ST. ANGER

tick tick tick tick tick tick tock? Metallica go BOOM!

St Clanger, I'm madly in anger with you...

The best thing about this album is the documentary behind it, Some Kind of Monster.

The band went through immense turmoil during the making of this album. Hetfield left the band for rehab and to clear the cobwebs in his head. With lyrics about his lifestyle and his 'deathstyle', the content of 'St Anger' is bitter, morbid and twisted, and there is no heart in it. Hetfield sounds like he has vocal diarrhea, a word incidentally, from the Greek word meaning 'flowing through'. The only thing flowing on this monstrosity is the cash from the fans who unfortunately were suckered into buying this beer coaster.

OK, so who the heck is responsible? Metallica are not even close to peak performance and the album would be their worst as a result. Most band members played solo parts and the whole thing was edited together hastily in time for its release date. It feels as though the members of the band did not care about the album and that's a rarity for Metallica. Bassist Robert Trujillo jumped on board the Metallica Machine but did not play for his debut; Bob Rock did all the bass parts on this and is as good as he needs to be to make the thing hang together. The band themselves are now trying to ignore this album. Live performances at most play three of the tracks but I dare say they will eventually hope this album becomes a distant memory, though "the memory remains"...

Unfortunately this album stinks of a poor attitude. The guitar work is tiresome and there is nothing innovative or new in Hammet's guitar riffs. There are no lead breaks just a bunch of noisy garage band riffs. This album sounds like a debut for the latest grunge garage act. Ulrich does not have a chance to shine on drums either, his drums sound like they were played in the toilet, actually they were I think. And the lyrics were written on toilet paper so that the music industry could wipe their bums on them. Ulrich is the best thing on this, in fact on the doco he is the one who was most worried about this release. He is excellent on the doco as a mouthpiece for how the band was falling apart. I also loved Megadeth's intervention to help out in places.

The album cover looks like a slogan for an anti Apartheid rally. And don't get me started on those lyrics: actually they are too good to pass up... "Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tick tock, Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tick tock, Treading water full of worry, This frantic tick tick talk goes hurry... my lifestyle determines my deathstyle" or "This is the face that you hide from, This is the mask that comes undone, Ominous, I am in us, Ominous, I am in us..." No compromise, My heart won't pump the other way, Wake the sleeping giant, Wake the beast, Wake the sleeping dog, No, let him sleep..." or "Tear it down, Strip my layers off, My turpentine, Old paint, old looks, Cover up the past, White heat, white light, Super whity, bones, Bones of you and i, Pure if i ... Can't you help me?" and finally "Who's in charge of my head today, Dancin' devils in angels way, It's my time now, Look out motherf***ers here I come, Gonna make my head my home..." These make their other album's lyrics sound like Wordsworth or Keats.

The whole background on this album is compelling viewing and the documentary is one of the best 'warts and all' fly- on-the-wall docos in history. However, the album is appalling in both production and content. None of the songs stand out as highlights.

A real waste from some of the most talented metal virtuosos in history.

Long and painful

Contrary to the title, my review will be short and painless... Without any desire to bash one of my favourite bands of all times, this album is a truly un-inspired effort. I must admit that the sound is heavy enough and there is a raw atmosphere sprayed all over the 75 minutes of the record, that may appeal to heavy metal fans. The production and mastering of the album is definitely trying to support this approach...

Apart from that, there are 11 (relatively long) songs that present Metallica in an 'angry' mood (the title is representative), but without any sense of imagination, creativity and virtuosity. Here you have 75 minutes of pure metal sound, ranging from rock riffs to thrash beats but there is something missing... and that would be music. The album could have been produced by an amateur metal band that enters the studio for the first time. Surprisingly, there are no solos (!) in 75 minutes and the sound of the drums is at least annoying (some may disagree). A few pleasant moments appear in the first 3 tracks, but after 3-4 spins, I found myself not being able to go through listening to it again.

At that time, the band was returning after a couple of mediocre efforts (Load, Reload) that were not at the standards expected by their fans. Members of the band had personal problems and this has clearly affected their performance, finding them at the lowest point of inspiration. Indifference might be the ideal word to describe my feelings towards the guitar riffs, bass lines and monotone drumming on this effort. There is no need to go into much detail, judging from the fact that this is one of the very few (or probably the only) album that I cannot listen to again!

If you are a fan of raw metal, you can start with their debut. Apart from being a poor record, it has nothing to do with prog, or even experimental music.

Not just the worst Metallica album, but arguably the worst album created by the human race.

In case you can't tell by my title, this won't be a pleasant review. This album is terrible and there is no other way I can say it. I love Metallica, and they are one of my favorite bands, but this is an unlistenable mess! There are plenty of albums I don't like in this world but at least 90% are good enough that I can physically make it through the whole album. Not the case here. To be honest I have a tough time making it through the first song!

So what makes this so bad?

Well, a combination of problems. For one, the recording quality is terrible. And the worst part is, they did that on purpose! The songwriting is not good, the vocal melodies are horrible; all in all everything that could possibly go wrong with an album has on St. Anger. I respect that Metallica was trying to get heavy again, but I would take Load and ReLoad over this any day!

I sure am glad that the incredible Death Magnetic didn't follow this albums footsteps, because if it did I would have officially lost all hope in one of my favorite bands. So just don't buy this unless you're looking for a horrible assault on your ears.

1 star.

God...it's noisy. Damn...it's noisy.

I also can't get over how FRANTIC (pun intended) this record is; all downtuned guitars, pummeling, distorted snare and kick, percussive cymbal washes, lyrics screamed from the bowels of Hell, or Hetfield's alcohol addiction (at this point, probably one in the same), or whatever, inaudible bass playing (thanks, Bob Rock; Robert Trujillo hadn't joined yet), and riff after blistering riff of some of the heaviest stuff they've ever released.

It also seems to be some of the most confused. There are no lead guitars, no pretty intros, no acoustic sleight-of-hand, no flashy technical brilliance of the kind that lit up Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets. There's a distinct lack of coherence to the record that makes me think more than twice about listening to it instead of, say, Master Of Puppets or ...And Justice For All, both of which are rightly considered classics of their genre. So I really can't give this a full 5-star rating. It's not there yet.

I will, however, give this 4 stars. It's noisy, yes...harsh, yes...loud, yes...pissed off, yes...but I feel it's more cathartic than anything else. The band (now reduced to a trio after Jason Newsted walked away in 2001), were at their wits end and thank God (or whomever) that they channeled that frustration and pissed-off vibe into the music. Otherwise, they might have broken up, and then the world would never have gotten Death Magnetic, one of the best releases of 2008, along with Watershed by Opeth.

Metallica - 'St. Anger' 1 star

One of the worst records ever created by humans.

I can think of very few, if any, records that go lower than this one here. You figure with a multi-million dollar band such as Metallica, they would have a high production value and good sound. The drums on the album are the most horrid thing I have ever come across on my musical journey. The guitars as tuned way down, to a sludge sound, except they are playing the same stuff from 'Load' and 'Reload'..which isn't sludge at all. So as far as sound goes, this album is a flat out zero. The songs themselves are another monster. The music is just terrible; there is hardly any real direction or purpose behind the tracks. It just seems James Hetfield needed to get some things off of his chest, and the band weren't too sure of themselves.

I recommend this to no one. Should be a forgotten piece of history.

Oh my f***** god.... this is one of worst albuns I have ever heard in my life. Surely, this is the worst metal album I ever heard. The production is amateurish, the drums seems to have a metalic industrial sound. There is no guitar solos, the vocals remind me some rap-style vocals utilized in new metal. In fact, all in this album smells like new metal, in a bad way, ever. There some hints of good music, on the tracks The Unnamed Feeling and Dirty Window, but in general ST. Anger was a failure atempt to please both metal and new metal fans. Avoid this like the plage.

'St. Anger' - Metallica (2/10)

Retarded cabbage patch kid music; nothing sums it up better. It's remarkably comical that this album is even on Prog Archives. I'm glad it is though, so I can warn anyone of potentially spending their money on this massacre to change their mind. Quickly.

In context, Metallica was in a bad position. The members hated each other, and were on the brink of breaking up. This 'antimatter chemistry' translated into a noisy mess, as can be seen in each of the awful tracks.

Admittedly, I wasn't even able to get through all the songs. I'm reviewing this album and haven't even listened to all of it! Put simply, I don't need to. The reason I couldn't get through it is because it's just too damn useless. It's like listening to a baby whine for hours on end while it gets it's pupils pierced by hot needles... Maybe worse.

I can't say I've ever been a huge Metallica fan, but at the very least (in past works) they've proven that they can make some damned good music. However, in this case, I'd rather listen to some Elementary school pop-rock band. At least there would be something there that could resemble music.

In terms of the actual music throughout the course of the album, it's very one-tracked. It all sounds the same. And while a 70 minute album generally sounds appealing, I might have even been tempted to give these retarded cabbage patch kids a 2 star rating if this was an 'experimental' EP, trying out a different sound than what they're used to. But no, this is a full fledged album. A full fledged, 11 song album without any highlights, without any sense of melody, or rhythm, or evocation of emotion.

The album does have some good parts, or 'highlights' if you will; the first three songs are at least listenable. 'St. Anger' is a memorable title track, and 'Frantic' gives a real jolt of energy which is good, even if that energy is brought forward through disgracefully bad production and performance.

If you like metal or prog, you're honestly better off getting a Rihanna album. At least you won't feel betrayed or dissapointed afterwards.

One of the greatest mockeries of a former great metal band? You bet.

To be honest, I don't know why I'm reviewing this. When I first heard this album back in 2003, I thought it was one of the worst metal albums I'd ever heard. And guess what? I still do. This is Metallica trying to copy nu-metal bands (I already strongly dislike the ones I've heard), and doing an even worse job with this kind of music. I know I've said before that I have a garbage tier of prog, but this belongs in the sh** tier of music. It's THAT bad. From the music to the production, there is not a single good thing I could have said about this 6 years ago, nothing good I could say about it today, and probably nothing good I could say about it in another 6 years. I wish I could give this zero stars, or even negative numbers or stars. Pass this up to spare some blood loss and ear damage.

Ah St. Anger, the album everyone loves to hate, and who can blame them? The band themselves even conceded it was a pile of junk, I saw them in concert in 2004 and they conceded that they would only play 3 songs off St Anger before getting into their new stuff. Why do I think it's rubbish? Well some people think to evolve as a musician or a band you always need to be doing something different, and in some cases due to some perverted course of events this leads people to do the exact opposite of what they were doing before. St Anger was the culmination of this phenomenon for Metallica. The descent started with the mediocre black album being a significant departure from their thrash roots and continued through the with poor load and even worse re-load being hard-rock releases. St Anger is almost the antithesis of their master piece Master of Puppets.

The actual music itself, it is woefully simple (and here on prog archives one takes an especially dim view of that) there is no melodic depth, it's mediocre garage rock riffery and the instrumentation is plain uninspired. Hetfield's lyrics are atrocious (Fran-tick-tick-tock, St. Anger round my neck) and his vocals are more angst ridden than angry, instead of primal anger directed at killing and violence, it's teenage angst directed at suicide and depression. And then there is the icing on the cake - the production. The production on this album is an absolute crime - crusty as hell in the worst most digital way possible. If ever there were such a thing as an album that had been both over-produced and under-produced St Anger is it. The guitars have a terrible tone and are unintelligible at the best of times but they pale in comparison with the tragedy that is the drum kit. I have made recordings in a small room with one microphone fed into an 8-track tape machine that sound positively hi-fi compared to the drums on this album, I'm absolutely adamant that the producer must have gone out of his way to make the drumkit sound terrible. That snare is the most infamous example, the first thing most good producers will do with a snare is get rid of any of that ringing sound but in this case it seems like the opposite has been done. A mic has been placed underneath the snare and the producer has set about capturing as much of the ring as possible as well as getting rid of any snap or punchiness, it's almost an inside joke.

I suggest people listen to this album so that lessons can be learned, musicians should think about everything makes St Anger bad and everything Metallica did with it - and then do the opposite.

Madly in anger with you...

Do I really need to say more after that? Just those lyrics,a lone, make me cringe in fear. I won't make it any secret that I am not the biggest Metallica fan, but even I can admit they had some good material early on. This is just a musical perversion. The heavy metal love beach?

The songs are painfully simple, and the production sounds worse than a Merle Haggart demo tape. With boring riffs, and lyrics that are deplorable. The title track being what I suppose is a highlight. It is a microcosm of the whole mess. Garage rock played without any melodic or in depth sensibilities.

The lyrics, which are important to me, are an abject failure, here. I can't say enough about this. Not even as bad as some normal metal cliches. I suppose some might find something redeeming about this album, if they are into the horribly produced and melody-deprived music of the day, but I can't find a reason to give more than 1 star.

Some kind of monster....

I know that a lot of people hate this album for its grittiness and ugliness. I'm not of of them. To me "St. Anger" marks Metallica's return from what I think was a creatively uninspired era to more interesting music. Sure, the songs on "St. Anger" are a bit longwinded, the lack of guitar solos equalled a lack of Metallica-soul, the snare drum sounds terrible, and the overall production is strange to put it mildly. But this album is characterized by something that's been missing from Metallica ever since the black album - namely, energy. What drew me to "St. Anger" was simply the raw unprocessed energy it seemed to contain which was sorely lacking from the boring "Load" and even more boring "Reload" albums (ironically, "St. Anger" turned out to have been Pro Tooled into being, which makes it all the more impressing that they managed to preserve the energy of the music). So, while others lament the ugliness and grittiness of this album, I've always celebrated it as a return to energetic music.

I think tracks like "St. Anger", "Frantic", "Purify", "Shoot me Again" and "All Within My Hands" are all, well, frantic and have a sense of desperation to them, which works quite weel and, if you latch on to those feelings, seem almost engaging and inspiring. And, here's where the strange snare drum sound fits in. It really enhances the franticness of the album. Also the groovy main riffs of "Invisible Kid" and "Some Kind of Monster", if you let them, seep straight into one's unconscious primate brain.

And what works really well on this album, I think, is the combination of groove and frantic frenzy. But the lack of guitar solos is unforgivable,

It's ugly, it's primitive, it's energetic, it's gritty, it's strange, it's unforgiven, it's some kind of monster.

I feel bad for this album. It gets NO love at all. Old school Metallica fans hate it...well because it is anything past "And Justice for All" and new school fans hate it because it sounds so different. This is NOT one of their best albums. In fact I rank it #6 (behind their first four, and Death Magnetic). That being said, I do not think this is one of their worst. In fact, I think it is an alright album.

First, I can not blame a band for changing it up once in a while, (this is a progressive site after all). Metallica wanted to make something different, that's exactly what they did, and I welcome it. In fact, I like it! This album is really heavy and dirty sounding. How metal is that?

Another piece of criticism is "the drums sound like crap". I guess this is personal preference, and while the over whelming majority agree.....I do not. I like the drums. I think the snare sounds cool. Perhaps the biggest complaint I hear is "there are no solos". Again, I like this. They wanted a slow, heavy, dirty album with an old school "garage" feel to it. That is exactly what they made, and solo's would have taken away from that. Besides, they did not want solo's and later said they thought about adding some, but it would have been forced. Do we want this album sounding any "worse" than it does already with forced solos?

While I like the feel, and sound, of this album there are some major problems. I like the way the drums sound, but Lars is flat out bad. I think he is a mediocre drummer, but hey....I guess he gets the job done. Not on St. Anger though. His drumming is just bad, and in some songs there are painfully long sections where he is off beat, (and I'm guessing this is NOT on purpose...and if so he does not do a good job). It is very painful to listen to.

The songs are way to long. You could take many of these songs and cut them in half. Finally, the lyrics. I must agree again with the majority. The lyrics are BAD. However, at least they are real. They are not some generic rock lyrics, but deal with personal struggles, (especially James' alcohol addiction). OK, this is nothing new...but it is real. They are dealing with their past problems.

This album starts out fairly well. Frantic, St. Anger, and Some Kind of Monster are all good songs. And they actually have a bit of progressiveness to them! Although St. Anger and Some Kind of Monster are too long. Invisible Kid is another good song. Again, heavy and I actually really like James' vocals in the quieter sections.

Sweet Amber begins, well sweet. Then goes into the heavy. A cool sounding song. Purify is not bad, and Invisible Kid is also not bad, but again way too long. Dirty Window is a good song, and a bit progressive.

So, what do I have to say about this album. Under rated! It is not their best, by a long shot. However, all the flak it takes is undeserving. It is a slow, heavy, dirty feeling album. If you are not into a grungy, "garage" feel then I guess you won't like it. However, I do. It has a great feel to it. Besides, this is the end of their "sellout" days. There generic, hard rock albums were tossed out the window in favor of metal again. Maybe it is not focused, but they clearly were done with Bob Rock and their new sound.

A decent album, with an old school, heavy feel. The vocals are bad, (but real) a lot of the songs are too long, and some are just bad sounding. However, a lot are good sounding, and even a BIT progressive. If you are not into metal then avoid, but if you are I say you should listen to this album with an OPEN MIND!

THREE STARS!

"St. Anger" is the 8th full-length studio album by US heavy metal/ thrash metal act Metallica. The album was released in June 2003 by Vertigo Records. Bassist Jason Newsted left Metallica shortly before the sessions for the album began. Details about the split are documented in the "Some Kind of Monster (2004)" documentary. The recording sessions for the album began on the 24th of April 2001 but a couple of months into the sessions Metallica had to take a lengthy break from the studio as lead vocalist/ guitarist James Hetfield went into rehab for alcoholism. The break lasted about a year before a sober James Hetfield returned and the sessions started up again. Producer Bob Rock plays the bass on the album as the band opted not to hire a new bassist before after the release of "St. Anger".

The music on the album is the most aggressive the band has released since "...and Justice for All (1988)", so the title of the album suits the music well. Metallica made a deliberate attempt at trying something new on the album. There are for example no guitar solos on the album and influences the NU-Metal/alternative metal end of the metal spectrum are obvious IMO. This is still unmistakably the sound of Metallica though. Something is not right though and overall "St. Anger" is not the most interesting/successful album in the world. For starters the 11 tracks on the album overstay their welcome by a couple of minutes and while the tracks do hold some strong elements (they are few but there) they come off as rather weak in comparison to the songs on earlier releases by the band. A way too long playing time of 75:01 minutes doesn´t do anything to save an already weak release. Why Oh why release a 75 minute long album when you only have quality material (well... almost decent material) for 35 minutes?

The worst thing about "St. Anger" is the production though. It´s messy and noisy. Quite the abomination if you ask me. I don´t think I´ve ever heard a snare drum sound as atrocious as the one of this album. It sounds like Lars Ulrich is beating an oil barrel to death. So while the music has some redeeming qualities there´s nothing positive to say about the sound on the album. It really drags my rating down a lot.

When I listened to "St. Anger" upon it´s release I remember I was greatly disappointed. I was more positive after listening to it again before this review but it is still the weakest album in Metallica´s discography and the last album by the band that I would advice people to listen to. A 1.5 - 2 star rating is warranted.

St. Anger is everybody's favourite bash-Metallica album. While it's certainly not good and has plenty of reasons to serve as an ideal album to sharpen you vitriol-drenched review writing skills, Metallica has worse albums so I'll try to support them for a change.

A first reason for the criticism is obvious, the damn sound of the thing. Especially the snare drum is downright ridiculous. But apparently it is the way they wanted it to sound. A second reason is also obvious. All songs are waaaaay too long. Also, half of the songs fail to add anything and make the album wear out, long before it's completed.

That is all true but there are good things here and well. Most of all this album signals a welcome return to energy and anger in Metallica's sound. Each new album in the 90's had only been topping the previous in lacklustre song writing and sloppy performance. St. Anger is a welcome return to aggression and simple & sharp metal riffs. Even if they don't come near to past excellence, it's still an improvement over all the deflated unload disasters.

If Metallica had not only opted for a garage sound and attitude, but also for garage song writing, they could have trimmed down the fat on each of these songs and could have created a very powerful 40 minute album. Well, they didn't and they even made the same mistake on the overhyped Death Magnetic.

The worst album I've ever heard

Wow... I must admit to Metallica their ability to create something abnormally disgusting. And I admit it every single time, when I listen to St. Anger (they are not much: 2 times when it was released and 1 now because of writing a review). It's noise, it,s not music. There's not any logic and songwriting here. It's just experimental noise here. Probably it's an achievement, too. It's an achievement, because it's very difficult to create so awful piece of art. There are a lot of comic moments on St. Anger. Wow... It's extraterrestrial. There aren't fresh or whatever ideas. The most important thing I can say about this album is: St. Anger is a common noun of noise, incompetence, foolishness and misunderstanding (of nature). 1,00000000000000000000000000(0) stars!!!

Metallica's St. Anger is totally useless... Horrible and in a progressive way and horrible in a thrash metal way. In the end it is one of the worst albums I have ever heard.

Don't get me wrong, Metallica is one of my favorite bands but this album just ruins everything.

The drums sound like a five-year-old hitting a can with a stick the vocals are worthless, the riffs are untalented. What else can I say...

Definitely Poor, Only for completionists. Actually not even that much, I would recommend completionists to count this album as not being music and be happy with a complete album set of Metallica without St. Anger.

I feel this album doesn't deserve one star, because the rating descriptions clearly state that one star is "only for completionists", but I think even they should stay as far away from this disaster as possible. This is also probably the worst album I've ever heard all the way through. (some others were so bad I couldn't actually listen to the whole thing, but that's different) To be fair, I only heard this once and I'm never going to listen to it again. Tracks like "Shoot Me Again" and even the title track are like nails on a chalkboard, piercing my ears until they bleed.

Seriously, just stay away.

Awful!

I would go into my normal reviewing structure, but it just won't work here. This is my least favourite album of all time by a band I like.

Now just think for a minute. Take everything you think could possibly go wrong with an album. It's present here. Is the production bad? Some of the worst I've ever heard. The sound quality is awful and the drums sound like trash cans. You can also barely tell what Hammett is playing. Is the musicianship bad? Yes, there is nothing musical here. Are the lyrics bad? "I'm madly in anger with you / I'm madly in anger with you / I'm madly in anger with you." Point proven.

I just can't find anything good to say about this album. Stay as far away from this album as you possibly can.

It's official: I no longer have good taste. Before I first heard it in 2003, everything I'd heard about this album, both about its creation and about the song quality, set off warning bells in my head that this would suck like mad. You see, after letting Newsted leave (replaced by some guy named Rob Trujillo), word came out that Metallica wanted to get back to its roots and be a thrash band with long songs again. Now, given that they hadn't made an epic thrash metal album since '88, and that they were relatively young then and old now, I couldn't help but brace myself for a disaster. Especially since the band was praising nu- metal bands like Limp Bizkit as great music (suggesting that they'd try to sound like them if given the chance). Then, when I learned that the album would be given the incredibly stupid name of St. Anger, I couldn't help but fear even more. And finally, when I started hearing that the production was the worst on any metal album ever, and that Kirk didn't play any solos on the album, and that the lyrics sucked, well, I was ready to hate this.

So imagine my shock when, get this, I enjoyed this album on first listen. At first, I just suspected that it was an effect of overly-lowered expectations, and that subsequent listens would temper things a bit. And yeah, I enjoyed this a bit less afterwards (it's only a middling ***, after all), but I found that I couldn't get myself to dislike this album, no matter how loudly all the various forces could bellow about how blindingly obvious the flaws are. The production isn't great, yes - the bass is virtually inaudible, and one of the drums on Lars' kit sounds like he's banging on a steel water pipe (and he uses that drum a LOT on the album). Apparently, the band wanted minimal overdubs and touchups, to preserve the intensity of live-in-studio performance or whatever, but I do have to admit that they went a bit far in their resistance to any cleaning. On the other hand, though, I actually don't hate Lars' drum sound - it's horrid on a technical level, I suppose, but it's so danged novel that I end up kinda liking it, believe it or not.

What matters most, though, isn't the sound, but the songs (well, 'tracks' - these are more of metal grooves than of 'written songs'). Three important things stand out for me on many of these tracks:

1. The intensity is fierce.

2. The riffs often RULE.

3. James doesn't make a total ass out of himself.

You see, what I feared the most going into this album would be that, in trying to reconnect with their thrash past, the band would also make the mistake of trying to pretend to be teenagers (ie turning into a nu-metal band), which is a problem given that they were all around 40 at the time. But while the band (especially James) shows rage that hasn't existed on a Metallica album since Justice, it would be downright wrong to classify this as adolescent rage. No, this is the rage of an old, very pissed-off man, bitter at his struggle with alcoholism, bitter at his own weaknesses, bitter at seeing himself as an ass despite all of his success. James sounds like a man possessed on this album, like a man that believes that, if he roars deeply enough and makes his riffage loud and discordant and piercing enough, he can somehow make scare away all of his demons and be left alone. The rest of the band feeds off of this energy quite well, with Kirk sticking to riffage intertwining with James' instead of detracting from the rage with his generic solos, and while the rhythm section doesn't do that well technically, they definitely add to the roaring intensity throughout.

Of course, energy and intensity can only get you so far - a lot of the songs are a bit too primitive in construction for my tastes, and some parts are quite embarrassing (I do appreciate how it works as a sick album-ending 'breakthrough,' but that still doesn't mean that hearing James bellow "KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL....!!!!" is something that I won't squirm at). But it can get you a good distance, especially when the riffs are good. The opening "Frantic" has some of the fiercest riffage heard on a Metallica album in forever, and hearing James scream, "My lifestyle determines my deathstyle!" and "Frantic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic- tic-tock ..." has to be one of the rawest (in a good way), most painfully (again, in a good way) cathartic passages found in the band's whole catalogue. The title track seemingly gets chided by quite a few people, mainly because of the lyrics ("I'm madly in anger with you!"), but given that it seems to be representative of James' alcohol struggle (ie this is his version of an 'albatross' around his neck), and how he's tried to cope with it, it can't help but move me plenty.

As for other highlights, a big one for me is "Dirty Window." Aside from a KILLER riff, with intensity to match, it has one of the most menacing vocal deliveries of James' life, what with the, "...and I slam my gavel DOWN!" and "projector, protector, rejector infector" parts. Plus, that quiet part where he's singing, "I'm judge and I'm jury and I'm executioner too" works as a nice counter to the heavy parts, and helps make it into quite the nice track. The followup, "Invisible Kid," might seem a bit dumb at first, but then I realized that the rhythmic groove of the guitars and vocal melody are actually fairly clever in their simplicity - besides, I can't get "Invisible kid, suspicious of your touch, don't want no crutch, but it's all too much" out of my head, and what's more, I find that I actually like it being in my head. Truth be told, for what seems to be at first a throwaway, it has quite a few interesting parts, whether or not they seem just glued together or actually part of something resembling inspiration.

As for the other seven songs, some are better, some are worse. Truth be told, they all sound kinda alike, and honestly I can only remember a bit of each specific song at the present time. HOWEVER, I can say that except for the very end of the album (and even then, I like the first half of "All Within my Hands," the track that closes things), I'm not disappointed in this at all. It's not what fans will be looking for, but it demonstrates the band's "to hell with our fans, we need to do this this way" attitude in full force, and I can't help but respect (and often enjoy) that.

That album cover really blows, though.

Poor. Only for completions?! How about horrible. No one should ever hear it. What else can I say about the terrible St. Anger that hasn't been said before?! Pretty much everything that could go wrong with an album goes wrong here. Trash can snare, hilariously bad lyrics, corny singing , (I really don't care about it having no guitar solos but I might as well throw it in there), and several other things. I mean come on, "My lifestyle determines my deathstyle"?! what the %*&@!!!! Anyway, if you want a good laugh listen to this stuff. By the way, the KILL KILL KILL KILL thing at the end of All Within My Hands is hilarious.

A great return to form...a.k.a. who am I kidding here anyway?

Having spent the last few years, prior to 2003, catching up with the legacy trail left by Metallica it was now finally time for me to buy my first of their albums at the actual time of its official release. Naturally I was very excised to see how the band would follow up their Load/Reload albums. Like any fan of the classic era, I was definitely hoping that this would be the time where Metallica, that we all remember, would comeback with their strongest release since ... And Justice For All. Unfortunately this was far from that occasion.

The first few times while listening to this album, I recognized the definite change in Metallica's sound but it took me another few spins to admit to myself that most of these changes were for the worst. The band really managed to flush all our ideas down the drain with St. Anger, with problems ranging from everything starting from sound production, ridiculous lyrics, weird arrangement approaches and much more. Should I even bother bashing the material considering that most of you have probably heard it all before? The biggest problem I have with this album is that it depicts a band with not a drop of creativity left in them whatsoever.

Luckily the release of the documentary titled Some Kind Of Monster did clear up a lot of the issues that the band was going through which does explain why St. Anger felt so lackluster. Still, it doesn't give Metallica the right to basically drop a bomb on their fans and just run for cover by blaming it on the problems that surrounded this release. The rule should be simple; if you know that it's bad, don't release it in the first place!

**** star songs: Frantic (5:50) St. Anger (7:21)

*** star songs: Dirty Window (5:24) Shoot Me Again (7:10) The Unnamed Feeling (7:08) All Within My Hands (8:48)

** star songs: Some Kind Of Monster (8:25) Invisible Kid (8:30) My World (5:45) Sweet Amber (5:27) Purify (5:13)

There are some unsolved mysteries in the history of the mankind. Hangar 18. How did Bin Laden manage to live just under the noses of the Pakistani secret services without being detected, Marie Celeste, the disappearing vikings from Greenland 1000 years ago............. and what the heck Metallica was thinking when they released St. Anger.

The bad reputation of this album prevented me from unpack the shrink wrapped version I bought ages ago. So it was with a great deal with trepidation I put it on. It cannot be that bad ?

It is.

St. Anger is the total collapse of the civilization as we knows it. The drums sounds utterly horrible. The vocals is twisted. The guitars and the bass is as wooly as the local sheep market. It seems like the band has been listening far too much to the post metal scene. Limp Biscuit and in particular; Linkin Park. On some of the songs here, Metallica even sounds like the Norwegian band Minas Tirith. And I thought nobody sounds like that Norwegian band. The sound is in short; abysmal.

The songs....... well, this is where this album nosedive straight to the concrete floor and below. There is nothing here ! The title track sounds like a knock of Linkin Park track with some hard core and rampaging elephants in a glass house thrown in to make it better. It fails. And that is the best song here. The rest is painful beyond belief. Painful, this album is. Painful.

This album is....... I cannot bring myself to utter these words. I have to agree with other reviewers who rated this album as one of the worst albums ever. It is.

1 star

(and I want my money back !)

Because beauty lies in the eye of the beholder

I am going to go against the flow here and state that this record is one of the best things Metallica ever did. Much better than their 90's releases. And I also happen to give this record more spins than Kill em all or Ride the Lighting. Yeah , the snare drum sounds like cr*p , there are no guitar solos here as well and James sings off key sometimes. I also can see that.

But all those things were done on purpose to give a Lo - fi feel. As regards the music , there are TONS of great riffs here , yeah the nu metal infuence is there but rest assured this is still Metallica. There are no standout tracks here since all have more or less the same level ( a very high one)

One of the most underrated albums in the history of mankind. You should give St Anger a 2nd chance!!!

On to an album that many fans, and the band members themselves, don't like at all. I don't know what the band was trying to achieve here - the first few tracks are just a jumble of coherent noise in the rock vein with patchy drumming and riffing. Were these guys trying to make a statement in the Korn, Papa Roach, Limp Bizkit field - if so then why? Where the previous two albums were very much standard hard rock fare this is a strange animal indeed. It is definitely an exercise in experimentation by the band and there is nothing wrong with a band flexing its muscles in a different direction if what they are doing something coherent and if they don't lose their identity in so doing. This is far far away from Metallica's initial identity. The drums are not well mixed into the fray and as with at least one of the previous albums I get that bashing on a paint tin sound.

I can't find any merit in this album whatsoever other than as a curiosity - if you really want to hear Metallica attempting a Nu Metal sound then by all means give it a shot but for goodness sake don't go spending hard earned money on it. From me a very clear cut one star release.

Wow. This album is REALLY hated. I have to admit that i pretty much gave up on METALLICA after the 'Load' album. Between the wannabe Jane's Addiction image and the pop punk songs that showed yet another 80s pioneering band stray into unfit territory, i just decided that METALLICA was just another 80s band that wanted to be something they were not so i never gave albums like ST ANGER the time of day, ESPECIALLY reading the vituperrious reviews. Well, at long last i have exposed myself (not in public!) to this most-hated edition of one of metal's most revered bands and i have to say that'.. it's not as bad as i expected.

No, it's not a return to form. It's hardly in the same league as anything from the debut even to the self-titled black album BUT'.. it beats the crap out of 'Load,' 'Reload' and the weak nonsense that followed. So what happened to this once great band? Only speculation, of course, but perhaps a band that enjoyed too much success and garners one of the highest royalty payouts of all metal history just got too fat and cozy and out of touch with the R-E-A-L world? Hmmm. Just a theory as farfetched as it may sound.

OK. I'll keep this short. This album doesn't deserve much praise or criticism. It's been uttered many times before. I actually like this album's tenacity and experimental prowess BUT'. is this really METALLICA? Well, yes. James Hetfield makes that perfectly clear. Everything except the vocals indicates this is a new 90s alternative band that has come of age and ready and willing to make a stab at the big time. WTF? OK. I almost buy the whole shtick. I can understand the willingness of a band to experiment and try to play the new game and yadda yadda yadda but for bleep's sake TAKE IT ALL THE WAY!!!!

In a nutshell, i really love the grungy deep bass laden production that Bob Rock (also bassist) contributes on this album. The problem i have is manyfold but the main beef being that this isn't innovative in any way. METALLICA were clearly scanning the alternative metal soundscape of the 90s and incorporating anything far and wide into their sound that they could grasp onto. I still to this day do not understand the psychology of WHY a band that was so innovative in the metal world wanting to tackle every possible nuance of metal and claim it as their own. Some say Lars the ego driven maniac had his lead in this but really who knows.

The album comes across as a wannabe alternative compilation of the 90s. The main influences i detect are a Ministry industrial metal approach in riffage with Alice In Chains type grunge and vocal approaches with sparsely dispersed Pantera groove metal influences. However the most distinct ripoff of all comes from the incessant use of White Zombie type riffs that resonate low in the decibel range and have riffs that resonate as if they were of the 'La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol 1' album.

While i really like the production and sound and much loathed snare drum idiosyncrasies of this album unlike many others, what really turns me off about this album is the horrific vocals of James Hetfiels and the equally abysmal lyrics which are just bleepin' nonsensical (OMG like the goddam 'Tick Tick Tick from the first track or the other suckmefests like 'Shoot Me Again.' As the 90s unfolded new possibilities in the metal genre, METALLICA was trying (but obviously not succeeding) in ripping off the up and coming newbies. There is imagery in the liner notes ripping off My Dying Bride to the riffage on 'My World' that rips off their own 'Master Of Puppets.'

Overall i don't hate this album as much as others in the pure listening category although i get it totally in the intellectual department why this sucks donkey wankers. I actually enjoy the sound, the production and the instruments on board. What REALLY rankles my doggie reality is James Hetfield's vocals. This dude has clearly lost his luster. He has never been the cream of crop in the vocal department but has delivered stellar songwriting contributions to the metal universe. On this release he seems totally out of place and i truly feel this could have been a better album if Rob Zombie was on board as vocalist. I mean really! IF YOU'RE GONNA REINVENT YOUR SOUND'. then why not just go all the way and add a new vocalist. There are many brilliant moments here if this WERE a different band but because James Hetfield's limited diminishing abilities only SCEAM a declining band here in full deciblage i just can't embrace this album even though the aggressive instrumental portions are quite satisfying. Bob Rock's production is quite satisfying for me on this one. 2.5 rounde doooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwn

I like 'St. Anger'.

There, I said it.

Metal fans the world over will probably know all about 'St. Anger' and what contributed to its critical panning. The atrocious production, the awful drums (that don't even sound like drums), the cringe-worthy lyrics, the lack of guitar solos, the strained singing... the list goes on and on. But for all its faults and wrongdoings, the music itself on this album is still fairly decent.

I was sixteen when this album was released and was, at the time, a Metallica fanatic. Trivial things such as production was the last thing on my mind when this came out. I was just happy that my favourite band had released a new record and it rocked. Of course, as I grew older I learned to appreciate music production more, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the joy I gain from the compositions themselves still remain.

And whilst we're all familiar with (and most likely dislike) 'Frantic', 'Some Kind of Monster' and 'The Unnamed Feeling', this record has some forgotten gems such as 'Sweet Amber', 'All Within My Hands' and 'Shoot Me Again', which are all pretty underappreciated.

In truth, I'd be wasting my time if I tried to sell anyone on this album, as by now I figure everyone has made up their mind about it. But I'm happy with it. Sure, it has its problems, but it's different and unique and I enjoy it all the same. And the extra DVD of the band playing the album in the studio make this a nice little package.

St. Anger gets hate, but if someone were to forget Metallica's older releases maybe they would more so appreciate the album.

Actually, "St. Anger" happens to be one my favorite alternative albums and one of my favorite albums by Metallica.

James Hetfield has supported on many occasions the amount of anger and emotion that went into the album's making. He has stated that, "There's two years of condensed emotion in this. We've gone through a lot of personal changes, struggles, epiphanies, it's deep. It's so deep lyrically and musically."

To me, that is what this album stands for, and that is what the mood it conveys. So this album fits at times when I am really angry, or at times when I am, ironically, really happy.

The album, in my opinion, can be paired with other similar alternative albums such as Slipknot's ".5: The Gray Chapter" and Korn's "Path of Totality." At the same time though, it can be paired with thrash metal releases in the same category as most of Metallica's other albums.

The album is no doubt timeless, but it looks like nobody will ever realize so. Sad to say the least.