What's up with Metallica?

[AlxStl99]

I've tried 3x's now to give the new album a chance & just can't get into it. Ever since St. Anger & Death the only Metallica in my rotation is the 1st 5 studio albums & sometimes Garage Days. Just how it is here. However still loving the last Slayer album Repentless(2015). Still in heavy rotation as is all 3 of The Dead Daisies albums.

 

[Pat6969]

Kirk is Kirk, he was never a guitar virtuoso but his style fit what Metallica was doing and his sound and style is a part of the bands DNA. When I saw the MOP and AJFA tours, they fu*$%ng killed it!!! There were mistakes made back then as well but who nails every solo and when you're watching live who gives a shit anyway? FFS give the guy a break, he deserves it!!

 

[Chris6870]

This is how I prefer to remember them:

They lost they edge and direction after the black album and haven't been able to find it since. They are a hard rock band now. Kirk needs to take off the wife beater.

Fuuuuuuck, this is when i was so into them damnit, listen to James`s voice man, sounds like a lion trapped in a cage that WILL come out any minute.

Oh please god help meeeeeeeeeeeaaaa.

Man, this is why we still love these guys, no matter what.

Wow I saw that tour. I was maybe 13, wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It definitely felt dangerous. Cool to see the video of it now.

 

[8len8]

They are having a bad night. Many big band have bad nights because of equipment issues, illness, etc... if someone posted 10 clips like this then it would be a different story...

 

[SFW]

I think some of the issue... at least for me anyway... is that Metallica used to be the pinnacle of metal. They were the band that everyone else chased. These days, it feels more like Metallica is chasing everyone else. The new album sounds like you could put another name on the disc, and it would make more sense. I'm personally having a hard time with the fact that every song sounds the same. The chugga chugga riffs accented by snare drum gets kinda boring after a while. There are songs I like, but it just doesn't sound new or fresh to me. Just my opinion though.

 

[Beyond Black]

Just James and Rob care a bit as said above. And as also said they sound like the loosing act of a high school talent show indeed. My statement of being sad with that is because they lost the flame. Some months ago I saw Black Sabbath for the last time. The BIG real metal artists are going. We will be left with the over-quantized-copy-pasted-over-down-tuned-autotuned-monotonic-guitar-riff bands of today. Sad world

The underground is alive and well, just as it's always been.

 

[studiodunn]

Lars sucks on several levels, and his drumming is top of the list. "If" his drumming wasn't so bad he would still be a nightmare to be in a band with. Metallica + pussy(s) = lame.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

This is how I prefer to remember them:

They lost they edge and direction after the black album and haven't been able to find it since. They are a hard rock band now. Kirk needs to take off the wife beater.

Fuuuuuuck, this is when i was so into them damnit, listen to James`s voice man, sounds like a lion trapped in a cage that WILL come out any minute.

Oh please god help meeeeeeeeeeeaaaa.

Man, this is why we still love these guys, no matter what.

Wow I saw that tour. I was maybe 13, wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It definitely felt dangerous. Cool to see the video of it now.

Great drumming here too. Locked in and tight. Lars now is lazy as hell and the whole band sounds like it is dragging. Kirk is total shit I can't even give him more than a passing mention. Their tone live is brutal. Squishy and soft. Go back to real fucking amps or some solid state metal zones into a power amp if you are too cheap to ship a live rig.

 

[Marc_Nitschke221B]

They don't care anymore? This vid made me sad in a way

well, for one: there sound ain't what it used to since they use the digital axeFX to save some bucks...

but that aside: they rock like they always have. One not so good video with seemingly less motivation doesn't change that. there are a couple of new vids where they are full of energy... my opinion at least

 

[maddnotez]

They are old, they do not write intense songs anymore, young metal musicians today are far superior.

Why would you be so surprised that there is a huge difference between Metallica today vs 30 years ago? I gave up on chasing Metallica nostalgia a long time ago.

I am happy with the newest album because it is as close as they have ever gotten but they will never relive or recreate their glory days.

 

[Joeytpg]

"glory days" is such a subjective thing.

Bands evolve, artists CREATE, not imitate. They are not interested in imitating their old style, it's modern day Metallica, deal with it. I for one love the album.

 

[Pushead]

One of the comments from YouTube. Perhaps it changes some opinions.

I was at the show. I remember thinking to myself "WTF kirk? A few days later I heard the story of this being played at the show. Basically a guy in the M&G asked Lars if they could play Orion. Lars said the song was not on the list but that he was gonna talk to the guys to see if they were up to it. So, this performance was pretty much decided on the fly.

Kirk's playing wasn't great, but from some of your comments I expected worse.

 

[7 Stringer]

One of the comments from YouTube. Perhaps it changes some opinions.

I was at the show. I remember thinking to myself "WTF kirk? A few days later I heard the story of this being played at the show. Basically a guy in the M&G asked Lars if they could play Orion. Lars said the song was not on the list but that he was gonna talk to the guys to see if they were up to it. So, this performance was pretty much decided on the fly.

Kirk's playing wasn't great, but from some of your comments I expected worse.

Well, yes it does change my opinion. If that was the way it happened well it was a pretty good performance.

They are human after all.

 

[SBlue]

I'm suspect to talk about Metallica, since I've been a fan since 1984.
I love Kirk style os playing 'till AJFA.
Matter of fact, I love everything Metallica 'till AJFA. Never cared about the bass being buried in the mix, but the songs and energy are so fucking good that I just never missed the bass.
To me, from the Black Album 'till today they have been releasing good albums.
The problem when I try to compare them with the four first ones, is that the four first ones are just fucking amazing from the first to last song. So, it's not even a fair comparisson.
Kirk solos up to the AJFA are amazing. He is not Steve Vai, Yngwie or Buckethead, but he delivered unique, fast, angry and honest notes that did fit their songs perfectly. James vocals and riffs sounded like he was very pissed off! Lars sounded nothing like him(LOL) and Cliff was just ahead of everything mentioned before put together.
I do like Load, Re-Load, Black Album, Death Magnetic, Hardwired and even St Anger... each one of these has it's strong point for me.
Unfortunately, all of them together are still not strong enought as any of their first four albums by itself.
Just my personal opinion regarding their discography.

 

[155]

lars is the worst fuckin drummer..horrible , Id kick him out of my band in a minute just no clue..yes I love the old stuff this is some new ahole flailing here

 

[petejt]

For me, it's the general 'sound' they have now - the rhythm guitar tones suck for the old stuff (maybe just plain sucks), the drum sounds are boomy, Hetfield's voice isn't what it was and so on. Then the performances don't seem to have that energy or passion, and that's not just an age thing. It's like they're their own cover band and their heart isn't really into what they're doing now.

Then again, we didn't have videos on youtube of every show from the Puppets tour, and I'm sure if there were, we'd pick them apart too LOL

It flat out sucks. Too dark, distant, and compressed. Like Het is playing a micced speaker cab in a big long closet with the the door only cracked open for the sound to barely get out. It's bad. Dull and flat.

I hear that as well. I don't get it because their live sound as captured in the videos was like that six years ago. Yet when I saw & heard them live at the time, the rhythm guitar especially was very crunchy, in your face and full of impact. And the rhythm guitar sound changed for different songs to match the albums. But when you hear the live recordings and the video clips, it all has the same generic dark distant dull sound.