? I was at the show. I'll also be at Trivium tonight.

I thought they were mostly awesome. She-Wolf was a little odd though, don’t know how Dave messed thst one up so badly. Did notice that he let the audience take over the vocals a LOT! Like straight up not even near the mic at parts. Wasn’t mad on In Flames.

Loved Trivium, couldn’t believe my luck when they opened with Kirisute Gomen. Wish I had received the email notification that you had responded, would’ve been great to meet up with someone from the forum.

Yeah, appears Dave's voice is pretty much gone but the rest of the performance was awesome, great gig, wasn't in love with the set list though. Not sure about In Flames, they were ok.

Loved Trivium. Did you stay for Amon Amarth? Never seen them live before and have to say I enjoyed them way more than I thought I would.

[Deadeye21]

So I’ve still got three World Magnetic tour shows to go, but I’m also well aware that 72 Seasons is a mere two weeks away. It is to that end that I am announcing here and now that the next three reviews will be Through the Never, Hardwired to Self-Destruct and S&M2. I will come back and finish these other shows off, since there are some cool bits that I want to talk about in what I’m skipping over (Am I Evil from the Big 4 show, for example). It’s all getting covered, just we’ll be skipping a bit chronologically.

[Deadeye21]

Through the Never – 2013
Making of the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZaYYIN5Bwo&list=PLJvQXRgtxlum1_TuyRjJaC7obSpgG2vH-
Making of the stage:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWG1c6vJH0g

Things changed after Metallica turned 30. They got a little overly ambitious, starting their own, albeit short-lived, music festival called Orion. They also started their own record label called Blackened Recordings which now holds ownership of all of Metallica’s master recordings. But all these things seem fairly standard for the world’s most successful metal band. What maybe wasn’t so normal was the idea of a 3D movie, one that wasn’t entirely a concert film either, but rather a film in which a concert happens to take place, as Lars so eloquently put it.

Between July 28th and August 27th, 2012, Metallica had a string of dates between Mexico City and Vancouver with the most insane indoor production that they have ever put together. This stage was an amalgamation of just about everything that they had ever featured before in a stage show, including the Death Magnetic coffin rig and the exploding Lady Justice, as well as a snakepit. They even decided to make up a few new stage props that were absolutely insane, like an electric chair with tesla coils for Ride the Lightning. These alone would have made for a fantastic film, but they were only parts of a much bigger story. Together with director Nimrod Antal, Metallica drew up plans for a narrative element for a big project made on a $32,000,000 budget. So, how’d it all go? Was this a worthwhile venture, or is this a real clunker? Let’s have a watch, shall we?

Once we get through the opening credits, we open on a shot of a large cityscape, coming to focus on an arena.  There’s a radio changing station, coming to rest on Whiplash. You get a bit of a dishevelled fan pulling up, screaming he’ll be the first in and last out. This is when someone rolls through on a skateboard and becomes our focal point for the next little bit. He stacks it a little bit, which is kinda funny. Anyway, we follow him into the arena before he pulls up at his van and unmasks, revealing that he’s Dane DeHaan! I will be referring to his character ad Dane, because not one person in this film gets named.Behind him, James Hetfield drives through in a custom car spouting flames. Dane gets stopped by security, but he shows his pass and Kirk says “he’s alright”. He walks past the stage manager who notes that “I may need you”, Rob is in a room packed with bass amps that’s rattling off it’s foundations, Lars gives him a dirty look and then he walks into an empty arena. There’s a really nice shot here of the audience arriving in a time-lapse as Dane walks straight through, all set to Ecstasy of Gold of course.

The band take to the stage for Creeping Death, where we get to take in the enormity of the stage and just enjoy the first song of the set. The narrative partially stops for this section. This is a really well produced live show, and the audience get a moment to shine for the “die! die!” of the bridge, where there’s a nice shot of Dane rocking out before the stage manager comes and pulls him out of the audience with a piece of paper in hand. The other really cool thing to note is that it seems like the stage floor is made up of dozens of video screens, and as they get to the bridge, the floor fills with blood. Awesome visual.

“We have a truck that’s out of gas in the city. You’ve gotta find it, it’s got something that the band needs tonight.” He gets into his van, where there’s a very creepy doll hanging from the mirror and drives away as For Whom The Bell Tolls kicks off. So, the story is pretty much a simple fetch quest, right? Find the truck and retrieve the item. (By the way, we’ll talk about the actual songs in a different deep dive, I’ll follow this up in the week with the album review. I’m just using these as time stamps). There’s a strange moment here where we see a man in a gas mask during the “it’s the last time you will” pause.

Fuel starts with a great graphic of burning engines intercut with Dane driving into the city. We see that in the back of his truck is a jerry can and his skateboard. A lot of this song is spent going back and forth between Dane and the concert, but there is a cool moment during the pre-solo where the engine graphics and a pillar of pyro start to superimpose onto buildings and seem like they’re coming out of the road. As the song comes to a close, Dane misses a red light and fails to stop in time. Between songs, his van gets rammed into, leaving two wrecked vehicles. For some reason, Dane falls into a large body of water, though I don’t see how that’s remotely possible from where the crash occurred.

Anyway, onto Ride the Lightning. This is where the electric chair comes into play. James’ mic fails and he slams it into the stage, looking angry. As Kirk reaches the second half of the solo, the electric chair starts getting electrocuted by the tesla coils surrounding it and it looks AWESOME!! The chair looks exactly like the one on the album cover too. It turns off as the band reach the reset into the third verse, but it’s a stunning visual, nonetheless.

The song cuts out very abruptly and we see Dane regaining consciousness as we see a visual of soldiers marching, looking reminiscent of something like Band of Brothers, and flashes of pyro and fireworks from the intro of One. Now, I’ve said before how much I love the World Magnetic pyro intro to One, but holy crap did they up the ante here. This is fantastic! We see the guy that crashed into Dane bleeding from the face, looking into the distance terrified. He starts running, but we don’t see what from. Again, most of One seems to centre on the concert, and it’s at this point that I feel a little disconnected from the actual narrative. We keep getting glimpses of a storyline but losing it to the concert. As we get to the “darkness” bridge, Dane is walking down the road and sees a horse walking down the street with a dead SWAT officer being dragged, tied onto the horse by the foot. Cut back to the show. Then we see a crowd of people running, almost knocking Dane down. Two police cars speed after them, followed by a third that’s very much on fire.

The Memory Remains is next on the setlist, with extra light towers folding up from beside the stage. These short out though, along with streetlights in the narrative. There are some really nice shots of the extended audience singalong at the end of the song.

Dane walks down a road now covered in flames as the intro to Wherever I May Roam starts. An angry mob, armed, now faces him from one direction, with riot police armed with batons and riot shields on the other end. They begin to beat the batons into the shields to the beat of Roam. For whatever reason, this is a song they chose to not feature fully in the film, as it cuts out just before the verse begins. A full-on riot begins as we enter the verse section of Cyanide. This gets absolutely brutal quickly with Molotovs being thrown at the police officers during melee combat. Dogs are biting people, cars are on fire. And there’s a comedic shot where Dane backs up to a building and the music cuts out, leaving the ordinary muzak crap you’d hear at a store to set the scene of absolute carnage. Talking about the stage design here, I really like the use of the coffins, as they have been updated with video screens that show people inside of them now starting to freak out, as if they weren’t actually dead. The guy in the gas mask that we saw during Bellz shows up finally, riding a horse. His thing seems to be that he wields a pipe, but also likes to lasso people by the neck and then hang them from streetlights. Pretty friggin dark, not gonna lie. He starts charging after Dane. He drops his creepy doll that I had completely forgotten was still with him, but he goes back for it.

Dane escapes, but sees multiple bodies hung from an overpass. Again, pretty friggin dark, not gonna lie! He continues towards them, visibly shaken, as the sounds of …And Justice For All begin in the background. We see an actual construction crew and cranes on stage, building Lady Justice. James directs the construction of her torso a little bit, which is a nice moment. With a small reprieve from the story line, I just want to mention that I really like the setlist for this show, giving us a few deeper cuts as well as the bigger hits. We only get the first verse and chorus straight into the solo as Lady Justice’s head is connected but we do get to see the entire solo. Oh, and she rotates, which is an awesome feature for an in-the-round revamp of the statue from the Damaged Justice tour. As the final chorus begins, she starts to shake violently before exploding magnificently with the debris stopping very close to Lars. Hell yeah!

Dane finds the truck almost an hour into the 90 minute run time. The driver seems to be paralyzed with fear, as he doesn’t take any notice of Dane smacking on the window. Inside is nothing but an old satchel. Dane seems to be taken aback by this, as Master of Puppets starts up. James actually sings the whole song in this version, not really allowing the crowd to take over like he has on the World Magnetic shows. Still, I suppose this is a movie soundtrack as well as a concert, so I can get behind it. Down the road, Dane sees someone waving at him. Back at the concert, we get an awesome moment where crosses have just come onto the stage during the melodic break. The waving man is joined by the gas masked rider, and the angry mob comes running straight at him all over again. He runs for dear life, climbing a tall fence, with the mob still in hot pursuit. His luck runs out as he comes to a dead end. He drops the jerry can, which h begins to leak it’s fuel.

Cornered, out of options, he puts his bandana back over his mouth and nose and hood over his head and douses himself with the jerry can, holding up his lighter and setting himself on fire. As Battery kicks into the main riff, he begins to fight his way through the mob WHILE ON FIRE!! This is a pretty cool sequence in all honesty. Eventually though, he is beaten down, but the image of him drowning comes back. Again, this doesn’t make a lick of sense since he’s in the middle of the street. James’ “are you alive?” moment that usually precedes the solo of Battery turns into the beginning of Nothing Else Matters (which feels anti-climactic). If anyone has seen this movie and can actually make sense of the drowning moments, let me know, coz they confuse me as to what they symbolise.

As Dane reawakens, he’s now on top of a parking structure. Enter Sandman begins. The creepy doll thing is now alive for whatever reason. Please don’t ask, I don’t know. Anyway, he stands next to the bag, Dane goes to get it, but he’s lassoed around the neck as the rider takes him for a drag. He gets pulled up off the ground, but Dane steals his pipe and escapes his grip for the moment. This is moreorless the final boss fight of the film. The rider haw captured the doll and puts it in a strap on his chest, Dane starts swinging the pipe into the ground and things start breaking all over the city. Apparently, this includes the arena, where a re-enactment of the Cunning Stunts destruction scene goes down. Broken lighting truss pieces, misfiring lasers and pyro, burning guy, all of it. Dane gets one more swing in and the rider pretty much gets Thanos snapped out of existence. Of course, half the city is now absolutely totalled.

The show seems to be more or less over after that. James announces that the two people that got hurt will be ok and asks for some lights to assess the damage, but says “let’s keep playing, get us some amps!”. James makes the comment that this now reminds him of the garage, exactly like Kill ‘Em All and they start playing Hit the Lights, staying in the middle of the stage under some floodlights. I can’t lie, the stage does look pretty cool in it’s “destroyed” state.

However, the mission that Dane went on is now clearly failed. The band needed what was on the truck tonight and the show is well into its encore now. He makes it back to the venue as the Hit the Lights solo reaches it’s conclusion. Or so we think. As he walks into the arena, the place is empty. He walks onto the stage and puts the bag down and walks away. Movie over.

Well, lately it seems that films make you stay around through the whole credits to see the extra scene at the end. With Metallica, it’s a little bit different. We get the credits set to a fantastic “soundcheck” version of Orion, where Kirk and James are sitting in stools and Rob is kinda leaning against one. It’s a really nice vibe. Dane walks back in to see the soundcheck and that’s the whole thing.

So, I kinda like it. I don’t watch it all that often because it really doesn’t feel like they nailed it. Also, this movie flopped at the box office. To be fair, it was timed poorly, and was only allowed to show for a week before it had to give up all the IMAX 3D screens to the movie Gravity. The marketing behind this was a little bit lacking, and I don’t think anyone actually knows what the narrative is about. Lars himself has stated that he spent three years working on the film and he still didn’t know what it was about. It’s impressive visually, but man, I almost wonder if it would have been better to release a concert film with all the effort that went into the staging. Sadly, the blu-ray release doesn’t even offer the full show as a bonus feature. There is a great making of documentary that’s almost as long as the film itself though, and what’s even better is that’s completely available on YouTube (link number one). There’s an even better TV special about the making of the stage featured in the film, which I have also linked above.

But you know what really grinds my gears? I don’t have a goddamn clue what was in the bag.Also, there were a few cool songs from the Full Arsenal setlist that didn't make it to the film or the soundtrack album, which is bitterly sad. Check out the Fade to Black music video at the end of the making of playlist, because it's an amazing performance.

I give this film a 7.5 because the Metallica segments are excellently shot and sound fantastic, but the narrative is an absolute mess.

[Adami]

Did not watch the Through the Never movie cause it looked terrible.


That said, the sound check or whatever version of Orion is my favorite version. It's just so fantastic both performance and audio wise. Love it.

[Grappler]

I bought this on blu ray when it came out.  Watched it once, then lent it to my brother in law.....who never returned it to me.  I'm sure his kids destroyed it on accident and that was that. 

I remember that the movie sucked, but the concert footage and the stage was awesome.  I wish they kept that stage and used it more often.  Oh well.

[Deadeye21]

Through the Never – 2013
Setlist: 1. Creeping Death. 2. For Whom The Bell Tolls. 3. Fuel. 4. Ride the Lightning. 5. One. 6. The Memory Remains. 7. Wherever I May Roam. 8. Cyanide. 9. …And Justice For All. 10. Master of Puppets. 11. Battery. 12. Nothing Else Matters. 13. Enter Sandman. 14. Hit The Lights. 15. Orion.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0ecPxTAKqXdr2MJYdYOM7e?si=S3kgN4f1SbWN8WvYYpheCA

So yeah, the movie was kind of a flop. Kinda sad to think that they put so much effort into it, only to have it impeded by weak marketing and only being available in cinemas (at least in the intended IMAX 3D presentation) for a single week. I don’t think this has even reached cult status as being a must-watch for Metallica fans.

However, what we can enjoy about Through the Never as a whole is that Metallica released a ‘soundtrack’ album three days before the film’s release. This would prove to be the more successful venture out of the Through the Never project, even getting nominated for a Grammy for Best Recording Package. These tracks were compiled from the shows in Edmonton and Vancouver in August of 2012, shows that were used for the concert footage in the film. This is an interesting release, where four major mainstays of the concerts on this run have been removed. These are Sad But True, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Fade to Black and Seek and Destroy. Of course, these have been featured plenty of times in other concert films, but given the production of this album, it’s a little odd that four huge songs like these wouldn’t be included at all.  Stranger still, Seek  was given its own prop during these shows (albeit a very goofy one). Paying homage to the original title and artwork from Kill ‘Em All, Metallica had a toilet that opened up to reveal a hand wielding a sword beneath the seat. It’s goofy, but it’s kinda great, and you can check it out here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omWupOOBX7g)

However, what we do have on the album is a collection of all the songs that were featured in the movie. The first four were featured almost entirely uncut in the film. And they sound awesome. The band are on fire, James’ voice sounds at its best for a live show since probably S&M in all honesty. The Ride the Lightning solo receives probably it’s best performance ever on this release, although I feel I can say that about most of the songs on this album. One’s intro, being a different and much more explosive affair, has a different sound to the usual war tape that we’re used to. In fact, I don’t believe the usual voices are heard at all in this mix, while planes and falling bombs are prominent. I also really want to call attention to Rob’s harmony in the last chorus of One, as it caught my ear while watching the film and listening to the album here, it deserves a proper mention. Great job Rob!

There are a few songs here that I want to give some extra attention to. Wherever I May Roam is one of them, as it really only featured for about 70 seconds of the film in total. It’s a shame too, because this is a great performance of the song, and might actually outrank S&M as my favourite performance of Roam. The additional presence of the bass that features all throughout this album helps to make this song extra powerful, as does the audience in the choruses. Kirk’s solos are both awesome here and I wish this had been shown in full during Through the Never.

…And Justice For All does get a good feature during the film, but shortens the song considerably. I’d just like to point out that the rest of the performance is as great as that short section is. The reprise of the intro after the solo is somehow even more immense in full. I hope this comes back on the M72 run, as they haven’t played it since the end of the Metallica By Request tour in 2014.

Battery’s solo and the heavy bridge riff are a thing of beauty. I know they had to be cut for pacing of the film, but man, I wish Dane could’ve lost his flame fight to that heavy riff, instead of cutting from “are you alive?” to Nothing Else Matters. Actually, perm,it me the tangent, but given that Battery was used during a scene where the protagonist literally sets themselves on FIRE to FIGHT, why didn't they play Fight Fire With Fire instead? Don't get me wrong, I love Battery much more as a song, but that could've tied in well is all I'm saying.

Anyway, speaking of Nothing Else Matters, I am very pleased to report that, while it didn’t feature in the film, Kirk’s intro doodle is intact at the start of the song on the album. I like Nothing a lot on here, and outside of S&M, this is probably my favourite live version of the song.

Sandman features in its entirety in the film, but I will say that without seeing the destruction scene, this is very strange to listen to as the song comes to an abrupt stop. You can hear things starting to go wrong, but it just doesn’t add up to the ear without the visual.

Hit the Lights remains excellent, but as it is with the film, Orion is the undisputed highlight of the entire thing. I’d actually say that every grievance I have with the film is worth it just to have this version of the track. It’s truly wonderful to have.

Well, there you go. I’ll keep this one short, but if you don’t have the means to watch the movie, at least listen to the album. It’s well worth the listen.

Hardwired… To Self-Destruct will release sometime on Friday.

[Deadeye21]

Hardwired… To Self-Destruct -2016

Tracklisting:
Disc One: 1. Hardwired. 2. Atlas, Rise!. 3. Now That We’re Dead. 4. Moth Into Flame. 5. Dream No More. 6. Halo on Fire.
Disc Two: 7. Confusion. 8. ManUNkind. 9. Here Comes Revenge. 10. Am I Savage?. 11. Murder One. 12. Spit Out The Bone.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7LwifLL1anaEd9eIIfIkx7?si=p_9sSmBYSpaO0DUS5zKduw

2013 was a majorly ambitious year for Metallica, which didn’t simply end with Through the Never. To cap off a wild year, in which they’d already played in Australia, South Africa, North America, Europe, Asia (including their first shows in China) and Brazil, Metallica played a show at the Carlini Argentine Base in Antarctica for Latin American contest winners, research scientists from around the world, and the crew of the ship that brought them to Antarctica. To protect the environment, the audience wore headphones that transmitted the sounds, rather than the usual wall of amps and PA equipment that could damage the frozen continent. Metallica could tick off being Guinness World Record holders as well, being the only band to perform on all seven continents in a single year. Should also win the stupidest setlist decisions award for not featuring Trapped Under Ice in ANtarctica though.

And in 2014, Metallica embarked on a European/South American tour, this time allowing fans with tickets to vote for the songs they wanted to hear, but with the caveat that Metallica got to pick one song, which would be a new song called Lords of Summer. This tour led to some pretty insane shows, including a show in Poland where Metallica ended up playing both Orion and The Call of Ktulu in a single set. Other highlights included this show in Lima, which featured very few of Metallica’s regular staples (notable exclusions feature Sad But True, For Whom the Bell Tolls and Nothing Else Matters). https://www.youtube.com/live/9t9sa0TMebQ?feature=share
For most though, the Finland show will always be the most historic, as it featured in its encore the live premiere of The Frayed Ends of Sanity. https://youtu.be/eF5OHUXamFQ.

2015 was another great year for setlists in a short European run, acting as somewhat of a deep cuts tour. Songs like King Nothing and Frayed Ends of Sanity made regular appearances, while The Unforgiven II made the majority of its appearances. Check out this show from Munich, and how favorably Rob talks about this run. https://www.youtube.com/live/rt0DC7PFmMs?feature=share. They also got to play two nights in Quebec, acting as the final show at Colisee Pepsi and the first at Centre Videotron on back to back nights. What a way to change venues in Quebec!

In 2016, things looked pretty quiet to start with. In February, they kicked off with an event at AT&T Stadium, now known as The Night Before, as they were deemed too heavy to play at the Superbowl. From there it was a bit of a break to their show at Rasputin Music for Record Store Day in April of 2016. That setlist was meant to be comprised of nothing but Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning tunes, but they snuck in a sneaky, improvised cover of Helpless too. And then they disappeared for a little while. There was only one other date on the calendar so far, August 20th in Minneapolis. There was a small vote for this show, asking fans to pick a deep cut, which turned out to be Leper Messiah, but other than that, it was a little too quiet in the Metallica camp…

August 18th, two days before the Minneapolis show and they weren’t so quiet anymore. Out of their silence came a brand new song called Hardwired. Then the news reports came that there would be a new album on November 18th, just in time for Kirk’s birthday. Their first album in eight years, it was time to get excited. Metallica would announce two slight changes to the tracklist before it’s release, the first of which was to change the deluxe package, trading the third disc’s “riff origins” into three cover songs that had been released between Death Magnetic and now adding the Rasputin Music set, plus the live debut of Hardwired and a completed studio version of Lords of Summer. The second changed the main album’s tracklisting, taking Dream No More off of the second disc and trading it's position with Am I Savage?.

With only a few days to go until 72 Seasons, let’s dive into what is soon to be replaced as their most recent album.

Opening up is the title track, Hardwired. I already have one small complaint about the album, as I kinda miss the more cinematic intro that Metallica had just gone back to with That Was Just Your Life. However, I must say that this song is adrenaline central. Opening on a heavy gallop and allowing short bursts of the main riff to seep in before kicking straight into the main riff and then James starts spitting out the lyrics. This is a really short opener, from the intro to the end of the first chorus in 57 seconds. The bridge and the solo are great too, I feel like the bridge is the best riff in the song. This is a hell of a way to kick off as a lead single and an opener, spelling great things for what’s to come.

Atlas, Rise! follows and I think the demo title really spells out this song’s direction. N.W.O.B.H.M.A.T.M. This song is packed full of musical references to the bands that inspired James and Lars to start up the band all those years ago. This is another banging song and sits really nicely in the second slot. This just has such a great tone to it and gets you immersed in the world of Hardwired… To Self-Destruct well. It’s almost like the proper first chapter to Hardwired’s prologue. The chorus is a straight up reference to iron Maiden’s Hallowed Be Thy Name, done with a bit of Metallica’s signature charm in there to pad it out. The takeoff riff before the solo is excellent, though the solo itself feels a little lazy, even reusing Kirk’s opening lick from the Suicide and Redemption solo at the 3:57 mark. This is made up for by a great harmony section though.

Now That We’re Dead goes for a more simplistic approach that almost describe as a slightly more ballsy Load track. The verses are very vocal led, maintaining a straightforward chugging as its main instrumental output. The pre-chorus is, as a bit of a fun fact, the unused original verse riff for Unforgiven III. This one is kinda fun at the right time, but I feel like it also doesn’t have much to offer. Rob’s bass frequencies in the verses do add a nice bit of darkness to the straight feel, and I like the chaotic structure of the lead-in to the solo section. Again though, Kirk’s not super focussed on this album. I feel like this solo is one of the better ones for the album, adding a bit of a melody in the back half, but it’s really not his best work. I do like the more atmospheric section right after it though, where James gets a bit of a rhythm guitar solo. This song had a really cool live extension here, where Metallica actually started a little bit of a drum circle with massive Japanese Taiko drums. I link here to a version from Edmonton of exactly what I’m talking about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed-t_R4gM-o

Moth Into Flame is almost a refined …And Justice For All track in its energy and structure. This is probably the second best song off the album, but definitely my favourite from the first disc. This song is dedicated to Amy Winehouse and depicts an addiction to fame. The pre-chorus to this is taken more-or-less directly from Disposable Heroes, as is some of the structure of the solo as a whole. The harmonised riff is huge, and I think this is my favourite main riff from the album as a whole. The bridge riff is probably my favourite overall, too. This is just such a great track and it’s hard to explain why, but I think it’s fairly up there for most fans, at least when it comes to Hardwired… To Self-Destruct. For the 2017 Grammys, Metallica were joined by Lady Gaga for a special performance of this song, but for whatever reason, James’ mic was not turned on. James got mad. It’s a shame too because it was actually a pretty great combo. Here's a version with the Dress Rehearsal audio, making for what it should have been. https://youtu.be/nh7hxk-ZNQI

Dream No More is the latest in our Lovecraft anthology, this one taking on a bit of a Sad But True vibe. Certainly the heaviest that the first disc gets. I really like the vocal approach to this song, featuring two layers of James in the verses, one in the higher register and one in the lower. I have a good time with this one every now and then, but it’s not one that’s high up in my overall rankings. I really like the lead line over the intro as it reappears, and it’s especially evil the second time as it turns into a harmonised melody line. I think Kirk’s solo here is a little messy though. It’s really cool to hear the name Ktulu finally spoken in a Metallica song, since the song that bears his name is fully instrumental.

Halo On Fire closes the first disc and acts as the ballad here. The clean verse riff is somewhat unsettling and I love it. I think this is one of James’ best vocal showcases, really stretching the upper reaches of his range in the chorus, hitting high notes that I don’t think I’ve heard since Ride if not Kill ‘Em All. This is a bit of a journey of a song, with two bridges offering very different feels and really sucking us in for the ride. Kirk’s solo opens with a nice harmonic section and offers some decent licks, but it’s the section after this that really works for me. The song reaches almost a natural end point, but reverts to a really nice clean riff with some keyboard sounds mixed in, before kicking off into the final melody section of the song and the final solo of the first disc. People have debated since the album’s release as to whether this is James or Kirk’s solo. Live, it is a Kirk moment, but there are certainly a few bars where it feels like something James could’ve played.

For the first six songs, this has remained pretty consistently good. A solid follow-up to Death Magnetic. Production wise, it’s miles ahead.
Then you realise, that’s just half…

Confusion opens the second disc, with an intro that’s fairly obviously a ripoff of Am I Evil?. This ends and opens up into a riff that I’ve always really enjoyed, but it doesn’t hang around for very long. The verse section turns into something much more atmospheric, with some nice harmonic layers in the guitar work supporting James’ vocals. The chorus riff is definitely a heavier one too, one of my favourite chorus riffs actually. Kirk adds a few solo fills to the second verse that are particularly unnecessary, but fill out that section a bit more. The first bridge is a cool little frantic section, and then we get to the bridge which sees Kirk and Rob only adding a few accents and Lars dropping back to just the snare and hi-hat. It’s a really unique feel to setup a riff and I really like it. This good feeling doesn’t last for Kirk’s solo though. This is where he seems to stop trying to make something cohesive and starts just filling out the time. I like so many facets of this song, but I think Kirk’s solos and the verses really hold it back from being better and that’s kind of a shame.

ManUNkind is an abysmally stupid title. There, I said it.
The intro to this is amazing, and I wish they could have made a whole song out of just this section, rather than making it just the start of this particular song. It’s not even in the same key, I don’t believe. Anyway, the proper song starts up into one of the less straightforward riffs on the album. It’s actually really easy to lose track of where you are in this riff, and yet, I find it addictive. James’ vocals cut through nicely and the vibe of this is just really cool. The first riff of the bridge is written in 3/4, with Lars adding a pretty cool beat to it. I really like the decaying echo on James’ vocal through the first bridge, and I especially like the vocal harmony in what I call the bridge-chorus. It’s the same section either side of the solo. A solo that’s actually pretty atrocious. Other than that, I really like this song. It’s the only song on this album that has a writing contribution from anyone other than James and Lars, this being for the intro which was written by Rob. Kirk actually didn’t write anything for this album, having lost his phone which allegedly contained hundreds of ideas before the sessions were set to begin. Many people hate this song and it was only performed twice, but I really enjoy it.

Here Comes Revenge is another song held back by Kirk. There are days where I don’t make it past the intro because of his noises that start the song. This intro actually could’ve been so much better if they didn’t let him do that, it’s almost got a bit of a Harvester of Sorrow vibe to it. But then Kirk starts up and buries everything and it’s just… why? The feeling of the drums and the bass in the verses here is unique and super dark. I like a lot of the lyrics here, I think the verses are really strong. However, the chorus is pretty much a placeholder that got too far in my ear. The main riff is pretty cool, and I really like the alternate version of it that kicks off the solo. This solo is a little better than ManUNkind, but it’s still not great. Unfortunately, the ending of the song is ruined once more with Kirk’s whammy antics. Could’ve been a lot better.

Am I Savage? is next and this one actually just annoys me. The intro is great, it has a cool riff that again falls into that Load territory and then there’s that breakdown riff which is so heavy and excellent. And then there’s everything else about this song. I like the two pre-chorus sections, I think they’ve got great lyrics and melody to them, but the verses and chorus absolutely suck. I believe this is another song about a werewolf, or some kind of transforming beast. But god, it just falls so short of the mark that the few good moments in this song are made to feel completely unwarranted. Just check out the riff at 4:10 and then skip this.

Murder One is a tribute to Lemmy from Motörhead, who passed at the end of 2015. And yet, for whatever reason, instead of doing a song in a Motörhead style, or really anything like what they’ve done before, Metallica chose to male this for their tribute song, which feels like it’s trying to be a combination of both bands and missing the mark completely. The music video for this one is really decent, detailing a lot of Lemmy’s life story in a cool animated feature (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mkq6GFLIsk), but this song is a clunker to me. I like the intro riff, which feels a bit like a Sanitarium and Fade to Black mix, even more so in its heavier form found a few times throughout the song. That’s about the best I can say though.

Still, if there’s one thing that Metallica fans can agree on with this album, it’s that there’s an instant classic to close this one out. Holy hell. Spit Out the Bone is the closer for the main album and its nothing short of incredible. This brings back the thrash roots in a way that they could have only dreamed with Death Magnetic. This is just soaked in the 80’s essence that Metallica fans had been clamouring for since 1991. James’ gritty vocals come back for the choruses, there’s a lot of great riff changes, hell, there’s even a quick bass solo to set up the bridge section. There’s an absolutely fantastic harmony that divides the two bridge sections, there’s some really decent soloing (by this album’s standards anyway), this is pretty much everything cranked up to 11 in the best ways. Metallica closed the first of their two 40th anniversary shows with this and it worked really well, that should go some way to saying how good this is as an album closer. It might be up there as one of my favourites.


It feels disingenuous to say that I love this album after the crap I’ve given to Kirk and to the three songs in the middle of the second disc, but it really is a fairly solid album. Hell, even Master of Puppets and the Black Album have tracks that I don’t fully get behind and those are meant to be the pinnacles of their output. Maybe I still need to come around to some of these songs a little more, but I like this album a lot. I give it an 8.

Infancy, Progression, Ascension, Domination, Supremacy, Dilution, Continuation, Destruction, Reinvention, Comprehension. Why comprehension? Well, I feel like this album actually gives a lot of different styles, with Hardwired being more straightforward like Kill ‘Em All, Moth being a bit more of a Justice feel, Dream No More being a Black Album throwback and even a couple of more Loady moments. I think it helps to really define the journey.

But what do you guys think about Hardwired… To Self-Destruct? Keen to hear your thoughts on that, and I want to know if you’re looking forward to 72 Seasons, or if the singles have turned you off a little bit.

[Dream Team]

I like HWTSD a LOT. Side A and SOTB are killer. The rest of the tracks are listenable but of lower quality. Production on the album is really good. If you combined the best tracks from DM and Hardwired it’s equal to an 80s album.

Looking forward to 72 seasons quite a bit. Rolling Stone gave it a very balanced and insightful review that set expectations exactly where they should be.

[Adami]

Listened to it again today for this thread (much appreciated by the way).

I don't love it as much as I did when it came out, but I mostly really like most of it.

First disk is great. Love Hardwired, Atlas, Moth, Dream, and Now that we're dead. Halo on Fire isn't as interesting as I remembered it but I still dig it. A few complaints but I'll get to that later.

Disk 2 is more hit and miss. Confusion is merely okay. I tend to zone out during it. ManUnkind is dumb but the "Quest to find" part is awesome. The rest is okay at best. Here Comes Revenge is fun and Am I Savage is equally good. Neither song is amazing or great but both have great moments and don't ruin much for me. Murder One is awful and Spit Out the Bone is great, minus 2 minutes I would delete from the middle.

My main issues with the album are as follows

1) As mentioned with the Deadeye's post, Kirk is just super lame. Rarely does what he is doing add anything to the song and all of his licks are the same. His solos are just largely something I put up with. He's kind of like a better Tony Rambola from Godsmack.
2) James' lyrics are just blah. Nothing bad, sometimes good, but more often than not they're continuing the trend from St. Anger onward of just having words to fill in the syllables necessary to sing.
3) The production. I don't just mean the mixing, but the whole approach. This album really needed a Bob Rock type person. Someone to challenge Metallica in their song writing, trim some fat and add a lot of life and personality to the mix. The mix is WAY better than DM and St. Anger, but it's so sterile.

Also, Lords of Summer is a great song and better than a few of the ones that made the album. Wish it wasn't a bonus track only. Glad it got some live attention.

[NoFred]

Loved the album when first released, such a step up from DM. Still like it but don’t listen as often cause it’s too long overall. Starting from Halo every song should have been 1-2 mins shorter, including Spit which is awesome.

Write-ups have been much appreciated - you should do your 72 Seasons first impressions here in the same style next weekend

[Deadeye21]

Write-ups have been much appreciated - you should do your 72 Seasons first impressions here in the same style next weekend

I would love to, but my first impressions will be forged in the cinema at the listening party, so it would be a little rude for me to do them in this style. I’ll be posting an initial reaction as soon as I get out, but a more expanded write up like this will be based upon probably my third or fourth listen by the time I’m able to get to it with gigs coming up next week.

[Deadeye21]

Hardwired… To Self-Destruct - 2016

Tracklisting:
Disc Three: 1. Lords of Summer. 2. Ronnie Rising Medley. 3. When a Blind Man Cries. 4. Remember Tomorrow.
https://open.spotify.com/album/4bcUiX49wpmDRhrC8TvDWV?si=Y868MmKfSRatbRJCmMUKFA


Suffice to say, I kinda failed on the challenge I set for myself. What I really wanted was to be reviewing the 40th Anniversary concerts this week so that I had left enough time to give a semi-balanced review of 72 Seasons. Sadly, I didn’t get through the World Magnetic Tour releases, nor S&M2, in the time I had left for myself.

But what I can do is take pride in the fact that I have gotten through all the studio material at the end of this review. Sure, I didn’t do demos or anything like that, but I covered the two original songs from S&M, plus I Disappear and Beyond Magnetic, which brings us to this. I will be doing the rest of the Live Magnetic chapters, S&M2 and the 40th Anniversary shows after the release of the new album, it just won’t strictly be chronological. Of course, you can always use the index in post #1 to redirect.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank you all for following along with me throughout these rambling reviews. I easily could’ve gotten no interest on these, but I really appreciate the fact that we’ve had a few conversations about the music along the way.

Right, enough bs. Hardwired… To Self-Destruct (Deluxe Edition).

When the Hardwired album was first announced, the deluxe content was supposed to be something called Riff Origins, which I suppose might have been the original riffs taken from the tuning room on the Magnetic/Metallica by Request tours. It’s also entirely possible that the third disc might have been a DVD containing the footage that eventually found it’s way to YouTube of the making of the album (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTIKBWs40KU&t=970s). Either way, we’ll never truly know, as somewhere in the lead up to the release, Metallica changed the content that third disc would contain to what it is now.

Now in the main review, I mentioned that the 2014 tour featured a new song called Lords of Summer. When it was originally premiered live, it felt like a continuation of the Magnetic era style. I actually really like the original version of the song, known as the “first pass” version. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7SIYzXM6zA) I’m not entirely sure why, but something about the original rawness and the Magnetic-like structure put this in high regard for me. I kinda prefer the original lyrics for the pre-chorus and the extended instrumental bridge, including a slightly more cathartic harmony section. Listening to the two back to back, I’m not finding a lot I like more in the Hardwired version. There’s one note James takes a little bit higher at the end on the Hardwired version which makes for a great ending, but I feel like much of the song was actually made more in line with Hardwired and strayed from the original version in the wrong directions. I even like the stopping at the end of the solo a lot more, and the riffing at the end is a lot more epic when it’s left at its full length. This is another debate we can have this week, I wonder if anyone prefers the Hardwired version. Anyway, I wish this song had been included on the base album and replaced either Murder One or Am I Savage?, as it played a huge part in the 2014/2015 touring cycles.

The other three tracks included here make for a sort of mini–Garage Days segment. First up, we have Ronnie Rising, which is somewhat of a Mercyful Fate sequel in that this is another medley from Metallica. This was originally released for the Ronnie James Dio – This Is Your Life compilation, released in 2014. Dio sadly died from cancer in 2010 and the compilation was both a tribute album and a charity venture, with all proceeds going to the Stand Up and Shout Foundation. This is a nice and rocking medley featuring many of the big songs from Rainbow’s Rising and Long Live Rock n Roll albums. James is in great voice here and I love the harmonies behind the lead lines. I’m not mad keen on Lars’ drum tone on this song, which is unfortunately very apparent all throughout with some major fills kicking off different segments. Tarot Woman is a lot of fun and Stargazer is a classic, but I think Kill the King is the best part of the whole song, being the one most prominently featured. However, I think this is just the part that lets the whole band excel the most. The harmony either side of Kirk’s solo is really strong. The song is bookended by the main riff of A Light in the Black too. I feel like this isn’t as strong as Mercyful Fate as these songs don’t lead to transitions between each song as nicely as the Mercyful Fate tracks did, but none the less, I find this to be a pretty great medley.

In 2012, as part of the 40th anniversary for the Deep Purple album Machine Head, a cover album was released with many famous artists taking a crack at the songs from this famous album. Kinda like Metallica’s Blacklist where there’s about 100 versions of every single song from the Black Album, except this is thankfully narrowed down to only one performance of each song (except Highway Star and Smoke on the Water, which got different takes anyway). For that album, Metallica covered the B-Side from the album, When A Blind Man Cries. This is a very atmospheric choice for Metallica to tackle, and I’d like to think they do a very good job of it. Kirk nails both solos in this song with a great respect to Richie Blackmore’s original parts (fun fact; Richie Blackmore was also the guitarist in Rainbow, so this is kinda the second Blackmore cover in three cover songs on Hardwired). Of course, James’ vocal is really the central highlight of the song as a whole, going up there with songs like The Unforgiven and Bleeding Me as real highlights for vocals. Lars had always wanted to cover a Deep Purple song since they had been so inspirational to him in forming Metallica, and I’m glad they finally did.

Final studio track I can cover before 72 Seasons. We did it! Ok, so this song actually predates Death Magnetic, which I find interesting. In July of 2008, Kerrang! Magazine put out a compilation CD of Iron Maiden tributes called Maiden Heaven. Now, this compilation should perhaps already be known to Dream Theater fans, as the eighth track of that release is their version of To Tame A Land which closes the deluxe version of Black Clouds & Silver Linings (I FINALLY TIED DT IN!), but the second track from this release is Metallica’s version of a song from the self-titled debut, known as Remember Tomorrow. Interestingly, this version opens with a riff not found in any version of the song that Maiden have ever released, which almost sounds like their interpretation of how Maiden would interpret Creeping Death? Anyway, we move into the main song with Rob’s bass being featured in its first ever official studio recording before it gets a bit covered by the wall of clean guitars and drums that support James’ voice. I don’t think this song really supports James’ vocals as well as it could, but he does sound pretty good for James. The production of this song as a whole feels pretty off, almost as if it were a dodgy torrent, but I’m listening to this straight from the Hardwired CD, so… ouch. I love Maiden, I love Metallica, but I really feel as though there were many better choices of song that they could have tackled. For example, I would have liked a Metallica version of Prowler, or maybe even Wrathchild.

And that’s it. I met goal number two. Bring on the listening party tomorrow night. I will do my best to provide a bit of a first reaction to the listening party and then we’ll get through the rest of this live material and the new album more in-depth as time permits.

Thanks all.

-Deadeye

[Adami]

Fascinating. I knew about it being played live a bunch but I'd never head the "first pass" version. Listening now.

Half way through, I like the intro of this better than the final version, but once that main F# riff comes in, I prefer the Hardwired version. But we'll see what the final half is like.


Yup, after the solo it had a cool little jam, but other than the intro, I prefer the Hardwired version. I wonder how much of it is based on what we heard first.

[Deadeye21]

I have just left the Global Listening Party in Western Australia. I can’t really give too much away yet, as one listen, interrupted by dialogue from the band members, doesn’t really give you the full picture of how it flows as an album.

What I can say though is that I like a lot of this. There’s a lot to unpack, I can’t wait to listen to this a few more times and do something more in-depth, but I will say that I had something I liked on every single song and the singles really aren’t the best songs on the album. Songs like Shadows Follow and Sleepwalk My Life Away are fantastic, and while I feel that the third quarter does drag a little, the ending to the album is fantastic. Inamorata, the album closer, is 11:10, and feels like maybe 5 minutes. I’m really positive on this so far, so I’m very much looking forward to having this in my hands.

[billboy73]

I was on vacation, but wanted to throw my thoughts out there on Hardwired.  The first thing I will say about this one is man, is the cover art terrible!  I just don't like it.  I remember going to my local music store, as they had a listening party and then you could purchase the album at midnight.  I got a slipmat and some other free goodies too.  That slipmat stayed on my record player for a bit, even with the terrible cover.  The production here is solid, and the 3 disc cd version has some nice bonus stuff on the 3rd disc.  Onto the songs...

Hardwired - Opening with a bang here.  I love that they opened with a short thrasher, and a nice little solo from Kirk that fits
                  the vibe.

Atlas Rise - Yep, definite NWOBHM/Maiden vibes on this one.  The post-solo harmony part is great.

Now that We're Dead - Nice mid-paced stomper.  I love how the intro builds into the main riff.  Love James' vocal patterns on
                                  this one.  I will say my least favorite on a very solid Disc 1 though.

Moth Into the Flame - This has a really solid main riff, and is quite the catchy track.  The pre-chorus with the Disposable
                                 Heroes vibe is great.  One of Kirk's better leads is here too. (#33 on my top 50)

Dream No More - Love this one!  One of their best slow, heavy tracks.  I prefer it to Thing That Should... (#45 on top 50)

Halo on Fire - Epic, melodic closer to disc 1.  Really like the "hello darkness" outro section.  Kirk's short solo before the clean
                     part is probably my favorite on the album.

Confusion - Don't really like the Am I Evil styled intro, but verses are solid.  Overall a pretty decent tune.

ManUNkind - The intro is cool, but doesn't really fit.  I really like the groovy main riff once we get into the song.  Definitely
                    some Load vibes on this one.  Other than Spit, my favorite from disc 2.  Snuck in my top 50 at 50.

Here Comes Revenge - Really like the post-intro chunky riff and the main riff as well.  Another middle of the road song on disc
                                  2 overall.

Am I Savage - I like the intro part here, and then we get into the main riff.  More Load vibes, but I just can't really get into this
                      one.  I like that pre-chorus part too, but the rest not so much.

Murder One - Definitely the worst song on the album for me.  Nothing about this song grabs me at all.

Spit Out the Bone - By far the top of the heap here.  Classic Metallica.  Great main riff!  James sounds so good on the awesome 
                             verses.  The harmony section into the "stop breathing" section is awesome.  # 28 in my top 50.


Overall, a solid release from the boys, though I would rank Death Magnetic above it.  Disc 1 is a solid listen all the way through.  Disc 2 gets a little same-y and plods along with the mid-tempo numbers, but I like a couple of those tracks.  Maybe they could've opened Disc 2 with Lords of Summer (great song btw) and dropped Murder One.  Confusion isn't a real great way to open Disc 2 either. Obviously Disc 2 closes the album on quite the high note.


Since I was on vacation I went to my local music shop yesterday to buy 72 Seasons (missed the listening party this time) and they were out of cd copies.  They had a few copies of the vinyl in stock, but I didn't want to splurge for the vinyl this time.  I have been trying not to listen to the other tracks, but I have given in and listened to a couple.  I will have a copy tomorrow and will finally be able to dive in to some new Metallica. 

   

[Deadeye21]

72 Seasons – 2023
Tracklisting: 1. 72 Seasons. 2. Shadows Follow. 3. Screaming Suicide. 4. Sleepwalk My Life Away. 5. You Must Burn! 6. Lux Æterna. 7. Crown of Barbed Wire. 8. Chasing Light. 9. If Darkness Had a Son. 10. Too Far Gone? 11. Room of Mirrors. 12. Inamorata.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6UwjRSX9RQyNgJ3LwYhr9i?si=2G0jarIhRbi71-_WqcxEBg

It would appear I’ve been gone a while. Given that just before I signed out I was doing these Metallica deep dives, I think it’s only right that I finally get this latest album written up.

Between 2017 and 2019, Metallica embarked on the WorldWired tour. This saw them play everywhere and anywhere, including doing two 20th anniversary shows for S&M which launched the Chase Center in San Francisco. However, as the latter years of the tour raged on, James’ demons reared their ugly head once more. Two weeks before the Australian leg of the tour, these shows were cancelled as he re-entered rehab for alcoholism.

Then it was 2020 and, uh… Well, we all remember how that shit went.

2021 was the 40th anniversary year for Metallica, seeing them play festivals across America, including the return of the Black Album played in reverse. The band pulled off a unique feat of playing two sets at the same three-day festivals and not repeating a single song. They also played a no repeat weekend for the 40th anniversary show at the Chase Center, in which they played between 2 and 4 songs from every Metallica album.

2022 saw them back out on the road in Europe. Could have been a fairly normal “between tours” year for Metallica. But, on November 28th, social media was abuzz with news of something called the M72 World Tour and a new song called Lux Æterna, their brand new single. Welcome to the age of 72 Seasons.

72 Seasons released on April 14th, 2023, and was the first Metallica album since …And Justice for All to not end up in the number one slot on release week in North America. Subsequently, it did chart at number one in over 20 countries, one of them being Australia (one of the few countries . This is the second studio album to be produced by Greg Fidelman, who took the reigns on Hardwired… to Self-Destruct. The album had a great release gimmick where Metallica sent the album with accompanying visuals to cinemas around the world for a global release party. I went, and I’m sure many of you did as well.

Now, I’d love to give my own personal history with these songs, but the unfortunate truth is, I simply don’t have any. These songs are still kinda waiting to leave their full impact on me, having only been out for six months. But, I’m still going to give you my thoughts on these songs, just without being stuck with any real biases. Let’s take a spin.

We all know by now that my favourite Metallica openers build-up in a huge way, employing what I like to call “curtain raising moments” just before the song properly kicks off. Songs like Ain’t My Bitch, Fuel and Frantic all rank low as openers for me because the song doesn’t kick off the way I would have liked them to. 72 Seasons is one that blurs that line somewhat for me. There is a build with the guitars and drums getting bolder as the song progresses, but I don’t know that this song really provides as satisfying of an intro as the likes of Blackened, or even Hardwired on the album directly before this. Thing is, the live intro that’s been added on the M72 Tour has very much changed that for me, as I find that intro to add just the right flavour to make what’s presented on the album pop. Then we get into the main riff, and I already feel the complaints many have had with this album already. The main riff and the verse riff that follow feel very much like they’re cut directly from Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, almost recrafted from the leftovers. James’ vocals also draw a direct comparison. For me, openers are usually a great snapshot of “here’s what’s different this time”, which 72 Seasons doesn’t serve well. The chorus is catchy at least, with the “wrath of man” lyric serving as a nice hook that I’m sure plays very well for audiences. The bridge is interesting, with a key change of the intro riff. Then Kirk’s solo, which is yet another direct comparison to be drawn to Hardwired as it does feel a little bit like we’re just going through the motions overall. The harmony section is pretty decent though, and I like the way the verse opening line “dealing out the wrath of man” serving as the final ending to the song. Overall, I dig this song, but could have definitely been better. This just isn’t what I want from an opener.

Shadows Follow, on the other hand, is exactly what I love from Metallica. The opening creates a lot of intrigue with its rhythm accents and then capitalises on it wonderfully with one of the best main riffs on the album. James’ vocals are striking and frantic in the verse, where the chorus hook provides us with sustained notes with almost ominous harmonies. This could have been the opening song and we wouldn’t have lost a thing. The bridge slows things down a step, with a hooking harmony riff bringing us into the instrumental chaos to follow. Even the solo here is pretty rocking. The only drawback to the song, if there is one to be found, is that the riff straight after the solo does remind me (and countless others) of the 60s Batman theme, which may be the wrong impression for a Metallica song. But, you’ve also got a simple descending transition riff cut straight from the Black Sabbath playbook. The final chorus provides a stop on the line “I say no”, which may just be one of the most effective pauses in Metallica’s arsenal. Absolutely love this song!

Track three, the second single from the album, Screaming Suicide. This one has a lot to like about it. That riff is pretty interesting, with Rob holding a pedal tone underneath. It’s fairly simplistic actually, which works fine for me as it means the lyrics get to be the ultimate focal point. I get hooked by the pre-chorus riff, and I like the rhythmic stabs that form the back half of the chorus. As far as lyrics go, this is probably one of my favourites from James on this album. Kirk’s soloing doesn’t grab me on this song, though I do enjoy the opening licks that form most of the intro. Not too shabby. Probably my favourite of the pre-release singles, to be honest. There’s a studio outtake left on here, with a voice that sounds like Rob’s saying “nice” as the song ends.

Every now and then, Metallica like to try and recapture the Enter Sandman formula. You’ve heard it done on both Load albums with King Nothing being the most obvious of these, but also in Slither and a little less so on Bitch. You know the kind of song I mean. Well, here’s Sleepwalk My Life Away, which follows in these footsteps. This song starts out with a unique, almost tribal, drum and bass pattern from Rob and Lars that James starts to play a more drawn out version of the main riff over. Then Kirk joins in with some pick scrapes and in we go to the main riff. If you’re feeling like this is normal Metallica fare, just listen to the verse riff, which is very much the Sandman riff with a reversed ending. Ah well, it still really works for the song, which proves to be a pretty catchy tune. I really love the pre-chorus “should I fall, I fall down” line, which is a really effective hook, as is the “wake me!” shout throughout the chorus. There isn’t a proper bridge to be found here, but the heavy riff and solo sell this break well. I really like the ReLoad style post-solo riff and the transition into that riff is golden!

Remember how I said that last song was very much a Sandman clone for the most part? Well, Sleepwalk is to Sandman as You Must Burn! is to Sad But True. You can feel it a lot throughout the main riff of this one. The only problem is I find the intro fantastic and then the later bridge to be really strong, but I honestly just don’t feel much for this song. The lyric is definitely strong from a writing standpoint, but I just wish it was given something a bit better to work with. The main riff just hits me with the Sad But True vibes and that’s all I can really hear throughout the rest of the main body of the song until the bridge kicks in. The transition into the bridge is a little clunky, but it does set up a really ominous riff which, coupled with the vocal duo of James and Rob, sets up one of my highlight moments from the album overall. The harmony of the intro is included in that highlight too. Sadly, I just find this song to be a bit bloated beyond past what it really should be.

We reach the halfway point with one of Metallica’s shortest songs, Lux Æterna. This has some massive Kill ‘Em All energy to my ears. This was the song that dropped out of nowhere and announced the coming of 72 Seasons. It’s a great single, structured very strongly. James’ vocals are at their apex for the album with the title screams and Lars hasn’t sounded better than this for a long time (even if the theory is that this isn’t him). People were very vocal in their hate for Kirk’s solo on this song and I can honestly say I don’t feel the same. I honestly think this is a really strong song. It even takes a cue from Better Than You and gives us a false ending, though unlike the former it actually nails it. Great song.

Next is the best in a string of songs that I feel are a bit weaker, Crown of Barbed Wire. This has a crushingly heavy riff and such a strong feel to it instrumentally. Sadly, the chorus just doesn’t capitalise on what everything before it sets up. The pre-chorus is catchy and had they just made this the chorus, it would’ve been a much better song for it. The instrumental break in this is straight out of ReLoad, Kirk even lets off a lick that sounds torn from Slither and I am all for it. This is really high on my instrumental moments ranking. Had that chorus just been removed from the song, this would probably be way higher on my overall ranking for the album. It’s so close to perfection.

Chasing Light is next. The first vocal intro since Fuel leads into yet another intro that sounds the same as they all have on this album so far, which is unfortunately a bit of a massive bummer for 72 Seasons. However, that just sets up one of the best main riffs Metallica has had since Death Magnetic. The verses are just very bland, as is the pre-chorus. I love the energy of the chorus though. There are some banging riffs in this song for sure. It’s just that the structure of the vocals doesn’t utilise them properly. This probably would have been a very strong instrumental track for the album in all honesty. Isn’t it funny how this garners the exact opposite reaction to the previous song. I kinda hate the bridge riff in this one, just feels a bit goofy to me.

None of that compares to how much of a letdown awaits us in the next song, If Darkness Had AaSon. Woof. What a stinker.  This is low on pretty much every review of the album, so I almost feel as though I can skip it because you’ve heard it all before. The intro is overcooked when the transition to the main riff could have been so simple. Then once you have it, the main riff does nothing interesting apart from sitting oddly on the beat It’s just such a weird song that doesn’t work in its favour. There’s an obvious “crowd singalong” moment with the “temptation!” shouts, which feels like a recycled idea from back in the St. Anger days. Even the solo doesn’t really do much. The only part of this I really like are the verses. I think they’re done interestingly enough to be a sorely needed strong point for this song. This should NEVER have been a single.

You know what should have been a pre-release single? Too Far Gone?, which is the kick-off to some of the strongest songs on the album. Man, this feels really good. Once again, drawing an easy parallel to Kill ‘Em All with the main riff reminding me a lot of No Remorse. This features some of the most powerful vocals James conjures on this album. I feel like this one may be about his struggles with addiction in 2019 with the chorus asking “am I too far gone to save? Help me make it through the day”. The harmony that sets up the bridge is fantastic, channeling some Iron Maiden vibes in the best ways. My only negative is the intro and outro riff which feels a little too similar to a slowed down Holy Wars. But damn, this is such a great song. Why the hell was this not the second or third single?

The great vibes continue with Room of Mirrors, a song with a very simple tune that’s very captivating. The intro stirs up the drama and the straightforward approach to the verse allows James’ vocals to carry the story beautifully. I love the questioning of the pre-chorus (the riff of which very much reminds me of part of Mercyful Fate) which leads into the attack of the main chorus line. Also love the reference to Death Magnetic’s Broken, Beat and Scarred here. Kirk’s solo knocks it out of the park leading into one of the absolute best moments of 72 Seasons, that harmony section, which gets even better when the band double down on it at the climax of the song. Holy hell, did we get spoiled in the harmonies on this album. Room of Mirrors doesn’t leave us too much to dissect and talk about, but it is one of my favourites on the album.

Speaking of being spoiled, do you like Black Sabbath and epic long songs? Because here comes Inamorata. Holy shit, how to even start talking about this one? I feel like Tony Iommi himself must have been an uncredited writer on this song. This has that dark 70s metal twinge all over it. It’s a much slower song than what we’ve had on most of the album, for sure, but oh so worth it. Everyone shines here. The lyrics paint a picture of an abusive relationship with misery itself. The pre-chorus changes each time, my favourite of which is the second with the simple “she waits” refrain. The chorus riff is fantastic. After the verses and choruses have had their turn, we start getting into some of the instrumental glory of this song, which again, feels like it was written by Tony Iommi. The solo here has his signature sound on it, channelled expertly by Kirk. The bridge here feels almost like it could have been part of My Friend of Misery from the Black Album, which is very fitting. James carries this sensitive side for the first time on the album and it’s beautiful. When this builds out into the harmony guitars, it makes Inamorata feel like an endgame that the whole 72 Seasons has been building out to, and it’s absolutely worth every part of the wait. James and Kirk play off each other so well here. This honestly doesn’t feel like it’s as long as it’s running length, as Metallica have structured this song so expertly to keep everything moving along at a great pace. This could very easily be the best song they’ve released in the 21st century. They’ve ended this album on a masterpiece. We get a little bit of extra dialogue from the band, celebrating that “that was the best one”. And honestly, with the amazing work preceding this humorous moment, they may just be correct.

And that’s 72 Seasons. There are some great songs and there’s some clunkers. It’s still growing on me with each listen, so I’m yet to determine where this will ultimately fall in my overall rankings. To bring this to an end, let’s bring in the one word to sum up this chapter in Metallica’s discography.
Infancy, Progression, Ascension, Domination, Supremacy, Dilution, Continuation, Destruction, Reinvention, Comprehension and now Culmination. I feel that there is so much here that feels like Metallica have taken everything that came before and put it into this album. If this is the last album they ever release, I think they will have gone out on top with one of their best songs but also an album that reminds you of exactly why Metallica are what they are and why you love them.

And there we have it. I can officially disappear again. Though, I do see I may need to do a Dream Theater deep dive soon with the Portnoy news. A huge thanks to anyone that actually came back to read this final chapter. Maybe in five years, I’ll have a reason to add even more to it. But for now, what do you guys think about 72 Seasons? Were you at a release party screening? Do you like the album? Are you one of the few people who actually don’t find If Darkness Had a Son to be a complete waste of six and a half minutes? Let me know and I’ll see you next time in a different deep dive!

[twosuitsluke]

What brought you back to DTF?

[Deadeye21]

Unfinished business. Listened to this album again the other day and thought “hold up, I never did a deep dive with this.”
Then Portnoy came back to DT and I was like “yup, better go back!”

[NoFred]

Great write up, pretty much agree with everything. I like the title track more but can see how it’s not a functional opener. Last track is fantastic, still hoping it finds its way into their shows next year.

Copied from my reply to your HWTSD post… “every song should have been 1-2 mins shorter” and I still agree with that here (and SA and DM, so not a surprise from coming from them).

[TAC]

What brought you back to DTF?

72 Seasons obviously. 

[twosuitsluke]

What brought you back to DTF?

72 Seasons obviously.

Now, if I can only figure out the magic formula to bring WildRanger back.

[Lonk]

What brought you back to DTF?

72 Seasons obviously.

Now, if I can only figure out the magic formula to bring WildRanger back.

There are stories- myths, if you will - that if you start three threads asking why Rush is objectively better than (insert pop artists) he will appear. The trick is that it has to be done at very specific time, otherwise it wont work.