METALLICA [AKA: THE BLACK ALBUM]

The Whack Album I like to call this. I think I'm one of the few who prefer to say 'The Beatles'...'Metallica', instead of the more popular 'The White Album'...'The Black Album'. I was a huge Metallica fan-boy before this album came out. They were my favourite band when I was 13. This album came out approximately the same time I started high school. My first exposure to this album was when I heard "Enter Sandman" premiered on a radio show. It was the newest song, not yet released, from "the heaviest band on Earth". In 1983 Metallica were one of the heaviest bands on Earth. By 1990 they were nowhere near one of the heaviest bands on Earth. Judging by the music on this album, they not only shed any 'progginess' they had about them, but also went out of their way to not be one of the heaviest bands on Earth.

I forced myself to like this when it came out. After awhile even I was surprised to keep seeing this album in the #1 spot for seemingly ever. What does it mean when kids who used to pick on me because I liked Metallica were now all of a sudden that band's biggest fans? It should come as no surprise that I never ended up buying Load when it came out. If you want anything that looks, smells, tastes or any way remotely resembles 'prog', you are not going to find it here. What Metallica did between 1984-1988 was proggier than a lot of what passes for Prog- Metal today. It seems they wanted to be Bon Jovi for some reason; they used both their producer(Bob Rock) and video director(Wayne Isham). They have even said the reason they wanted to work with Bob was because of his work with Motley Crue(!)

"Don't Tread On Me" is nationalistic garbage. Basically this song is saying: "We kicked Iraq's butt, oh yeah! Anybody else wanna piece of this?" A long way from ...And Justice For All. The only thing metal about "Nothing Else Matters" is the guitar solo. The only interesting things about this album is the talk-box in "Holier Than Thou" and the sitar in "Wherever I May Roam". Of no interest to a progger, of barely any interest to a metalhead. I don't plan on ever reviewing any of their later albums; if I did I would have to give them less than one star. The Whack Album=1 star.