Am I looking forward to the new Metallica Album?
So two songs are out by Metallica from the album coming November 18 called Hardwired to Self Destruct
First thing we should do is take a look at them both before I talk about history with the band and answer the question above.
The First is Hardwired
And the second is Moth to the Flame
We should really address the history to before we get underway I will only talk about studio albums because for the most part I don't like live albums to much to start with we have Kill Em All, Ride the Lightening and finally And justice for all. What more can you say about the these albums that already hasn't been said a thousand times and by far more eloquent people then me.
Let's just take a minute to remember Cliff Burton who died 30 years ago when I was 9.
He became an icon of a bass player for so many people. And for me when I was old enough to appreciate his contribution to metal in general.
Here I am at 39 still playing bass with a wah wah and still never having enough money for a Rickenbacker bass guitar left hander. I never heard somebody make a bass sound so cool.
When I was young Metallica was the be all and end all of metal music for me and when they brought out the Black album they went supernova and they took metal to a new level regardless of whether you think they sold out or not it was good for the genre in general.
I actually liked the album at the time and I was not one of them fans who climbed upside my own backside and dismiss it because it was a departure from the last album and they became more "commercial".
I saw them tour on this album a few times and they absolutely killed it every time.
Moving on we had Load and Reload they hand one or two decent tracks but for the most part for me wasn't all that good. It felt like a failed experiment, so as you can imagine I don't have a lot of love for them.
And seriously what is with these album covers ? Can you imagine the person thinking ?
I know Jizz and Blood would make a great album cover let me take a picture and make thousands from it........ fair play to the album artwork people they stole a living from these.
These albums for me is where I started to realize that Metallica was more about the live show and I was honestly starting feel uneasy about them which was weird because I was always pretty into them.
We had S&M which was pretty cool jamming with an orchestra is an interesting thing to do and was a change from the last two albums for me which was pretty sub par. Some songs worked really well but others sounded a bit silly if I'm honest and had crescendos for no reason just thrown in for dramatic effect .
Lars the next year wen't on a crusade to smite piracy and Napster only to make himself look like a bit of idiot in the process.All because somebody leaked a song from Mission Impossible.
Jason Newsted left the band in 2001 he hasn't really done much since that I like besides one track Soilderhead . He was known as the most Metal in Metallica and now plays acoustic music so figure that one out if you can.
Robert Trujillo joined the band as having cut his teeth with Ozzy, Suicidal Tendencies and others so he was no slouch. I remember they gave him a million dollars for joining they would have had to have paid me that much to have to have played on what came next.....
The next album was St Anger and lets be honest it sounds like it got recorded getting played on a rusty gate. I honestly find it hard to listen to and even harder to want to say much about it .Thanks Bob Rock you the man......
Then the documentary came out which made me feel like the band I loved had kinda imploded. Somethings you really need to keep to yourselves. This done nothing to enhance the credibility of the band. It painted them as human beings, yes I got that but I don't think I needed to see that film.
I just decided from then on if I could see them live that would be cool but album wise it might be all over for me.
Death Magnetic wasn't amazing but wasn't as bad as the last and that was kinda enough but I was always hoping they could do better. The track I liked the best was the day that never comes many people didn't like it that much but for me it was the pick of the bunch. Hardly groundbreaking but it was all they had.
All through these albums they toured heavily and in my opinion relied on past glories to keep the fans happy who didn't really like the recent stuff and who can blame them. If you look at set lists from that period it did and they still do play to the biggest strengths of the band and that's commercially sensible you make your money from the tours now so play what people love.
Shall we mention Lulu? It should have been a side project with Lou reed nothing more so i'm not going to mention that from here.
They released some more tracks from Death Magnetic they didn't release and Called it Beyond Magnetic. B sides are B sides for a reason. I might sound a little harsh but from a band who brought me To live is to Die. I expected more because they still have it in them I think to make a great album.
They made a film which if you take away the stupid story the live elements was cool but commercially was a massive flop I didn't go the cinema to be honest it wasn't for me. I downloaded eventually and watched it but that was a year after it came out.
So on they toured and played some cool venues over the following years and to headline Glastonbury was pretty cool if only to upset the apple cart. I can see the bead wearing soya milk drinking city workers spitting out there monkey poop coffee all over there keyboards over a metal band paying that upper class wank fest. This always makes me smile when I think about it.
Moving forward to this year we found there was going to be a new album, I have mellowed with Metallica as the years have progressed so if I expect the worst then what is there to worry about when they release something I might even like it.
The first track lands called Hard Wired and you know what it's OK it's not amazing but it's not terrible and maybe I realized I am losing my anger with the band as I get older. They still sell, they still tour, and they still make more money then sense,The drums still sound a bit funny on the track but I can honestly say it's not the worst thing they have ever done.
Then I hear the second track called Moth to the flame and I actually like it. It has good riffs and it's catchy. I am one for a catchy hook and there is nothing wrong with it. It's an improvement over the last song and it did go quite far to raise my expectation for the new album.
So to answer my own question Am I looking forward to the new Metallica Album?
The answer is yes I am which is weird for me because I haven't for a very long time. Maybe I'm getting softer as I get older or maybe this time they might just do that great album and do it well.
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