I was interested, more so to finally experience the Sphere and its a band I enjoy. But Im not paying $2k for flight, hotel, ticket to see Metallica. I saw them last year in Philly and that was enough. 4 times in 2 decades works for me. Would rather spend $2k for a week long tropical vacation at an all inclusive resort.
Yea I looked for shits and giggles Friday but they were all either sold out or had a horrific queue. Bot nightmare.
About damn time but after being asked by a buddy and my brother to learn a couple of their early songs on guitar together, I decided to go through my first full discography run. Don’t know why it took me so long! The only albums I had heard in the last 20+ years were Black Album, St Anger, Death Magnetic and S&M. Immediate feelings are I’ve been missing out hard. Their 80s run is really incredible. Didn’t realize how many songs or riffs I already knew, I just didn’t assign them to Metallica. I’d say my favorite release from that period is a tie between Ride The Lightning and And Justice For All. James sounds so young on Kill Em All, it felt jarring at first but I quickly got used to it! Afterwards, it gets a bit patchy for me. I heard Black Album so much as a kid that, as nostalgic as revisiting it was, I did feel some tiredness from its length. That occurred with pretty much all the following releases, maybe sans Hardwired. Don’t have much to say about Load and Reload. I appreciate the switch up to a bluesy, grungy style but a good chunk of that era blends together. Does have some highlights though. I’ll try coming up with my selected, condensed tracklist further down the line. Still believe there’s a solid 35-40 mins alt metal release hidden under St Anger, but in that form it’s such a bloated mess. I was never that bothered by the production, it’s in the songwriting where the biggest issues lie in: the extended length, the insane amount of repetition in the song structures and some of the written at first pass like lyrics make it sound like I’m listening to early jam sessions rather than songs in their finished state. It was tough to resist skipping to the next song once I got enough of the current one. That said, I may be biased because it was their new release when I first got into them, but I still think it contains some iconic riffs. Have fond memories of Death Magnetic’s era and, even though this time I didn’t like it as much as I did back then, tunes like Cyanide, That Was Just Your Life and The End Of The Line still slap. Like the past previous releases, it overstays its welcome again. I wish it leaned a bit more into thrash than the slower post-Black Album pace. Hardwired was the biggest surprise. I’d say I got what I wanted from its predecessor. It seems to go through each iteration of their sound, and the band as a whole feels more energized and inspired than they had in a long time at that point. Still would’ve benefited from cutting a couple songs but other than that, it’s easily my favorite album after their 80s heydays. Didn’t really feel 72 Seasons though. I’ll have to spend more time with it but I felt like I was listening to one long song. The lack of variety and a strong feeling of « haven’t they already done this? » really hurt it. Lulu was… interesting. There was probably something there. At least they stepped outside the box for a moment, but I can’t say that was an enjoyable listen front to back as a whole. I’ll have to check out Lou’s discography asap.
Good post. I'm with you on the Black Album and Hardwired, really enjoy the latter. 72 Seasons is alright, Lux Aeterna and Too Far Gone are my picks because of their short length. I don't understand why they still insist on doing 7 minute songs that don't have any progressive structure or separate movements such as their pre- Black album work when the shorter songs are so much better.