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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sad but true..., 9 Nov 2007
At present I'm 31 years old and it's seems like just yesterday that this was released when in reality I was barely out of short trousers, a meagre 15 years old sitting at the back of the class watching fellow pupils carve "Metallica" or "Iron Maiden" into every school desk within sight. The truth is we had no interest in an education from those who appeared even less interest in being there than we did. Our education came from the records we bought, from the records we spent hours listening to, from the albums we obsessed over. This was the source of education for a post-nuclear pre-internet-information-overload slacker generation. The great thing about being 15 then was that it was all new and one hadn't time yet to develop a snobbish elitist attitude toward music, which of course brings me to the "Black Album" and it's reputation within the metal community.
In all honesty "The Black Album" was my introduction to Metallica and at the time I liked it a lot, and why not, "Enter Sandman", "Unforgiven", "Wherever I May Roam", "Through the Never" were and still are great songs. But saying that I can look back now and see why earlier Metallica fans would call it a sellout, I too would be shouting the same thing in 1996 when they released "Load". "The Black Album" for me now has the same stature as Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", an album that is universally applauded by lazy and less ambitious critics and yet is by no means their best or important work. These albums have all the sharp edges nicely filed off so that it's safe for mass consumption. Listening to the "The Black Album" again for the purpose of this review one has to notice just how weak the guitar production really is in the mix, in some parts being virtually drowned out by the presence of the vocals and drums. That may have something to with the fact that the mids are complete drained out of the guitar tone leaving only bass and treble. The main reason though for the cries sellout was because the album measured virtually zero on the thrashometer and this is true but that fact remains that this album is and has always been a great rock record.
This album was a formative album for me and so I'll always look upon it with a certain amount of nostalgia but I personally seldom listen to this album now preferring their earlier thrash albums, especially "Ride the Lightning"(1984) but generally I tend to drift towards albums by lesser known / appreciated thrash metal bands. Slayer; Exodus; Death Angel; Nuclear Assault; Forbidden; Sepultura; Overkill; Destruction; Sodom; Sacred Reich; Carnivore; Voivod are all bands I'd rather listen to.
If you're new to Metal you could do a lot worse than buy the "Black Album" but the truth is that by 1991 Thrash Metal was dead and the year that Death Metal was becoming all the rage in the underground. By 1992 Alternative Rock would sweep the world but Metallica's days as the dominating factor in the underground were numbered anyway.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the greatest metal albums of all time.period., 2 Sep 2001
By A Customer
This album deserves no less than 5 stars, 100%, however you want to put it. It is a masterpiece, each song perfectly crafted with power, agression and emotion. When I first bought this i had high expectations of it, as it was a Metallica album after all. But i never thought it would be so good. The drummer (Lars Ulrich) astounds me in every song with the perfection of his strong drumming which i have never heard so good. James Hetfield (vocals/rhythm guitarist/co-song writer) is equally astounding with the amazing heavy and melodic riffs he wacks out and some of the most original and touching lyrics inside his powerful vocals. The fact he can do both at once is pure talent. Lead guitar is also great and fairly frequent, keeping each song nothing less than perfect. Metallica's black album is the real beast of heavy metal and no metal-head can call themselves by that name unless they have witnessed or own this 'brainwashingly' good album. Linkin Park sound like S Club 7 next to this, and i am not joking! Just buy it and you will see what i mean...
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Would Give It 6 Stars If I Could, 14 Oct 2003
This album shows Metallica's more commercial approach to metal music, and I think it was a turn for the better. All the tracks are simply brilliant, with all 4 members of the band coming into their own on the songs. Kirk Hammett's blinding solos, Hetfield's crunching rhythm guitar, Lars Ulrich's pulsating, powerful drums and Newstead's bass make this album the best of all Metallica's work. If you love this then buy Load aswell as it is similar, and for a different sound, get Master of Puppets. Both albums are classics. Gone are the likes of 8 minute tracks played at breakneck speed, and they are replaced with shorter songs played at a slower tempo. This is great for anyone wanting a heavy metal band merging with a mainstream sound. Overall, if you want to get into Metallica but think they might be to heavy for you, try this. It will be in your CD player for a long time afterwards!
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