METALLICA

People Have been overly critical on this album, This is just about as good as Metallica gets, especially for heavy prog rock lovers. There's a real influence of old school prog like Motorhead but in a really new fresh way, the songs are quite progressive in nature (72 seasons, Inamorata 11mins long) together with some of the wickedest guitar solos from Kirk.

The mix has a lot of depth in a spatial audio sense so if you have a good hi fi rig this is a good listen although it lacks the presence in general but Metallica is aiming for intensity, density and power in their sound.

At the bare minimum it's a great album, not a absolute die hard masterpiece but a very good album and it's worth adding to the collection, keep supporting artists to do what they do.

Metallica's Death Magnetic marked a return to the band's roots, following a period of poor albums. This album features some of the band's best tracks since the 1980s, including " That Was Just Your Life", "The Day That Never Comes", "Suicide & Redemption" and many more.

The "Mastered for iTunes" version of Metallica's Death Magnetic is a noticeable improvement from the original release. The album's dynamic range has been widened, resulting in clearer and more defined instrumentation, especially in the low end. The overall sound is less compressed, allowing for a more natural and enjoyable listening experience. The vocals are also more present and balanced in the mix. All in all, the "Mastered for iTunes" version of Death Magnetic is a significant upgrade that enhances the album's sonic quality.

After revisiting Metallica's "Death Magnetic" and comparing it to the "Mastered for iTunes" release, it's clear that the various improvements made to the album have elevated its rating from 3 to 4 stars. Overall, these enhancements have significantly improved the album's quality and made it a must-listen for 2008 metal music.

"S&M 2" is a double live album release (which in the days of vinyl would probably have been a three- or a four album release). The album was released through Blackened Recordings in August 2020. The title of the album refers to the 1999 "S&M" live album, which is a similar collaborative effort with Metallica playing along side the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. While the original "S&M" (1999) concert performance was conducted by Michael Kamen, the concert performance on "S&M 2" was conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas and Edwin Outwater. The "S&M 2" concert was also filmed and given a theatrical release in October 2019. A Blu-Ray version was released simoultaniously with the live album.

"S&M 2" features 22 tracks and a total playing time of just little under 2 and a half hours. Needless to say it´s a massive body of music, but since Metallica have written so many instantly recognisable heavy/thrash metal tracks, the playing time doesn't necessarily feel that long. Disc 1 is dominated by post-"The Black Album" (1991) material, although it also includes "The Call of Ktulu" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (and of course a classical orchestra version of "The Ecstasy of Gold" by Ennio Morricone, which is always the opening track at Metallica´s shows.

Disc 2 predominantly features "The Black Album" (1991) and pre-"The Black Album" (1991) material, although it also includes "The Unforgiven III" and "All Within My Hands", and a couple of classical music pieces (by Sergei Prokofiev and Alexander Mosolov).

Adding a symphonic orchestra to rock music is nothing new and several other rock and heavy metal artists have done it before (including Deep Purple and Metallica themselves as mentioned above), and with varying degrees of success. Honestly I was very critical of "S&M" (1999) when it was released, and I felt it was like standing in between a heavy metal band´s rehearsal room and a concert hall where a classical orchestra played. I don´t think that recording worked that well and the two parts of the music just never gelled. Thankfully "S&M 2" works much better and to my ears the heavy metal part of the music and the classical orchestra parts now function as a unit, and create a new and interesting take on Metallica´s music.

Metallica are as well playing as ever and the album features a superb sounding production job. Everything is audible in the mix and there´s some great audience interaction from Hetfield (relatively sparse, but it works) and you can often hear the audience sing along, which in this case is really nice and definitely enhancing the listening experience. So all in all I´m much more entertained and satisfied with this second "heavy metal meets classical orchestra" attempt from Metallica. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

Ah? the song that basically kicked off the whole Metallica/Napster ordeal waaaaaaaay back in the year 2000 (if you don't know about it, look it up!). After years of alternative rocking and symphony collaborations, this was an early sign of Metallica slowly turning a slightly harder corner with their music again. Sure, it's still hard rock, but it just felt like it was upgrading for the new millennium.

Anyway, nothing came of it, as Metallica ended up becoming the most hated band in the world for a while, lost their bass player, almost split up? etc. etc. It's been documented a million times over. No need for it now.

But this song? Yeah, this rocks! Had Metallica followed suite with this, rather than gone in the direction their careers went, things could have been totally different (not that their careers faltered in any way!). Great song! Totally naff single, mind you. It's only the one song, so it's totally pointless now. Unless, like me, you need to own everything.

What's interesting about this live EP is that it was recorded in "The Basement", a small, indoor music venue which is about as far away as you can get from the stadiums that Metallica are used to. Released in 2010 and only available in independent record shops and on the bands website, it's not the easiest CD to get hold of, especially in the UK, but I did it, and I spent upwards of £25 to get it (including postage).

But really, why bother?

Answer: because I'm a fan who has to own everything.

And that, is pretty much the only reason anyone would have for having this in physical format. It's not a terrible release, and the more intimate setting actually makes for a more chilled out vibe. But it's just so overdone. We've heard live versions of these songs so many times by now, that this EP, especially for the money spent, is just so pointless unless you're a super fan like me. Even more is that the band had put out two similar live EP's that same year, exclusive to Australia, which, you guessed it, I had to own.

Still, it's got a handful of the classics? 'Master of Puppets', 'Harvester of Sorrow', 'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)', 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' and 'Seek and Destroy'? same old, same old. Decent enough sound quality and all that? but it's just such a pointless EP unless you're a diehard fan who needs to own everything.

(Review originally written in 2013)

No matter how you look at it, it's pretty much universally agreed that Metallica are past their prime. While the band still tour relentlessly like always, their 80s heyday is now just a sweet memory and musical haven to fans looking to get their thrash metal fix. Even Death Magnetic, while attempting to recapture the old classic Metallica vibe, still saw a pretty mixed fan reception (but hey, at least it wasn't another St. Anger!). After their Lulu album with Lou Reed pretty much drilled their reputation even further into the ground, what was the next logical step? Make a concert film and cash in with another damn live record! Fancy that! Luckily though, this is probably the most entertaining and energetic Metallica effort in a very long time.

Let's begin with the worst and most obvious aspect of this album though. If you look at the track list, you'll already notice something exceptionally disappointing about this record: there are no surprises whatsoever. The setlist is the most predictable one you can imagine, with a slew of popular hits and rarely any lesser-known gems; the only one that's pretty notable is "...And Justice For All," since the band rarely played the song due to its length. The songs are largely played in the same way as they were in the studio, with a notable exception being the guitar tuning. Any song that was played in Standard-E tuning (as in, almost every song on here) is now played in E-flat tuning; this is actually beneficial because it makes the songs a bit heavier and more intense in the long run. As I said before, the real highlight of this record is its energy; these songs haven't been played this way by the band in a decade or two. Even with thrashier cuts such as "Battery" or "Hit the Lights" are played just as aggressively and quickly as they were in the 80s. Speaking of "Battery," that's an absolute highlight here; the solos and swift drumming still feel completely fresh and James' singing is still sufficiently gruff and intimidating. "Nothing Else Matters" and "One" hold up well in the "ballad" department as the band are still able to maintain a strong sense of dynamic control and retain their tight musicianship. Perhaps it's from years of playing these songs over and over, but the emotion is certainly still felt in these tracks and "One"'s more aggressive second half still manages to build on its first half's melancholic vibe extremely well.

However, the problem is that you still get a feeling of deja vu because of the aforementioned predictability of the setlist. Yeah, there are classics like "Master of Puppets," "Creeping Death," "Ride the Lightning," and "For Whom the Bell Tolls," but why do we need to listen to yet another round of live renditions of these tracks? It seems pretty pointless considering the amount of live albums the band have already released, not to mention all the videos you can find online for these songs. Not only that, but there are some moments of sloppiness on the band's part. During one of the verses on "Nothing Else Matters," James' voice just starts going everywhere for some reason as he sings the word "anew." This isn't even one of the heavier moments of the song but rather a slow melancholic section, and the slip-up (or at least it seems to be a slip-up) sticks out like a sore thumb. Another example is the drumming on "For Whom the Bell Tolls"; Lars Ulrich just sounds a bit sluggish and some of the fills he performs are a bit odd. The first fill he does once Kirk's melodic guitar line starts sounds completely off, as if he lost his musical footing at that very moment and regained it during the next measure. Stuff like this seems nitpicky, but it really adds up in the long run and gets very annoying after a while. One more thing, and this is just a side-note: if the soundtrack/film is called Through the Never, why the hell wasn't "Through the Never" actually in it? That just seems baffling to me, but that's the last nitpick I'm mentioning.

So how is the Through the Never soundtrack? It's definitely a good live album if you're not sick to death of Metallica live releases, or perhaps this is your first time picking up one by them. Even then, I'd suggest getting the Live Shit: Binge and Purge collection if you want some of the band's best live material. Either way, despite its track list's predictability, Through the Never is a solid collection of Metallica tunes that benefits from (usually) solid performances and a healthy dose of energy that's quite frankly refreshing. It's a nice live effort, just not very essential.

Here's the sequel of Metallica with the San Francisco Orchestra 20 years ago. The band plays on their central stage with all those classical musicians. It's night and day for the picture quality if I compare both concerts, the high definition makes all the difference. There are more quiet moments in the music than a usual Metallica concert and that is a good thing. There are also some classical pieces to brings things down after the heavy metal stuff. I'm not a fan of Heavy Metal, but I always enjoy seeing a Metallica concert and I have to admit that in this genre, they are on top. They started the show with their most progressive rock song: the instrumental ''The Call of Ktulu'' and after that, it's more than 2 hours of music nonstop with the orchestra that brings a little something to the music. I really enjoy watching this concert, the camera work gets you on the stage with the musicians, it's almost like being in the front row. I assume that all Metallica fans have this already and that I would not recommend this to all the prog-rock fans, so that's why I only give this 3.4 stars.

'Some Kind of Monster' is an interesting look at the personal problems that arise amongst band members after having worked together throughout careers that span decades. The biggest rock band in the world is on the verge of breaking up, with one member leaving, one member in rehab and one member being the most hated man in music. It's compelling viewing, that's for sure.

However, it's been often stated that this will appeal to Metallica fans and non-fans alike, and I do consider that a bit of an overstatement. I'm a huge, huge die-hard fan of the band, but at two hours and 10 minutes in duration, and a couple of hours of extra material, even I find this quite a tedious viewing at times.

Essentially, it boils down to the egos of two men, James and Lars, and goes on to become nothing more than 'Temper Tantrum: The Movie'. Still, it's always fun and interesting to see what musicians I admire get up to when they're not on stage. The process of recording their 2003 dud of album 'St. Anger', what they do in their spare time, the auditions for a new bass player and the endless promotional events they partake in.

While this isn't essential viewing to the average movie-goer, fans of the band will enjoy this stripped and bare movie that shows that even rich and famous rock stars have egos and emotions, and the tolls that that stardom takes on them.

This is basically a DVD highlights package of the two Metallica VHS releases, 'A Year and a Half in the Life of?' that the band released in the early 90's. A harmless enough watch, which looks at the making of one of heavy metal's most iconic albums, we're given a track-by-track look at the process of writing and recording each song, and there's some additional material with band members reflecting upon the album years later.

It's interesting to watch, but it mostly comprises of footage we've already seen in countless other videos, and it lacks all the emotional depth of Metallica's 2004 movie 'Some Kind of Monster'.

Still, while it's hardly going to be the most riveting thing you've ever watched, if you're a fan of Metallica it's certainly not a bad way to kill two hours.

Let's face it, when it comes to music videos, Metallica have had some absolute bangers, and some absolute stinkers. Some of them, such as the iconic 'One' and 'Enter Sandman', have become heavy metal classics, which stand up as well today as they did upon release. Then there's the not-so-classic ones' 'Hero of the Day', 'King Nothing' and 'The Unforgiven II', all of which are great songs, but the videos could easily be any other generic rock band from that era.

With that said though, this is a cool disc for any die-hard Metallica fans. Music video compilations are obsolete now thanks to YouTube, but it's still cool for a collector to have these on DVD, especially if they insist on owning everything a band puts out.