Metallica - St Anger

So over the holidays I sat down and watched Metallica's documentary, "Some Kind of Monster", which has become somewhat notorious for its depiction of a band so unable to communicate, they have to hire a "performance coach" / therapist to do it for them. This film is excellent, and worth a watch for anyone who has seen movies like "Anvil - The Story of Anvil", or has any interest in how major bands keep themselves together.

The album they were making during this time was released in 2003 as St Anger, and to say it polarised critics is an understatement. Q Magazine actually included it in one of their "worst albums ever" articles, but it is far from that. In fact, you could say it is the most daring, exciting, and experimental album Metallica ever released.

For a start - the sound. In particular, the drum sound. Many critics gave out about the sound of the snare drum, likening it to the sound of someone hitting a metal sheet in a garage. This was never a problem for me, being a fan of King Crimson's Red album, on which the drummer actually did hit a metal sheet in a garage. And funnily enough, the modus operandi behind this album was summed up by producer (and stand in bassist) Bob Rock, who stated that on St Anger, the band should be approached as a "garage band, only the garage band is Metallica". So the sound is rough, ready, instant, and quite avant garde under the circumstances. Vocally, there's no messing around, its one-take stuff, and if James Hetfield's pitch wavers somewhat, hey - this is heavy metal, not X Factor. Deal with it.

The guitars sound GREAT. And there's no guitar solos. Not one. For a band known for their guitar wig outs, and featuring one of the "best all time guitarists" in their line up (Kirk Hammett), this is a stylistic departure as radical as when they all cut their hair short for the first time. Still though, it doesn't matter, its not the kind of album that necessarily needs anything other than punishing riffs and those rattling, pinging drums. Garage bands just jam, they don't fiddle about with solos.

After taking all this into consideration, are the songs any good? In many ways, it doesn't really matter. Its Metallica. They rock. They thrash. They hurt your ears. However... I would answer yes, the songs are good. "Frantic", "Some Kind Of Monster", "Sweet Amber" and the title track are all highlights. Its a bloody long album though, 75 minutes over eleven tracks. That's LONG (Metallica seem to think that they should fill every second available to them on CD; their most recent album is 74 minutes long, and previous ones have been 76, 78, 62, and 65 minutes long. Master Of Puppets, their 1987 breakthrough, is a brisk 54 minutes by comparison).

For fans of "Enter Sandman" and "One", you probably won't like this album. And for non-metal fans, or those with a delicate disposition, avoid this album at all costs. However, if you're like me and you get excited by really powerful, fast, noisy and in your face music, then this album is worth the effort. And if you watch the movie first, you'll be amazed it got made at all.