Metallica – St. Anger (2003)

Metallica – St. Anger (2003)

Genre: Heavy Metal
Length: 75:06
Size: 523MB (525MB w/ extras)
Format: FLAC

Track List:
1. Frantic
2. St. Anger
3. Some Kind Of Monster
4. Dirty Window
5. Invisible Kid
6. My World
7. Shoot Me Again
8. Sweet Amber
9. The Unnamed Feeling
10. Purify
11. All Within My Hands

Review: Metal-Observer (9.5/10)

“If I could have my wasted days back
Would I use them to get back on track?”

I can’t really be sure how James meant this in opening track “Frantic” but under the law of freedom of lyrical interpretation, I took it as the musical soul searching that METALLICA badly needed. So can they really be on track with “St. Anger”…~censored~’ rights I say. Whew…it’s definitely what this Dr. ordered and then some!

“My court is in session and now I slam my gavel down”

Now here is the part where I address and stomp all over the negativity floating around regarding this CD. You see, this opus is extremely difficult to appreciate on the first few listens…a sign in itself, the way I see it, which should be enough for a true Metalhead to press on. And press on, I did. I have heard and read many reviews already in the 5 short days since its release and one consistent thing surprises me…the ability, the gall, the balls if-you-will of people to write off a critical release from the GREATEST Metal band of all time in a single or partial listen. You see, I am approaching two dozen full listens and although I never resist a chance to tell someone how great I think I am, I share this with you, the readers, only because there were certain important listening landmarks that triggered different things for me. These landmarks were key to my appreciation of the CD. It is “St. Anger” that made me realize that I have not played a CD non-stop because I WANTED TO since sometime in the early 90’s…no ~love~!

“Not only do I not know the answer
I don’t even know what the question is”

There are definitely some consistent complaints about this CD and I ain’t here to tell you that questioning these elements is wrong. You see I did the same to some extent on the first listen or two. The first couple things that made me say “What the ~censored~?” were the production and the drum sound. I initially saw these things as so different for METALLICA (and different in general) that I was confused…I did not have a clue of how to process them. I did like many of the songs right away so these strange elements never affected me. Then half way through listen 6, I got it. What we have here is an intentional return to the simpler, live, garage type sound so characteristic of a Thrash band in their impoverished, early days. Yet the songs are new, exciting and not like anything done by anyone before. I can envision these guys jamming in a basement, havin’ a few beers, and pounding out the songs one by one in one or two takes. So vocally, James misses a few notes and ~love~…it’s ambience in this setting man, ambience. I mean really, METALLICA had Bob “usually extremely polished producer” Rock involved and they have more money than most small countries so you just gotta know the drum sound and production was intentional. It wasn’t long ago that “Subhuman Race” by SKID ROW took some flack for its production…that CD remains underrated today and guess what, it’s a Bob Rock production. Maybe he was just ahead of his time then and remains there today. After many listens, I now would not change a thing with either the drums or the production. It’s genius! This is your cue to buy this CD or dig it out of the M section of the CD rack and listen to it properly! Come on ~censored~ I know you want to!

“I drink from the cup of denial
I’m judging the world from my throne”

So word on the street is METALLICA tried to overdub some solos into this thing and decided they just didn’t work. Ballsy! I love Kirk Hammett’s playing and would have welcomed well-thought-out appropriate solos but maybe…just maybe… they really did not add to this release when considering the very-in-your-face direction ALL the songs take. Tradition says put 1.5 solos in every song…METALLICA has not, is not and never will be traditional…get over it…absence brings me no misery! Most of you bits-and-pieces listeners probably never ~censored~’ noticed they were missing anyway but read it somewhere and jumped on the I-hate-METALLICA bandwagon where you are comfortable. I know I will be there in my DODGE ITOLDYOUSO to run you ~censored~ over when you fall off that that wagon!

“Then the unnamed feeling, it comes alive
Then the unnamed feeling, takes me away”

So why the in hell do I like it so much now? Forum readers will especially be curious after the conservative and average description I gave it initially on day one. Well for me, it came partly with listen 4 and then finally with listen 10. You see, I think the more accessible songs (see “Frantic”, “St. Anger”, “Some Kind Of Monster”, “Dirty Windows”, “Shoot Me Again”) shone early and once I learned most of the time changes and lyrics, I was all over them like a fly on ~love~. Later, that also happened to me with the more complex, less commercial material (see the rest). I can honestly say without any doubt that this CD is what we should have been looking for them to make. “Master Of Puppets” II is never gonna happen people…enjoy that godly era for what it is…METALLICA are older and different and so is Metal, the world and us too, the fans.

“~censored~ it all and no regrets
I hit the lights on these dark sets”

So where do the boys go from here. Well, it’s hard to say. They have re-invented themselves now 5 times in 20 years by my count. It was not long ago that I reviewed the “Load”/”Reload” era CDs and was actually quite hard on them. Although I still stand by the scores I gave, I have recently found a new appreciation for METALLICA from those days and that is one of changing things up and innovating again. It would have been so easy to just copy the “Black” album formula again BUT they did not. Again, with “St. Anger” they could have copied a previously successful formula but they did not. You gotta respect them for that. We so badly want them to give us more of the same but then when bands do that for us, we are all over their asses if the material is even a little weak (see MEGADETH – “The World Needs A Hero”).

“Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill”

Track breakdown won’t be happening here…no need…it’s all killer, no filler. Really, take a look, you shall see, your dreams will become your reality! I really want to give this CD 10 So ~censored~’ Whats out of 10 but I can’t…when it comes to METALLICA, those belong strictly to “Ride…” and “Master…” Mark my words though, if they continue in this vein with this hunger and attitude, the next one will be all that and then some!

“I’m judge and I’m jury and I’m executioner too”

Download:

http://rapidshare.com/files/198580179/Michigan.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/198579410/Michigan.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/198579987/Michigan.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/198578945/Michigan.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/198580008/Michigan.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/198576616/Michigan.part6.rar

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