Heh, so I used a gift certificate to pick up "Blessed Black Wings" and for the heck of it borrowed "St. Anger" from a friend. Heh. Heh. O.k., um, Metallica? TIME TO STOP. Put out solo projects, snort coke off model's tits, find Jesus, but man o man, stop going into studios. Truly, deeply pathetic attempt at being "raw" and "mean" and whatever adjectives Bob Rock filled their head with (as if that shit shouldn't be part of their DNA by now). Actually the "raw" production is a joke; aside from the charmingly low-budget roar of "Kill 'Em All," this has never been a band that had rough edges as far as their songcraft and production go. A million years ago when they were fucking cool, they were TIGHT. Hearing distortion pedals kick in or having Kirk's guitar out of tune doesn't make you angry punk rock, shitheads, and by the way that ship sailed back in '91 when you had a chance to ride the wave but instead traded your cocks in for studio sheen. It makes you sound desperate and stupid. That and the tepid riffs. O.K., there's a chug chug chug here and there that starts to get fun, and then they immediately swerve into a painful imitation of thrash, bad/no chord progressions and....God forbid...Hetfield starts singing. Yeah, that's what really put the final nail in the coffin, Hetfield's whimpy tenor (man he used to be such a great metal singer!) and those awful, awful lyrics. Some of you may have also noticed Lars' drums sound like utter shit. If Rock belongs to some producer's union, he should have his card yanked. Probably a couple of hair extensions too, just because.
The boys should've hired Albini, a move I've wished for going on 15 years now, and maybe they could've made something as good as Blessed Black Wings. Probably not, though. Good album. Much thrashier than I thought it would be since they get stuck with the Stoner Rock tag; I don't know many stoners who would chill out to this shit. Lots of good thrash with, correct me if I'm wrong, even a little math-rock noodling in there. I'm not the hugest fan of the singer, but he's definitely servicable and doesn't distract from a pretty relentless pummelling by the rest of the crew. I have purchased/listened to very few metal albums this year, to be sure, but BBW and that black metal band from St. Louis, the one named after the Dune bad guys or something...best heavy shit I've heard this year.
Black vs. Anger
1"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."