Tuesday 15 July 2008

METALLICA – METALLICA (VERTIGO)


METALLICA – METALLICA (VERTIGO)

I was at school in my final official year when Metallica made their crossover/breakthrough.  Sometimes I used to hang out with some metal heads.  Some of them were my football buddies but a few of them were long hairs in the year above who smoked and appreciated my Nirvana and Mudhoney t-shirts.  Were these really my people?

Metallica was never a band that fully blew me away.  Perhaps it was due to being guilty by association (see above).  Maybe they were a bit too Kerrang for me at a time when I was very much traditional NME on the indie side of grunge.  Or maybe they just weren’t heavy enough for me despite the boasts of both them and their audience.

The Black Album was their fifth studio.  For it they brought in producer Bob Rock who previously was known for his work with Bon Jovi.  Indeed this was a conscious gesture of smoothing the edges and bringing a more accessible sound to their records.  The band may deny this but certainly that was the result.  More in a band’s mind/perception, Metallica were yearning credibility and respect as musicians.

The cover of the record is very black, just like the Spinal Tap cover.  This suggests that somewhere deep inside Metallica possesses a sense of humour (you hope).  Also referring to the record as “the Black Album” would suggest being something of the flipside to The Beatles “White Album” although the results are hardly comparable or polarising.  In a way you see what the band is aiming for (hinting at) but in execution it just doesn’t feel there.

Regardless of such gripes the record opens with “Enter Sandman” which almost immediately became the band’s defining song.  This push truly did get them over and if an album contains the song your band is always going to be best known for, then there is definitely something in there.

There is no denying “Enter Sandman” is a powerful song.  It’s a track seemingly written with a pause in place for pyrotechnics (although perhaps something James Hetfield may later have come to regret when some blew up in his face).

If you think about it really Metallica is a mental band.  It’s an act dominated by a rhythm guitarist wrestling with a Danish drummer with a funny accent.  Meanwhile the lead guitarist houses a permanent expression of fear while the current bass player has to tread carefully so as not to find himself being mentioned in the same breath as the original bassist who was horrifically killed in tragic circumstances.  They’re a great band; just don’t fall into the trap of taking them too serious.

The record continues with another single in the form of “Sad But True”.  Its an aggressive, some might feel misogynistic, track.  Certainly its advances are very confident and somewhat forward.  Did I really once think I could apply these gestures to my own situation and attempt to “charm” a lady with them?  I could/would not dare say.  There’s no escaping the fact, taken at face value this song is creepy.  And yet it was a single.

Old school fans then appear to be appeased with “Holier Than Thou” which displayed that the previous model of the band still existed if that was so desired.  However then comes “The Unforgiven” and an epic track taking on a western tone proving both cinematic and masculine in delivery.  Just the right ingredients for a heavy metal single.

For many people though this was their first Metallica record.  I would also bet that in a number of cases it was also many people’s first metal album as it what just presented in the right way to the record buying public and as with anything that is popular you cannot help but suspect it is something spread thin in the process.

And with that it arrives at the single “Wherever I May Roam”, an angst ridden tune highlighting just how manly Hetfield and his buddies are and how much they are willing to sacrifice in the process to impress the fairer sex.  Yes it is nonsense.  And such strange sentiments are then continued with the weird bravado attached to “Don’t Tread On Me” which opens with a heavy metal intro of “America” from West Side Story before rolling in a full on Pantera fashion.  Was this some kind of return of favour gesture?  Don’t tread on me indeed.

The second side of the record falls foul of cliché.  In “Through The Never” the band acts reductive as it slips into stock metal gestures and that horrible galloping sound that comes with classic rock.  That and the measured moment to chill out that comes with “Nothing Else Matters”, a song that pretty much resembles their version of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” with all its orchestration.  And then things get silly.

From here the remaining song titles of the record border on farcical.  “Of Wolf And Man” comes coupled with Hetfield doing a ridiculous call and response with himself (or rather the wolf man version of himself).  Musically it is another track that reminds of Pantera only without the might or economy.  Never let it be said that Metallica never meandered.

Upping the name stakes “The God That Failed” follows in severe fashion.  In its defence though the song does open with a solid baseline that leads into a sturdy delivery although as to which god they are referring remains a mystery to me.  With further research it turns out to be a about Hetfield’s mother’s battle with cancer and her Christian beliefs that prevented her from soughting medical treatment.

It all crashes to a conclusion with “My Friend Of Misery” and “The Struggle Within” in which Hetfield spits out more alpha male angst across a dense coupling of stock rock songs with standard, unexceptional solos served to emphasise the point that this is their record, this is their sound.  “The Struggle Within” particular falls foul with its cheesy militaristic posturing and thrash guitars that sound like machine guns.  This is perhaps a struggle that would have been best of remaining within.

The Black Album is a much lauded but much overrated piece of work (as is the band in general to be honest).  This pop music with loud guitars and snarling temperaments.  It was built with accumulating an audience in mind and thus was designed with itself spread thin.  All encompassing enjoyment of this record is swindle but everything has its time and place.

Thesaurus moment: oversell.

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