Metallica,2008.
Not every day you get to write a review of a CD with a picture of a coffin on its front cover!
Let alone one by Metallica.
Just to fill you in, I am not a Metallica fan, so this is very much a one-off experience for me - my friend Theo happened to have a spare copy of the album, and being nothing if not aurally adventurous, I thought I would give it a go...
Not quite sure what makes a group like Metallica tick...
The songs are very dark in content, and I guess that's a major appeal...death and associated phenomena are never too far down in the lyrical content.
Musically this is extremely tight music - Led Zeppelin several generations removed/improved.
Riffs all tend to be in minor keys, and using the augmented 2nd interval of the harmonic minor scale.
A lot of songs will have you reaching for your aspirin/earplugs/elixir of morphine/pillow, through sheer headbangingness...
BUT the amazing thing is that there are indeed moments of melodic/harmonic beauty...The Day That Never Comes and Unforgiven III are prime examples of this (and when I was in the hospice, my friend Kerry H showed me an amazing You-Tubed bass solo, not off this album, huge, sonorous and indisputably moving - title please, anyone?).
So...not quite my cup of tea, but superb musicianship in its own right...a billion Metallica fans can't be wrong...right?
9/10.
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Troll.
ReplyDeleteAs in droll with a Scandinavian accent?
ReplyDeleteOr is this the name of the solo bass song??
na, he thinks he's cool cos he's being a troll.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iOmo0ZuyNk
ReplyDeleteIs it this one Gerald? (Anesthesia)Pulling Teeth from Metallica's first album...
Hi, Tim.
ReplyDeleteThanks for emailing the clip to me.
No, it wasn't this one!
This one is a little heavier (what phenomenal powers of distorion are on display!)..
The one I saw was quite gentle, and probably a bit slower (more freely paced, actually).
On the vid the lighting was blue.
Thanks for helping!
G.
second guess.....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs59q12gJQ4 ?
:-)
Well done, Tim!
ReplyDeleteA superb piece of detective work!
This is definitely the piece Kerry H showed me in the hospice.
Isn't it a beautiful piece in its own right?
And what I saw didn't segue into Nothing Else Matters...an added bonus!
Tim, are you NZ based and will you be heading to any of the Metallica gigs in October???
Ha yeah it's pretty cool :-)Glad to be of service. I think Metallica is more of a phase from High School days gone by for me - Saw them at Big Day Out a few years back, but can't honestly admit to listening to anything Metallica for quite a while now so couldn't justify paying to see them in October.
ReplyDeleteOh this is Tim Hart by the way :-)
Tim Hart...well done!
ReplyDeleteRumour has it that The Arcade Fire will be at the next Big Day Out.
They are definitely worth seeing live!