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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Metallica must have been spitting bullets........, 22 Jan 2006
Somewhere roundabout 1994 I walked into HMV with the sole purpose of buying Metallica's Black album. I was pleasantly surprised to see said disc was part of a '2 for £22'offer, so I did the sensible thing and scouted round the store seeking a CD to partner it.I considered AC/DC and The Who amongst others before spotting Troublegum. I'd heard a couple of singles off the album and thought it was worth a go, after all it was only a booby prize - the Black album was what I was really after. Got home and played Metallica straight away. Now I'm probably in a minority here, and millions of Metallica fans will think I'm barking mad, but some of those songs just didn't know when to stop. Enter Sandman and Sad But True aside, I found the album ...well, boring. So with my high expectations comprehensively deflated, I dismissively, if not resentfully, spun Troublegum on the ghettoblaster instead. And that's when my day took a turn for the better. Without a word of a lie I spent the next three quarters of an hour of my life air guitaring, air drumming, headbanging and making devil's-horn-hand-signals to an imaginary band in my flat. Forty Five minutes and fourteen songs later, the crushing disappointment of the Black album had been erased and replaced by the redhot glow of smug satisfaction that envelops you when you discover something fantastic of which your mates know absolutely nothing. Three Irish lads venting their anti-catholic wrath, purging themselves of failed attempts with women or just self-loathing for not having the guts to ask them out in the first place. Every line of every song is a vitriolic stab into the heart of each song's victim. Andy Cairns growls his way through this CD with remarkable and beautiful melodies delivered with a velvet sledgehammer. This record crosses through pop, punk, heavy metal and back again effortlessly. The production is faultless and each bandmember's performance is immaculate. There isn't a single filler track on this album, the 'worst' song weighs in at nine-out-of-ten. My writing can't fully describe the glory of Troublegum. This record silences Metallica's finest hour. Maybe that's the greatest tribute i can give to Troublegum, and Metallica must have been spitting bullets when they heard it.
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