I don't see why people blame Bob Rock so much, he made the quality of The Black Album amazing. The drums and guitars sound incredible. And it may not be 'Thrash' but its still fantastic music. I feel the same about Load and Reload also, it's not 'Original Metallica' but that doesn't stop it from being great music.
As a kid I was so confused that I wasn't supposed to like the Black Aluminum and was my first gatekeeper experience. I was like did you listen to side B it's amazing. Then would get made fun of. Now Load and Re-Load came out and in my 12" Kickers it was a thundering album. However it took me several years to go back an revisit the those two albums to really appreciate what was going on. The Load style, makeup etc was just too much for us younger fans and the old school Kill'em All crowds. If the visual images were left out of that album it really would have hit different. We as fans felt like we had a kinship with the band, they went to summer camp one year and came back all kinds of not right visually that didn't relate to their fan base whatsoever. But that's was their journey and ours as fans was just different then. We were struggling in life not picking out eyeliner. Ya know.
The Black album was great because they woke up and got a producer to help realize another side of Metallica. They had already done a no bass frequency album "Justice" and writing this from the perspective of a musician they needed to step out of their comfort zone to really push them into new territory, which is what Bob Rock helped them achieve.
I've always appreciated that Jason takes a level of responsibility for the bass on Justice. He was new to the band and hadn't fully integrated yet (you could argue they never 100% fully integrated him, leading to his departure), and was used to bass largely doubling the guitar parts. And then on the production end, with how the guitars were recorded and mixed, there wasn't a lot of room for bass on the record. And whatever room there was, it got pushed out by Lars and James. A really unfortunate confluence of factors
i think this was recorded after the summer sanitarium tour, ended on 9th August. Maybe late August or early September and Jason made the decision on 27th September, 14 years after Cliff’s death. In this documentary, Jason started handing out CDs of Echobrain music but James was not happy and they argumented about it, so everything started in these interviews. After that, Jason only played at the VH1 Music Awards and on 30th November
I don't understand how people can't not like the black album. When I was like 6-7-8, can't quite remember, but Master of Puppets was the first tape I ever bought. So Master of Puppets will always be my favourite, and And Justice for All was my second which is right up there with Master of Puppets. I just find the black album also one of those that has no bad songs, and every song is instantly recognizable from the first guitar lick or drum hit. It's a classic. Sadly I can't really say that for anything after this album.
I think they more than made up for Jason's lack of bass in Justice with this album. Just listen to the beginning of sandman, and the bass just slaps you in the face. It is a wonderful sound
It’s more than just the bass. It’s the first Metallica album that sounded like it wasn’t recorded in a garage on speed. It was sonically powerful, the vocals are approaching actual singing , it’s a live band. And I’m not a fan of Metallica but the production on black is undeniable. I still don’t listen to Metallica….
My favorite memories of working for Classic Albums was recording Metallica in the studio doing Enter Sandman, so freaking loud! Crazy energy happening, remember this was before Jason left and Some Kind of Monster. Lars still owes me $350 for breaking my mic.
I never will understand why I've seen so many people say that when Metallica made the black album, they sold out. The general consensus is they abandoned their fast heavy/ thrash sound that was born from Kill em' All and Ride the Lightning. That is simply not true the whole album, every song is absolutely Miraculous. Now the Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters are not thrash but more ballads but still two of the best songs ever made. At the same time their best song Fade to Black was also a ballad type along with Welcome Home Sanitarium but Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets are regarded as their best, which, I do somewhat agree. My point is people say they sold out on the Black album but the truth is, it embodies every aspect that makes Metallica the brilliant music force they are. It has heavy riffs mixed with beautiful melodic interludes, beautiful/fast shredding solos and of course wicked cool lyrics. My conclusion is the Black album is Metallica's best masterpiece and EVERY SINGLE SONG is truly amazing. It is rare to go buy an album and every song on it are all hit songs. Most of the time an artists album has one or two hits that is the main reason for its sales. Long live Metallica.. They are my favorite and probably THE most successful metal band in history.. \m/\m/\m/\m/\m/\m/\m/\m/\m/\m/\…/\…/\…/\…/\…/\…/\…/\…/\…/\…/
Totally agree, it may not be their heaviest album, but it's just their greatest master piece. For the Black Album James actually learned how to properly sing (he said it. He'd lost his voice and a cantor helped him get it back and taught him singing techniques and how to sing harmonies, listen to the soft parts of The Unforgiven or Nothing else matters) The lyrics of those songs are really great and have a great meaning (just like most Metallica's greatest songs: One, Master, Fade to Black, etc..) personally to me The Unforgiven is their greatest song ever, what a perfect master piece and the lyrics, uuuh, listen to them and analyze.
Yes finally someone who knows good music when they hear it.. Can you believe the Black album is considered anything less than great!? I can't man it is incredible..
I say this as a heavy metal and blues guitar player.. Yet so many fucks say Kirk Hammett sucks at guitar.. To me, that is as bad as someone saying jimmy page sucks..
I love the Metallica fans they are the best most normal and intelligent men not freaks goth or in strange outfits !!! I am just very honestly really fascinated by simple not weirded-out music that's the classiest and coveys energy and brain
The Black Album may not be their heaviest album, but it's just their greatest master piece. For the Black Album James actually learned how to properly sing (he said it. He'd lost his voice and a cantor helped him get it back and taught him singing techniques and how to sing harmonies, listen to the soft parts of The Unforgiven or Nothing else matters) The lyrics of those songs are really great and have a great meaning (just like most Metallica's greatest songs: One, Master, Fade to Black, etc..) personally to me The Unforgiven is their greatest song ever, what a perfect master piece and the lyrics, uuuh, listen to them and analyze.
One of my favorite things to do to kill time is to watch this video of the black album, then Some kind of Monster, then the making of Hardwired. To see the turmoil of the band and the growth and everything. Awesome.
Can also include the making of the Black Album (A Year and A Half In The Life Of Metallica), the making of Load, and the making of Death Magnetic in there too.
Absolutely amazing album. Yet somehow it's my least favorite of all their albums. For me, nothing will ever top Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning.
the black album to me seems like a slowed down version of Justice with better production, the drums and guitars do sound similar if you listen carefully
I dont give a fuck what anyone says,as a Fan of the 'Old Metallica' I say, that this album contains the best distorted guitar sound ever created by a human being.What makes this album special is that most of its songs contain a medium pace and the 'wall of guitar' just smashes u in the face.This wouldnt be so if the guitars were ploughing thru at 300 kmph per se.This s a masterpiece and the closest anyone s come to this menacing tone is Jeff Loomis on the 'Dead heart in a Dead world' album.
The black album is produced and mixed well, I just never thought the song writing was that great. Not bad but not great. I LOVED and justice for all! The song writing, the sound, the drumming, the speed... I remember sophomore year of high school buying the new black album and wanting to like it so much, but being kind of disappointed. It's still very nostalgic to me.
And Kirk is making a mistake somewhere. He said in his guitar center interview that he wrote creeping death at 16 yrs old. At least where they say "die! Die! Die!"
Justice is amazing despite the sonic garbage disposal. To be honest, that quality felt right for the theme of the album. From Jason's difficult integration to the band, the massive impact it had on the other three from Cliff's death and the whole theme of grief, unfairness and self destruction? I think it was meant to be that way. I wouldn't want it any other way as it had a massive impact to me as a music lover and musician.
No but out their peripheral they can see the dot markers on the guitar so they know where their fingers,and actually they do occasionally look down at those dots.
That was exactly why we all loved AJFA, it was solely made and produced by James and Lars!! Unadulterated!! Burnstein and Bob basically whored out Metallica... Took good musicians and put em in a modern machine = the concept of them selling out. Because of bob Rock, their egos got a hold of them. Maybe they should have just stayed a garage band....
AJFA just doesn't do it for me. Idk what it is but the way the riffs go about just don't seem to follow a distinctive pattern. One and to live is to die are the only two songs that I enjoy. The first 3 albums are my favorite.
then came load -.- its just a big fall down to them damn it aint bad if u would look at it but if u knew their metallica WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT damn I guess they are not afraid to try
Really? Bob Rock wrote all the songs for the Black Album? Huh. News to me. Props to him. I thought he came in to produce the album after the songs were mostly written already. Ahh you thrash purists amuse me. Guess you never paid attention to James' interviews after "Justice" and how he wanted to change the direction of the band.
I figured out why lars is such a terrible drummer!!! He says it himself in this video. "It was all about not fucking up, it was very stiff". He needs to go back to that stiffness and grounding. He lets the music "carry him", he needs to go back to that, "I can't fuck up!" Attitude so he becomes a better drummer.
they simply dont have the footage. this movie was intended to be released before they started recording the album, hence them having camera men in the studio with them lol. i agree i would really love to see making of MoP or Justice, but it just wont happen
the black album has some good songs,but come on,if your gonna do a classic album documentry or whatever about metallica, its got to be master of puppets
I don't know... I think Death Magnetic sounds very bad. The production is the thing that makes me consider it a mediocre album. Saying that I love Rick's work with Slayer, but he simply don't fits Metallica.
The origins of the Sandman's riff is here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yWHlr3U_s8Q.html That album where it is, was given to Metallica guys in '88.
Think we figured what went wrong... they used to be hard on themselves to be super tight in their performances, meaning being on top of your playing... and Lars stopped working that hard for awhile after the Black Album
Not at all, Watch 1994 gigs and 1995 , even on Load and Reload he is creative and tight as fuck. by 1989, to mid 90's his back beat became better in the bounce. And he could still unleash the double kick and thrash stuff
They got fat and happy. Give a musician a million dollars and they’re going to prefer doing drugs and socializing to playing for fans that don’t care for the most part anyway. Most people can’t discern between a good and bad rock show. It’s a small number of people who truly appreciate music.
