Metallica - St. Anger | Regretting The Past | Rocked 

Wanna hear something funny? St. Anger went double Platinum. While Slayer, Anthrax, Dream Theater, and Motörhead don't have a platinum album in the U.S

One time my dad bought a used car and he found a St Anger CD in the CD player and before he left he asked the seller if he wanted it back and he said "nah you can keep that" I'm not even kidding and I still have that CD

Fun Fact: Even Lars Ulrich himself detests the snare drum in this album. During a Meet and Greet in 2004, Lars was jokingly demonstrating how he got the snare sound, while calling it an "abortion".

I worked in a music store when this album came out. We had so many copies of this CD returned that we had to change our policy on refunds

When you were playing the pans I thought it was real. That's a problem

"Fuck it all and no regrets!" This basically what they were saying during the recording of this album,literally.

Everyone: "St Anger is the worst Metalica album of all time" Me: Nah,Lulu is waaaay worse

all the big 4 had like an experimental slump album, Metallica had St Anger, Megadeth had Risk, Anthrax had Volume 8, and Slayer had Diabolus in Musica

"It is difficult to say there wasn't some value in the Black album" - I think that's an understatement. The black album was amazing, and it's easy to say so.

Listening to this album: "Shoot me again I ain't dead yet."

“It’s like a Rush album where they take Neil Peart, stick him in the back with a set of bongos and tell him to keep it down a bit!” My lungs can’t handle this laughter dude

Olivia Newton John’s “Physical” has not one but two guitar solos and this album has none.

8:21 I think the Grammy committee were still trying to apologize to Metallica for giving one to Jethro Tull instead of AJFA.

So I bought that album, without having heard it. Just... "OH SHIT, new Metallica." Bought it. Paid money. You're welcome, Lars.

The unnamed feelings rocks

I always thought the st. Anger album sounded like a demo tape from an early 90s rock band

Somehow I'm not shocked that St.Anger won a Grammy. I mean the Grammies kind of suck.

(breathes in) Load is really underrated (braces for impact)

Fun fact: All Within My Hands is also the name of Metallica's charity organization. Yes. Look it up.

Who's watching this again after seeing the new Todd in the Shadows video cover the same album?

You can hear them going through an identity crisis.

To be fair, I would listen to Neil Peart play a bongo for an hour.

Im really happy “The Unnamed Feeling” is actually seen as good by people. One of my favorite Metallica songs and favorite songs in general

I actually like the track "Some Kind of Monster" quite a bit. The song has a 4-minute radio edit with some better sounding drums.

There is a decent remake available on RU-vid by permission of Metallica; search for St Anger Remastered 2015. A dedicated fan re-recorded all the parts himself. It doesn't make it St Anger a great album, but it becomes listenable. No solos were added as the man behind the project felt that that was outside his scope, but it eliminates the godawful and hated snare drums, and re-engineers it.

The whole album just sounds unfinished. Like songs are just skeletons that need to be fleshed out, if that makes sense.

God... I remember when my ex-girlfriend bought me this album as a birthday present when it came out. I even said back then that, if it was ANYBODY but Metallica that put St. Anger out, it would've been received a lot better, but Metallica had a higher standard applied to them because of their previous discography.

I think Lars father said it best in some kind of monster "I think you should just press delete" 😂🤣

Thankfully, we got Death Magnetic a few years after this album.

Cmon, Why do people hate The Unforgiven II?

Metallica was *this* close to breaking up while they made this album with Newstead having enough of the juvenile hazing, James' addiction issues, and the Napster blowback. I wonder what Mr. Rocked thinks about the Echobrain album that came out around this time--the band that Newstead joined. I remember buying it and digging some of it, but losing the disc somewhere.

No One: Metallica:KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL

To each their own opinion, I guess. I heard James say with sadness in his voice, after performing St. Anger live by request, that it is a "misunderstood album." I couldn't agree more!

Even Sabaton took a small jab at this in one of their metal tribute songs 'Is this St Anger the Ultimate Sin' - Sabaton: Metal Machine

After Jason “fOkInG LeFt ThE bAnD” Lars “little danish friend “ Ulrich became some kind of monster and he prays to st anger to this day

Me who actually really enjoys St. Anger: *ok then*

People have to understand that Anger isn't pretty.

I don't hate this album at all, yeah it's not the best metallica album by any means but it's not the worst thing I've heard. My main critique id that the album is too long, most of the songs go nowhere and offer no more variety after 2 or 3 minutes, if they would've shaved off like 20 minutes it would've been better (and they could've rearranged the songs so that Kirk could put his solos in). The drum sound has never really bothered me, even though that is the main reason why people hate this album, I think Lars' drumming was pretty awesome on this record. In my opinion I don't think this album is bad, I still like to blast it through my speakers once in a while.

This album sounds like Metallica got no sleep, been Drunk since noon and did all of this over a Skype call with little editing.

I knew a guy in college whose favorite song of all time was St. Anger. Needless to say I haven't spoken to him in YEARS

Oh god. This album is so bad that I've seen Metallica "complete discography" torrents that don't include it. That's right, people who pirate all their music don't want this album FOR FREE. I bought this album the same week I bought "Hotel Paper" by Michelle Branch. That album is an infinitely better rock album. And for those who don't know who she is, she's one of those female singer-songwriters who's work balances on the edge of where pop and rock meet. That album was mostly meant to appeal to teenage girls, and you know what? I still listen to it. I haven't bothered listening to anything from St. Anger in years. Someone played "Frantic" at work and it pissed me off for like half an hour. I have admittedly broad and weird musical tastes. :P

“If snare city would calm it down it the back” - that line killed me! 🤣

I've got a fever and the only cure is more snare drum.

What is wrong with Load and ReLoad ? C'mon , man. Those two albums actualy got me into Metallica back in a days. And I still love them

Lmao it ain't as bad as lulu

I actually enjoyed your Pots and Pans drumming.

I actually like this album, its not my favorite but i liked it alot

I can't understand how that was the snare sound they went with. They could at least have tuned it to a pitch that would complement the rest of the instrumentation. No damping, gating or anything, just: PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! PING! It's like they layered the snare with a propane tank. Disgusting.

While I consider St. Anger one of my favorites lyrically, I can say I honestly agree with this review. You really hit the nail on the head on why this album is worth regretting. I listened to Dirty Window the other day and I had to turn the volume down on my phone to the first bar just to get through it, and I still felt my head hurting. However, I still somehow to manage to find pleasure in listening to Frantic, St. Anger, and Shoot Me Again. The Unnamed Feeling is definitely the gem of this album. I did enjoy this review though, and other reviews you have done. Keep doing what you do man. As a small request, I'm hoping you could review Life Screams from Lacey Sturm. Other than that, your videos rock. :)

Load and Reload are great albums it's just too bad there's too much filler in them. If you had some songs from Load and some from Reload in one album it would have been amazing. Load having King Nothing, Poor Twisted Me, The House Jack Built, Hero of the Day, Bleeding Me, Until It Sleeps, Mama Said, The Outlaw Torn, and Ain't My Bitch and Reload having Fuel, Better Than You, Devil's Dance, Where the Wild Things Are, The Memory Remains, The Unforgiven II, Low Man's Lyric, and Fixxxer

Why does everyone hate St.Anger it is one of their best albums with some awesome sounding songs like The unnamed feeling sweet amber and dirty window

I still remember listening to Jason Ellis on Sirius one day, back when he was on Faction, and had to play music at his breaks. This one show, he played "Invisible Kid" in a break, and about half way through the song, cut it off and started ripping it to shreds. And he's a total Metallica fan too, which made it even funnier

Meh... Load and ReLoad are great rock albums. Metalheads hate them, because they are traditionally genre-racist, but i know several people who mostly listen to blues and soul, and they all love those albums. Especially songs like Bleeding Me, Fixxxer and Low man's lyric. I also love St.Anger. I can see why many people don't, i really do, but at the same time all those reasons are included in the ones that make me love it. I used to play drums, and the album is full of songs that i just loved to play. I can remember playing St.Anger countless times with my friends, and shouting out the vocals from behind the drums while giving them an absolute trashing. Also the best album ever to have on as workout music. I know my opinions might be in the minority, but im sure not alone with them.

Oh, Metallica. They went from Master of Puppets to this. Well, at least we had Death Magnetic and Hardwired...to Self Destruct. Here's what I think about St. Anger.

All Within My Hands is dope acoustically. The Unnamed Feeling is the best track. Dirty Window is fun to sing. The rest can go away.

I like St. Anger. I don't give a shit what anybody says about it.

St. Anger is undoubtedly the worst album in Metallica's catalogue, but it's still got some decent songs on it. It's amazing that they went with such raw, underproduced sound, when Bob Rock's biggest strength was (quite frankly) amazing production values and album sound. In fact I wish Death Magnetic, as great an album as it is, would have had Bob Rock's, NOT Rick Rubin's finishing touches on it, because it would have sounded a lot better. There are some very good songs on St. Anger, most specifically Frantic, The Unnamed Feeling, and Sweet Amber. All Within My Hands also would have been a great song, IF they had recorded the acoustic arrangement they did live at one of their charity shows. THAT version of the song is amazing. All in all, it was a letdown of an album, but for me, as a Metallica fan, it oddly came along at the "right time" in my life, as well. Something in James' lyrical themes of the time seemed to fit where I was in my own life. Regardless, even fans of the album would be hard-pressed to argue against the fact that it should have been better. Also, I'd like to point out that, at least in my own fan estimation, the rhetoric that Metallica got "bad" in the 90s, is both false and unwarranted. Yes, they did shed their 80s thrash sound. But the thing is, they DID the thrash thing, four epic, bad ass albums' worth. They arguably did thrash better than anyone else on the planet, they wrote the "book" on thrash metal. So, one could easily argue (as I'm sure they themselves would and did), that as artists they did not want to repeat themselves, and wanted to venture into other territory. The "Black Album" is one of the best metal albums ever recorded, period. My personal favorite is "...And Justice For All", but Black is right up there. It's still incredibly heavy, and one thing about 90s Metallica, is that James ventures into some very dark, more intense and sometimes personal lyrical content. Some of his best lyrics are from the 90s albums, and songs like "The Unforgiven", "Sad But True" and "Nothing Else Matters" exemplify that. As for the infamous Load and Reload? Yeah, people claimed they "sold out", they cried because the band cut their hair, and once against shifted styles. But the thing is.....those are STILL heavy metal albums, and what's more, they STILL feature some really incredible music. The thing many thrash purists ignore, is that those albums really hearken back to the kind of music that Metallica themselves grew up listening to, 70s arena rock, southern rock, prog rock, and heavy metal bands. There is a LOT of that in there, as well as Kirk's growing blues influences (he was learning from Satriania for a bi there). They aren't Thrash, no, and they DO have dumb names/covers, granted. But Load and Reload still have a LOT of really great music on them.

Can I ask an honest/weird question?: Why do people hate Load/ReLoad so much? I mean, I get that there's a clear difference between 80s & 90s Metallica sounds, but those albums definitely have some gems. I get there's also a lot of filler, but King Nothing, Fuel, Memory Remains, Cure & Fixxxer I all remember pretty fondly (I also liked how weird/unique Where the Wild Things Are was, and a solo could've really made it a sleeper hit). Are they really considered terrible albums? Or are they just sub-par? Or is it just a 80s/90s Metallica sound split-type thing? Or a mix the 3 lol

As much as the flack for this album is deserved, i did grow a much deeper appreciation for this album while i was going through some really tough times myself and battled a lot with depression and anxiety. This album is great for when you're in such a mood because it perfectly displays those emotions in the songwriting. It's imperfect, aggressive, raw, angry and has a lot of pent up emotions inside it just like what i was going through at the time. Songs like Frantic, St. Anger, Dirty Window, Sweet Amber & The Unnamed Feeling are great highlights of this album. Especially live with much better audio quality.

As a recent fan (finally took the plunge after decades of ignoring), it was good to watch "Some Kind of Monster" documentary to understand the story behind this album. Jason Newstead leaving in 2001 felt like the ill-fated tragedy of Cliff, forcing the three to face the grief that was not fully healed. James Hetfield seems distant and uninterested. He took indefinite vacations, further extended by his rehab. When he returned, he had a strict 8am-5pm work sked. Kirk Hammett grudgingly accepted the no-guitar solo policy during recording. That was a lot of character especially as one of the greatest axemen of his time. The docu exposed the ego and power tripping of Lars Ulrich, and a huge reason the album was dominated by repetitive snare drumming, putting two great guitarists into the backseat. When I first saw the album on the record store, I told myself "Oh, they're still around." Sorry James, but it is their version of Bon Jovi's "Crush." The inevitable decline (especially artistic creativity), losing Jason, reopened wounds caused by Cliff's death, loss of fire and urgency, and already achieving fame and money are perhaps contributing factors St. Anger ain't that fun. Intentional or not, the album's music was seemed influenced by rap metal dominance of early 2000s, instead as antithesis like what they did in the 80s. This is Bob Rock's final collaboration. In retrospect, this album served as glue (or reason) to soldier on and acquire Rob Trujillo as Metallica's current and longest-tenured bassist. Otherwise, according "To Live is To Die" book, Lars said he sees himself producing films, James playing country music in Tennessee, and Kirk joining mentor Joe Satriani's touring band.

St. anger was the first metallica album i ever owned and I loved it. I guess it's because i didnt have any expectations that I wasn't dissapointed.

The main reason I think this album turns people off is because it is essentially just a grown man throwing his emotions onto record, unfiltered and unrestrained. I don't enjoy the musical aspect of this album (Lars' drumming, man...) but lyrically it resonates with me. You never really hear fully grown men spurting all this stuff onto record in such a raw and uncontrolled way. I think if it had good song writing it could well have been their best album conceptually (probably not musically, but I can't say). Certainly some of the lyrics are god awful, but James wasn't really going for a fan pleaser with this record (and we know that only too well). Watching Some Kind of Monster helped to show me that there's a lot of context behind this album that we forget about as fans, even if it is Metallica's weakest effort. Other than that, I agree with what you said. The songwriting is not up to par and Lars needed a proper kit.

Here's my opinion on St. Anger's songs: -Frantic: It's okay I guess, not bad at all. -St. Anger: Cool riffs, but I feel like the main riff was overused around the end of the song. -Some Kind of Monster: Not really a great song, but again, it has some nice riffs, specially near the end. -Dirty Window: It's got a really cool rhythm and the drum patter, althought it's very basic, it has its charm. I personally don't mind the change of pace in the ''I'm Judge and I'm Jury'' part -Invisible Kid: First, I got blown away by the tuning of this song, it's in Drop G#. Second, the riff is also good but simple. The lyrics are good aswell. -My World: Again (and this is a recurring theme in this album) it's got a nice bunch of riffs, however the lyrics are kind of confusing (maybe it's about not letting yourself be manipulated by other people?) -Shoot me Again: It's got a fairly simple riff but I personally like it, it also has a groovy feeling to it. -Sweet Amber: Personally one of my favorites of this album, it's got a nice riff aswell and the drums really seem to match the songs feeling. -The Unnamed Feeling: This song, it's honestly one of my favorite Metallica songs ever. It matches the overall feeling of the album, and it takes it to a whole new level, it's got everything, cool riffs, meaningful lyrics, nice drums, it's an overall extremely good structured song. -Purify: I think Metallica slipped on this one, it's not really a good song, it's a complete mess. -All Within My Hands: Metallica also slipped on this one, although it's intentional (because of the ending, no one would ever end an album like that if it's not intentional) pretty dark feeling to this song. St. Anger is overall an okay album, but it's definitely got some gems. One could say it's a very misunderstood album. When you feel like shit, like you want to kill someone (pun intended) this album really helps to calm down. In my opinion, it's a therapy album, both for Metallica themselves and for other people.

I’ve always had a soft spot for this album. Are there problems with it? Absolutely. The crushing length, the lack of solos, and the sub-par production. Funny enough, I’m in the minority of people that actually enjoyed the sound of the snare a lot on this record, but the reason why everyone hates it, is because of how poorly the snare drum is mixed. There are definitely some underrated and under-appreciated riffs and songs on here, and it’s criminal to me that they get overlooked. Frantic, Sweet Amber, and Dirty Window all are solid tracks on their own, and then we get to The Unnamed Feeling. The Unnamed Feeling is easily one of my favorite songs that Metallica has ever released simply because of how raw and genuine it comes off. Hell, I’d even argue that it’s one of the most genuine songs that James Hetfield has ever wrote in his entire career. As someone that suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, and all of the anxiety that comes with it, whenever I’m at a rough point in my life, I listen to The Unnamed Feeling, and it captures mental anxiety and stress perfectly. I’d strongly recommend giving it a listen whenever you’re going through a bad situation. That said, this album makes a lot more sense when you watch the documentary, Some Kind Of Monster. It shows everything that the band was going through at the time, and how they were on the verge of collapse. After seeing that, and THEN listening to this album in it’s entirety, it starts to make more sense. In conclusion, as a subscriber of Rocked since I was in 8th grade, and I just recently graduated high school. I do have some criticisms of this review, but I overall enjoyed it and Luke’s comedy definitely gave me a quite a few laughs. Although this is a comment that’s almost five years late, I’m hoping someone takes the time to read this. Cheers.

I am a Metallica fan, but I do have a soft spot for St. Anger. I can see why people dislike the album, but there are those, like me, who like it. I don't find it a big deal that people hate it. Like you said, not everything our favorite band is going to release is going to be guaranteed to be amazing. I look at St. Anger as somewhat of an experiment. It wasn't the biggest success ever, but hey, they tried something. I did laugh a bit at this, keep up the good work and you have earned a subscriber.

You can mock me with everything you have and can get but I like this album, like all songs ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Come on i know you want to comment

Only a metallica Fanatic would think was a good album. People who know music realize the band just mailed it in with this effort.

If the drums weren’t so damn bad this would’ve been halfway decent

St. Anger isn't a bad album. It's very decent actually, if not at the same level of Metallica's other albums. The problem is that it came from a band the caliber of Metallica. If this album came from any other band, it would be instantly labeled a classic and their best album ever. Also, call me crazy, but I love Lars's garbage can snare!

If you haven't checked out the fairly recent "re-record" from #STANGER2015, you should. They kept every riff and piece of St. Anger, but completely re-recorded it with more conventional production values and they trimmed a lot of the repeats on the riffs, making the album 15 minutes shorter. Cleaned up like this, it's become one of my favorites!

"We all know that Lars knows how to play very well" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA no

Hot take: Frantic could have worked as a System of a Down song. They know how to make weird and wacky shit that goes in several different directions

Well now that you covered Metallica's bad album, you could review Megadeth's bad album: Risk

"in 2004, St Anger the song won a Grammy for best metal performance" Hum, I wonder if in 2004, some albums with better songs came out... Amon Amarth - Fate of Norns Dio - Master of the Moon DragonForce - Sonic Firestorm Exodus - Tempo of the Damned Megadeth - The System Has Failed Motörhead - Inferno Rammstein - Reise, Reise Maybe... ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME AMERICA ?

Ah yes, the album where Metallica and sellouts were always in the same sentence. Bad times....

Load and reload have some good stuff, and are starting to get some more appreciation. Not sure if st. Anger will

Huge fan of Metallica, and I like St. Anger (big surprise). But I enjoyed it more after I saw Some Kind of Monster documentary and read the book one of the directors of that movie wrote about the production. It's important to remember the rough times they went through (yeah yeah, I know, boo hoo, poor multi-millionairs and their problems). I see it as a phase, and we got something out of it. We got a refreshed Metallica ready for the road with a new, amazingly talented bassist. They got rid of Bob Rock, for better and for worse (mostly better). And we got Death Magnetic down the (end of the) line, which is a kick-ass, back-to-the-roots album with the guys we know from the 80's. But a good review, I agree about the terrible drums, they are aweful. But there exists a version of some kind of monster with regular drums, if you haven't heard it, check it out! I think it's the single-version of the song.

"Shoot Me Again" Sounds like James is doing his best Les Claypool impression

I heard the world premiere of St. Anger on KROQ in LA. I thought they had played a demo and thought, “that’s cool of Metallica to pre-release a demo.” 15-year-old me was in for a rude awakening

My 11 year old self was even dissapointed at this, it came out on my birthday that year, it blew chunks

I was 5 when this came out in 2003, my dad being a huge Metallica fan he bought it and hated it, but as a kid I didn't know any better, and hell I liked it then and still do. But Justice is my favorite album by them.

I can probably play drums like that.

I believe that the reason the album is bad is because Metallica needed to stop people from illegally downloading their music, and making a bad album was seen as a way to do exactly that.

When I first heard this album I was like a Star Wars fan after seeing The Phantom Menace for the first time, in other words very deluded in a very sad way. How can a Metallica Album suck? I opened my eyes and ears, eventually and realised the truth St. Anger sucks.

I couldn't even get through this review of the album, let alone get through the album.

You deserve so many more views man...

This would be a decent album if it were from, let's say, some up and coming younger band. I could be fine with it. But coming from Metallica, it raises sooo many questions that it gets in the way of me fully enjoying it.

This album is real-life satire. I remember back in the day when a colleague at work played me a song from this album and told me how much he liked the album, and me laughing heartily for almost half an hour. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.

I really don't know how you intentionally put yourself through this type of stuff... You're a better man than I

I gotta say, I really love Sweet Amber. It's a good song. Pretty much the only good part of this album.

I love St. Anger. To me it's a matter of appreciating the artists personal development as opposed to wanting the artists to stay addicited and depressed, just so they can make the same music over and over again. People need to understand that the artists aren't pets and they can do whatever they feel like, and if you feel the vibe of the album (every element included) it's an album where Metallica and James in particular gets very real.

We all shit on St Anger when it came out, but you know what? After all these years, its the one i listen to most. Not saying it's good, just saying the songs aged well for me i guess.

The pot & pan drum rhythm sounded better than anything on st. anger.

The problem with the snare is not the over-usage of it. It is the tone of the snare. Actually, the thing is, this album doesn't even use an actual "snare". It uses the snare drum with the snare turned off and this is why the drums sound the way they do (well, I'm sure it also has to do with the way the drums are tuned). Somebody posted St. Anger with "normal" drum sounds and it sounded just fine. So the problem is not in the drumming, it's in the sounds. I think the drum sound actually fits some of the songs, but it just gets tiring when you hear it all the time in every single song. And it's not just the drum sounds, it's pretty much the overall sound quality that I don't like. But the drum sound is the most obvious part of the overall sound that sucks. I like Frantic. I think it's the strongest track on the album. I didn't get the same feeling from it as you. I actually think it's a bit too repetitive for a 6 minute song. It doesn't progress enough to justify the length. I think it sounds like a coherent song. I really don't even remember many things from this album. There are three songs that I think were pretty good and memorable - Frantic, The Unnamed Feeling and the title track. But the problem with the title track is the same as the problem with Frantic - it's too long and doesn't progress enough. If they were a bit shorter, they would actually be pretty good songs. I still think they are decent tracks and I don't think they even need guitar solos (then again, a whole album lacking guitar solos from a band that is known for having guitar solos on every track is a bit too much). I don't understand why you feel that Frantic and the title track are going to different directions all the time. I think they are pretty coherent songs and as I said, they actually progress too little to justify the length of the songs. I feel more like there's no direction. The songs start just fine but after a couple of minutes they don't really go anywhere. They could have taken some of the ideas a bit further or maybe shortened the songs. When it comes to the double tempo vs half tempo thing, that's just contrast. Listen to Disposable Heroes and it's basically the same thing (changing between double tempo and half tempo). I think if they had released the album a couple of years later, it would have been better. To me it just felt unfinished. It was like garage demos/jams released as a full album. Well, maybe that's the feeling they were after? But yeah Metallica has made some other strange choices too - the mixing on AJFA, the change of style on Load, the sounds on Death Magnetic, Lulu as a whole, and the movie they made a couple of years ago.

80s, 90s and 2008 Metallica: Thrash Metal and Heavy Metal 2003 Metallica: System Of a Down

I like St Anger. Not as much as the rest of Metallica but St Anger isnt as terrible as people like to say it is.

6:01 "Lars" "Play" And "Very Well" can't be used in one sentence.

you should review Weezer's Raditude. Fucking horrible garbage.

I admit I really didn't like St Anger, but it wasn't that bad. It was just different. And I loved Load and Reload. But come on, if Metallica just kept putting out Master of Puppets, you would've hated that too.

I really like that in one of Sabaton's tribute songs, they called St. Anger for the ultimate sin