St. Anger [Bonus DVD Digipak] [Enhanced] [Explicit Lyrics] [Limited Edition]

Opener "Frantic" effectively smashes you clean in the face in much the same way as classic track 1's "blackened" or "battery". A stuttering drum start rips straight into perhaps the simplest and most effective riff of the album followed closely by a growling Hetfield and a passable but melodic chorus. The song clocks in around the five minute mark making it almost the shortest song on the record. Unfortunately after such a promising opening the subsequent title track quickly encapsulates all that is not so good with the latest album. .A punky opening is quickly dispelled by Lars’ new metallic snare sound and obscure production, effectively killing out the rhythm guitar and leaving an off-form Hetfield rather stranded. References back to the old days through the lyrics (‘fuck it all and no regrets, I hit the lights on these dark sets’) unfortunately do not manage to bring back the oh-so-promised “kill’em all/ride” swing. In fact if anything, Metallica seem to miss Jason Newstead’s creativity as much as they did Burton's. The switch between loud and quiet is ungainly, as are the time changes which fall far short of the progressive nature of "...and justice for all" or “Master of Puppets”. and consequently the track quickly becomes repetitive. Add to this the fact that Bob Rock and the boys have decided to totally dispense with guitar solos ( a point of huge significance) and suddenly the listening becomes very challenging indeed.

It is these base criticisms that blight almost all the tracks. The mid-section of a mediocre ‘My world’ for example finds the band floundering almost to the point of halting, while Lars’ exuberance during ‘Purify’ completely destroys any original groove on one of the more promising tracks. Its not that the guys have lost all sense of their talents, but its almost as if they are trying too hard to fit into a new generation of thrash metal. The songs are far too long for the rather cumbersome guitars ( a criticism heard before in the rather more daring “...and justice for all” record) and melodies not honed enough to justify the slower sections. It seems that in their haste to banish the load/re-load demons, Metallica have forgotten that the subtle dynamics of classics such as “one” and “welcome home sanitarium” made for far heavier listening than the simple volume of St Anger.

Fortunately the news is not all bad. Out of the blue “Some kind of monster” manages to out strip the last two studio efforts for an alternative ‘greasy’ feel, chugging along with swagger until repetition finally rears its ugly head. It has to be said that the majority of songs start strongly, as is the case especially with Invisible kid (ruined mainly by perhaps Hetfield’s worst lyrical performance to date) and My world, only then to be tarred by the short comings endemic throughout the album.
Ironically the bands that Metallica have most influenced (System of a down, Machine head, Chimera...etc ad nauseum) have now outgrown the old guard to the extent that Metallica now have to play second fiddle. In a word St anger is difficult to distinguish from its contemporaries, and this is why the album may well sit better with those into the new wave of heavy metal. Iron maiden seemed to have decided to return to old well worn tactics and hopefully so will Metallica in order to regain the creative power that produced some of the most important albums in the history of both metal and music as a whole.

Thus St Anger will present a major disappointment to most Metallica fans. I would however still recommend you purchase this CD, if only for the strength of “Frantic”, “Some kind of Monster” and the DVD extra (which interestingly paints the songs in a better light).

I eagerly snapped up a copy at the weekend and hurriedly threw it into my car's CD player. I only got through 8 tracks before I had to switch it off. There is no catchy riff, no instantly memorable track, no carefully crafted lyric... nothing.

I can only hope that this is something of a slow-burner and will grow on me over time.

Guys, you ain't nu-metal (thank goodness). Neither are you Slipknot or Korn. Stick to what you're good at in future

Well, no, not really.

Firstly, i'll address the absence of guitar solos in the songs. These songs weren't written to have solos, having them would spoil the tracks. Granted, if there would have been a few tracks with solos, the overall quality of the album would have been increased.
Secondly, if you'll listen to the album, the glaring noise of Lars hammering on his kit overpowers every other instrument. Let me get this straight, the drum production on this album is horrible. Listening to the title track, during the chorus you can barely hear the guitars. It's that bad.
But, i didn't give this three stars because of the absence of guitars, or the horrible drum production. Overall, the songs are not really that bad. Sure, they don't have the classical lyrics of the older Metallica material, 'Invisible Kid' being a good example, but the songs are well-written.

St. Anger is not a terrible album. It's very listenable, it's just that the songs are so long. Not 'Master of Puppets' long either, they just drag on and on and on. Take 'Frantic', for example. Listening to the song, you'd think that Metallica wrote the whole song, played it, then played it again, and called that the track. You'd swear that 'Frantic' is the same song played twice, there's no difference or variety throughout. The same goes for many of the tracks on the album. It just gets very boring.
If half of the songs on this album were cut down in length, it would have deserved a four star rating, regardless of the absent solos or terrible drum production.
In my opinion, you shouldn't waste your time on this record, unless you are a very, very hardcore fan of Metallica, or usually listen to your songs twice through.
Buy 'Ride The Lightning' instead, and get a proper classic.