Metallica

[Krazy]

James' lyrics are laughable. Normally that can be ignored in metal, but some of the lines are given such a showcase in parts of the song that you can't help but focus on how goofy they are. Especially from an intelligent older man like James, with a history of great lyrics in the (distant) past. Bummer.

I never thought he would top "My lifestyle... determines my death style". Here we are- ouch.

Decent tune musically for sure.

[mrselfdestruct94]

Solid song, it's short, sweet, and to the point; a thrasher that leaves you wanting more. It's a strong single, and I'm looking forward to the album.

[Space Suicide]

I never thought he would top "My lifestyle... determines my death style". Here we are- ouch.

Decent tune musically for sure.

We're so fucked, shit out of luck.

[onthewall2983]

It's prescient social commentary.

[henryeatscereal]

Decent track, at least it seems we aren't dealing with another St. Anger here (trying to be optimistic here...), lyrics are cheesy but so are most of the lyrics from "kill em' all" and i don't hear anyone complaining...

[bobbie solo]

Yes, and then James grew as a lyricist for years and years, and then regressed dramatically after Load/Reload (the lyrics are not the problem with those releases). And he's getting worse.

[onthewall2983]

[Jon]

If it's 80 minutes, couldn't they have trimmed off 60 seconds somewhere and put it on a single disc?

Please no, not interested in repeating what happened to "Outlaw Torn".

[elevenism]

well goddamn, i didn't expect the boys to ever go back to playing actual speed metal.

Now that i'm 36 and not 14, i'm not as into it, but goddamn, that new track is fairly impressive.

I had to listen to Blackened afterwards, and Battery.

BA-TU-RAY!!!!

[Jinsai]

I'm surprised by the negative response. This isn't my genre really, and I'm not a huge Metallica fan... never really was. But this is the best sounding thing they've put out since Master of Puppets. Yeah, the drums are fucking loud and in your face, but they sit in the mix properly and finally sound good and aggressively heavy. I've disagreed with some producer friends about the tone of the guitars, but I think it sounds pretty classic heavy. Everything sounds great in this track except for Hetfield's vocals... I'm not just talking about the lyrics, which are predictable, but I don't care about lyrics in most metal music. It's just... They could have made this a complete shocker by distorting his vocals and dropping them in the mix a bit, especially for the verses.

It's the heaviest song from a mainstream band in ages. Not sure why people are so turned off by it.

[onthewall2983]

Drums are never too loud for me, as long as you can hear everything else fine.

[Vertigo]

Can't agree with that. Satellite's drums are the main reason I wish we had Hesitation Marks multitracks.

[onthewall2983]

[Krazy]

Huh... Didn't know they were playing shows.

I agree reed with just about everything Jinsai said, other than the Master of Puppets comment- Justice was fantastic.

More i I listen the more it sounds like a Slayer song, minus the lyrics/singing... I mean that in a positive way. Hoping the upcoming release is at least better than Death Magnetic, not looking for anything ground breaking or great or timeless from them anymore.

[ziltoid]

I never seen this before let alone any footage with Cliff playing at all. It's just breath taking to see him play live with the band.




I don't mind the new song it's not terrible and not excellent. In my opinion they got nowhere to go but up at this point.

[Shadaloo]

I feel like there's an entire generation of people out there now who just grew up hearing Metallica lambasted as a bad joke of a band and the living, go-to example of 'selling out' and/or losing credibility, hence most of whatever backlash comes whenever they do anything new. While perhaps it's not entirely unmerited, I can't say I always find it fair.

Yeah, Lars is a little shit but the band's good output far and away eclipses their bad. I'm nowhere near the fan I was in my early teenage years, but I'll always give whatever they put out a shot. As long as the music's good I could care less about the band politics.

Load and Reload, while flawed here and there, get way too much of a bad rep, and Death Magnetic is a decent album; the Guitar Hero 3 mix is the only way to go to listen to it, however.

St Anger and Lulu are the only things I'd describe as staggeringly awful. I can't hate these guys; they introduced me to Motorhead, ffs.

[bobbie solo]

Huh... Didn't know they were playing shows.

I think they got offered a gazillion dollars to be the first event happening at the new football stadium in Minneapolis.

[richardp]

I think they got offered a gazillion dollars to be the first event happening at the new football stadium in Minneapolis.

Yup from what I've heard, they as a band are or were pretty far down in the hole financially, so they've been taking any offer they get. Hence the random X-Games concert and all the weird private corporate shows.

[bobbie solo]

Yup from what I've heard, they as a band are or were pretty far down in the hole financially, so they've been taking any offer they get. Hence the random X-Games concert and all the weird private corporate shows.

Metallica have been taking a lot of risks the last few years, and it looks like those risks are catching up with them financially. The band themselves admitted that their self-curated Orion Festival was a financial disaster and their movie, Through the Never tanked. Now, a new report from The Weeklings claims the band has lost more money than they have been bringing in since 2010.
The article interviews Paul Brannigan and Ian Winwood who just wrote a new biography on the band, Into The Black, and in tracking the band's expenses, he can't see how they're pulling any money in currently:

“Well, over the past five years Metallica have embarked upon a variety of vanity projects that haven’t exactly brought home the bacon. By their own admission, the two stagings of the Orion festival were disastrous financially, and the shambles that was the Through The Never movie cost $32 million and will only recoup a fraction of that amount. Factor in HQ staff salaries, crew retainers and assorted running costs associated with maintaining an entertainment corporation and you can easily understand why the band – of necessity now rather than by choice – are driven to tour Europe every summer. No one is going to shed any tears upon hearing Metallica pleading poverty, but over the past decade their margins will undoubtedly have taken a hammering.”

Later adding…

“The whole Through The Never film project was a horrible misjudgement, a misguided attempt to breathe new life into a decade-old idea. As the film spiraled horribly over-budget it’s hard not to imagine that at least one band member – and let’s be honest, we’re talking about James Hetfield here – thinking ‘What the fuck have we got ourselves into?’ Quite how that ‘script’ ever got the green light is an unfathomable mystery.”

http://www.metalinjection.net/its-ju...ade-since-2010

[onthewall2983]

What was really stupid about Through The Never is it only got a one-day release in theaters. Which is too bad because the movie is okay. You have to give them credit for going out on a limb with those projects. Not only that, but bankrolling it themselves now that they are an island onto themselves in the record business.

Both of Brannigan and Winwood's books on the band are great.

[leo3375]

I think they got offered a gazillion dollars to be the first event happening at the new football stadium in Minneapolis.

It was the third event at the stadium. Luke Bryan (*gag*) played there the night before, and there was a soccer match between Chelsea and AC Milan on August 3.

But I digress. I heard the acoustics for Luke Bryan sucked. Metallica was better. I could hear everything from where I was. One of the mics seemed to be having problems, but other than that it sounded all right to me. It could be that Metallica was better prepared for that sort of setting. Hopefully the event staff at US Bank Stadium took notes on what Metallica did so that they can improve the concertgoing experience there. One thing for sure: that place is gonna be LOUD for football games.

EDIT: Not my video, but they played "Leper Messiah" live!

[Conan The Barbarian]

I wouldn't worry about them being broke. Black album constantly sells. If they stop making stupid financial gambles they will be rolling in that dough again.

[Space Suicide]

where my Adult Swim fans at?!

[leo3375]

I want this on a shirt. They really should have sold t-shirts with this:

[Jinsai]

Huh... Didn't know they were playing shows.

I agree reed with just about everything Jinsai said, other than the Master of Puppets comment- Justice was fantastic.

It's probably the production aspect, but the lack of bass, and the story surrounding that issue, it really bums me out. Listening to this new track on a good treated system, I think sure, take the drums (EG snare) down a dB or two would help, but I would love to have control of the vocal in this song.

[center27j]

i dont know what it is, but the sound/production/mastering is awful. the overall sound is just so terrible, the song is bad anyway but sonically something is just off with all their releases. there's no depth, no thickness....everything just sounds thin and weak. maybe someone with an audio background can provide some detail behind how a band can release something that sounds so amazing (black album...i'm talking strictly the sound) and revert to this awfulness.

[armogi]

Not too bad but where is the bass in that song?

[Space Suicide]

This is cool:

[liquidcalm]

Listening back to Death Magnetic and I still really dig a lot of it, just it sounds so flat on my good headphones. On laptop speakers/earbuds its fine, but cranking the volume it just falls apart. It sounds like every instrument is just right there on either side of you, in comparison, Load and Reload sound like a band really making the most of the studio and building a sense of place (I could never be a true fan, Load/Reload are my favourite albums of theirs...)

[Conan The Barbarian]

I guess search for the guitar hero version of the album. It sounds better