Mandatory Metallica

[Markedman]

Sirius Radio has a channel with only Metallica. Listening over the past few days, oddly I found myself waiting for St. Anger songs the most. I thought it was weird only because when that album came out, I didn't embrace like I did most of the previous albums, but the guitar tone is dark, really dark. It sounds tuned lower than most Metallica and is very abrasive when compared to any other stuff they've done. The snare drum sounds like a galvanized pail. Other than that, looking back on it, I would say to me, the guitar sounds way ahead of it's time.
Sirius doesn't go that deep into rare Metallica, so after a few hours they start repeating songs, but it was/is a nice break for a couple of days anyway.

 

[ryjan]

Except for that damned snare I kinda liked the extremely raw tone of that album too. The guitar tracks are mainly Diezel VH4's.
I didn't care for it at first and I put that cd away for a few years. A couple months ago I came across it and tossed it in my car. I think I get it finally.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I've never listened to St Anger but I have heard some of that album's songs played live and generally liked them. Maybe I'll give the actual album a spin.

 

[Markedman]

S+M, this album was an experiment that didn't work out so well. It sounded like I had two radios going at one time to the home-owner today at work. They are not Metallica fans so they didn't have a clue to what was coming out of my radio and wondered if I "really like that" music. Once I explained the premise they thought it was definitely not for them anyway. I paint houses for a living and listening to music all day is the best perk. Whoever Metallica had write the parts for the symphony should get a different job. Really bad, and once again when put up against the whole Metallica portfolio, it's rank. The idea of mixing metal with symphony has worked in the past but S+M is terrible. Why didn't anyone stop the madness and tell James, "hey James, this S+M stuff is terrible and if Lou Reed calls, don't answer" before it leads to Lu-lu, which Sirius only threatened to but did not play. Got to go, live Metallica on Sirius right now!

 

[screamingdaisy]

The S&M DVD is really good. I'm not sure why but the symphony parts fit better in that mix than they do on the album mix. The album sounds like a sonic mess.

 

[ryjan]

I paint houses for a living and listening to music all day is the best perk. Whoever Metallica had write the parts for the symphony should get a different job.

I'm sure Michael Kamen will hang up his hat now that you've set him straight. :lol:

 

[Markedman]

The sirius concert Saturday night was great but Metallica's sound on Howard Stern yesterday was phenomenal. They played One, Nothing else matters and Enter sandman. The engineer for Howard is usually incompetent but yesterday the sound was the best ever, maybe Metallica's mixer big Mick had a hand in that. I was able to listen to it three times and of course Howard had a great interview with the band where they talked about how the Russians wouldn't let them play some songs, how they were too punk for metal and too metal for punk and how the band sold out when they put out "Fade to black", it was about an hour long with breaks between songs. James and the gang sound as good as ever if not better with age. If you get a chance, try to find the H.S. appearance it could be the best live recording of Metallica ever.

 

[Markedman]

There is an album that I didn't know of but have been made aware of since listening to Mandatory Metallica where James just sings "Yeah yeah yeah" through the songs. My son who works with me asked if I knew what and why they did this and I told him I had no idea but speculated the songs were the demos from Load. Does any Metallica fan here know? Also I remember well, when the black album came out the overall sentiment was that it sucked, that is when I said everyone thought that about And justice for all, in a few years when the next album comes out you'll say this sucks too. Metallica keeps changing it up and Cyanide sounds as good as the old stuff in my opinion and I can't wait for the new album, hopefully everyone else hates it like the old days.

 

[Elpelotero]

Maybe you're thinking of Ecstasy of Gold? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a41bERTFBUI

 

[Markedman]

Thanks for the reply but that's not it, although that song is in the daily rotation on MM. The songs I'm talking about have some lyrics but mostly "yeah yeah yeah" throughout the song, plus there are parts that have been added or omitted from the final product. There is a bunch of songs and the production is close to the finished songs it leads me to believe they're the demos from the "Load" album. I never would've heard them on terrestrial radio and I doubt that Sirius would play them on another channel so I was hoping someone here would know or was listening to Sirius. I know that there is a lot of websites with the great Stern show performance and interview, a must for any Metallica fan.