Inspirational Technology

Review: Metallica St. Anger

Well since the song Frantic from Metallica's new album made the No. 1 spot in my top 25 for the week I figured I should write something about the album as a whole. If nothing else
St. Anger is a controversial album. A lot of people really seem to hate this album and at first I couldn't say I cared much for it either. However after a few listens it started to grow on me and now I do like it for the most part.

The biggest thing that changed my mind is that the album has energy. Listening to it gets you pumped up. This is what metal should do and in that St. Anger succeeds where Load and Reload failed. The album is nice and crunchy with a very heavy sound and Lars absolutely wails on his drum kit. What's strange though is the sound of the drums, Lars is using a new snare that has a very metallic sound to it. I can see how this would be easy to dislike, it is quite different, but for me I like the change.

Unfortunately the album isn't without problems. The production quality isn't all that great and some of the vocals are pretty weak. The lyrics are often angry and uninspired. However, despite this I still enjoy the album and that anger provides some real drive, even when delivering lines that are otherwise pretty weak. One song in particular where this is evident is My World. This song is really weak in the first half, but the second half kicks pretty well with the delivery of the line "not only do I not know the answer, I don't even know what the question is".

This album is being billed as Metallica trying to get back to their roots and in some ways I guess it is. Is it on the same plane as the first four albums? Not even close, the songs simply are not composed as well as the earlier work. In reality this album is probably closer to Garage Days then it is to Master of Puppets or Justice For All. And like Garage Days that means St. Anger is an enjoyable album, but is not likely to have lasting appeal.