METALLICA [AKA: THE BLACK ALBUM]

While people jumped on the METALLICA bandwagon in the tens of thousands when this came out, long time fans were jumping off. This was like a slap in the face. "Sell outs !" was the cry from the faithful. Bob Rock was brought in as the producer and if there's one thing Bob knows it's "production". METALLICA had heard what he did for MOTLEY CRUE on their 1989 release "Dr.Feelgood" and sought the same. Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for.This is slick,heavy and catchy, it brought them into the mainstream and it made METALLICA a fortune at the expense of their faithful fans. Or at least a lot of them. For the most part I like this album although i'm tired of many of these tracks.

"Enter Sandman" is riff city and heavy.The video on MTV didn't hurt either with it's popularity. "Sad But True" is fairly doomy sounding. Maybe sludge is the word. "Holier Then Thou" is uptempo and rocks out pretty good. It's okay. "The Unforgiven" has held up well over the years. Maybe the best song on here. "Wherever I May Roam" is exotic sounding to start then the guitar starts to grind it out as it speeds up. Nice. I like this one a lot. "Don't Tread On Me" is heavy to start as the vocals join in. Not a fan of this one.

"Through The Never" is uptempo as vocals join in before a minute. An intense rhythm here but i'm not sold. "Nothing Else Matters" is another hit in the form of a ballad. Again like "The Unforgiven" I get drawn in with the emotion. "Of Wolf And Man" is another catchy and intense track. "The God That Failed" has some amazing bass to start as it slowly starts to play out. Heavy stuff. "My Friend Of Misery" is the longest track at almost 7 minutes. A calm before 3 1/2 minutes as we get some rare atmosphere. I like when it starts to build too. "The Struggle Within" opens with marching styled drums as the guitars join in. Fast paced vocals and sound follow. A good album no doubt and Bob did what he was paid to do.