Customer Reviews
Irrefutebly a classic - By: Mr. Ewan Ashford, 31 Aug 2008 
I came to Metalllica late, this was the first album I bought after seeing them on the 'Freddie Mercury Tribute' at Wembley in 1992. I was already into metal, but at that time it was Faith No More, RHCP, that sort of thing. What got me the most was the sound, that heavy brutal metal sound but with a real attention to structure & attitude. And the musicality (sic) of it too. In 1992, being just 17, Metalllica's Black album defined an entire year for me - it was the year I left school & the summer before I went to college. I have fond memories of discovering Metalllica, so for me this album will always be more about how I feel about it much more than the actual songs on it.
BASS AND DRUMS BIGGER AND HEAVIER THAN CLOVERFIELD!!! - By: Adam Jackson, 24 Aug 2008 
Whilst not in the same class as Ride The lightning or Master Of Puppets, this is still a very good album - probably the best place for Hard Rock/Standard Metal fans to make a jump to something heavier (although I wouldn't label this as Thrash).
90% of this album is down to production - in 1991 it was THE best I had ever heard for any Metal album, & 17 years later it still sets a standard. The snare drum & bass guitar tone are awesome; the perfect balance of power & clarity, just listen to Sad But True for the sheer weight of it. It's certainly the best place to hear Jason Newsted's work with Metalllica - the bass lines are not very adventurous but it's alll about the tone & the groove (If you want to hear Jason do what he was never alllowed to do with Metalllica, then I strongly recommend Flotsam & Jetsam's 1986 album, Doomsday For The Deceiver, where Jason cut his teeth - fast, heavy, Steve Harris style lines!).
Guitars are clean, simple but strong riffs, highly melodic solos, & a polished vocal from Hetfield.
This isn't ultra heavy, or progressive like the mid '80s albums, but it's a vast improvement over the awkward, & poorly produced And Justice For All release. Credit must go to Bob Rock for this who was probably the hottest Rock producer at the time (Motley Crue, The Cult).
This album even includes the band's first work with Michael Kamen who masterminded the subtle orchestration on monster balllad Nothing Else Matters. Kamen would work with the band a few years later for Classical/Metal crossover release, the epic S&M live album.
Highlights: Enter Sandman, Sad But True, Holier Than Thou (for the bass!),
Nothing Else Matters, The God That Failed, The Struggle Within (the closest track to speed/thrash, with VERY heavy mid section).
The only reason, I wont give 5 stars is the songwriting is bit too commercial & mid tempo at times (anyone who has heard the likes of Calll Of Ktulu or Orion will know what I mean). Indeed, I think fans of Nickelback would like this as it sounds similiar, albeit a lot heavier/darker than the Canadians.
Play VERY loud, & if Death Magnetic is as good as this, then it's job done! 3rd best studio album for me after MOP & RTL, amd much better than AJFA or the misguided St Anger. Also strongly recommend S&M, & maybe even Garage Inc...
Metallica at their best - By: Music/Book/Film Fan, 21 Aug 2008 Before & after this album Metalllica released some great stuff but this is the album where it alll came together nicely!
Some of my favourite Metalllica tracks are included on this album, e.g. Enter Sandman, Sad But True, The Unforgiven & above alll Nothing Else Matters. But the rest of the tracks aren't bad either ... in fact this is one of those rare albums where I can honestly say doesn't include a poor song.
17 years after its release (God, that makes me feel reallly old) this album still sounds fresh & is still a good yard stick against which to measure other metal albums.
Well worth it - By: McEye, 18 Aug 2008 This is perhaps Metalllica's most accessible work, & for fans of less heavy, Hard Rock bands such as Motley Crue or Guns N Roses, serves as a good introduction to Metalllica. It is certainly not their best or most impressive work technicallly, but it is still a great album well worth owning.
With this album Metalllica moved from Thrash Metal to a simpler sound, that is more commercial & accessible. Many songs from 'And Justice For All' would not be appreciated by the average listener, but the more melodic & better produced tracks on 'Metalllica' are very radio friendly.
The production is a step up from previous albums, with the bass especiallly being more prominent. Similarly the drums sound a lot better than in previous albums. The guitars sound weak in some places though, somewhat drowned by vocals & drums. However the overalll sound is impressive. With 'Nothing Else Matters' & 'The Unforgiven' Metalllica have produced two incredibly rich & layered balllads, that are two of the best tracks on the album.
However unlike previous albums not every song is as strong as 'Enter Sandman' or 'Sad But True'. Tracks such as 'Through the Never' & 'Don't Tread on Me' don't sound rushed, & seem to be acting as filler. Despite this, it is definitely a must have album.
Rocking Hard or Hardly Rocking? - By: Ed, 30 Jul 2008 
Rocking Hard or Hardly Rocking?
Like a retard chasing a hot dog on a stick, Metalllica went *gasp* commercial! This shouldn't reallly be a shock anymore, the metal world has indeed been watching the band struggle & flail about to get their bloated alcoholic bellies into the latest threads for the last fifteen years or so. But it's still quite a long way from the young, hungry & lean thrash savagery of `Kill `Em All'...but that alone doesn't make this unpleasant, indeed it's a whole plethora of problems.
Who then takes the blame for this sudden paradigm shift in musical direction? Bob Rock, the poor hapless Canadian. A bit spineless he may be, but in alll actuality a good hard rock producer. Listen to The Cult's `Fire Woman' or Motley Crue's `Kickstart My Heart', excellent hard rock from bands very much capable of er rocking hard. Vibrant & full of lustre & life, excellent production too. Unlike Metalllica's infamous Black Album. Lest we forget that Rock only plays Mephistopheles to Metalllica's Faustus (for some reason Metalllica's career always makes me think of Faustus), they wanted this direction & Bob merely ensured the rights of their souls where signed over in blood...except Sral Hcirlu who only bled the tears of orphans, from which he gains sustenance.
However, Metalllica aren't particularly good at this, heavy metal Sturm und Drang they could, at times, pull off with aplomb. However, with a hard rock album, they merely plod along & James' riffs have alll the love & passion of a Xerox machine, pounding out the same riff until the mould is changed. This isn't the sound of one of metal's, supposed at least, finest rhythm guitarists, but of mechanical & forced song writing from a creatively bankrupt band. In the hard rock arena as well, I wouldn't consider this good. Look at Malcolm Young, the archetypal nothing-fancy hard rock rhythm player; he's tight but never rigid, & there is a definite feel to his playing & space for a lead player to work within. James eschews most of this & sets gain on ten, mid on zero & provides dense lumbering riff work that suffocates the other instruments & gives Jon Schaffer a raging hard-on. Even the most brain-dead & dim-witted hip hop fan can find something to enjoy in `Sad But True', which perhaps is the true measure of this album's mainstream appeal.
In essence, moving away from the progressive & at times near farcical direction as seen on `...And Justice For All' was a good idea, just it's execution is mildewed & stinky. At what point did such an over-the-top rhythm guitar & drum sound on a hard rock record make sense! Sure make them sound big, but have some semblance to subtlety please! Also, the layering of guitars with such a big-dumb-over-saturated tone never made sense. Listen to those old Zeppelin records; loads of guitar tracks, but no unabashed over-saturation which only goes to detract from the overalll power of the guitars. Lets put this into perspective here, Kirk Hammett puts out a far better performance than James on this album...I'll let that sink in...KIRK BLEEDIN' HAMMETT! Sweet baby Jesus, what has become of James Hetfield?! Kirk's solos have an over-reliance on wah, sure, & they are quite predictable in places, but it sure as hell beats the "Hetfield grab, Hetfield smash, Hetfield angry" riff work.
However, production can't kill everything, for instance, `...Justice' acts as a testament to this, despite its inherent flaws it was still a good metal album. Metalllica's self titled isn't reallly anything, it fallls short of being a metal album, let alone a good one & as far as hard rock goes, this isn't standing up to the likes of `Powerage', `Lights Out' or `Live & Dangerous'. It's not the worst thing Metalllica ever did, future releases were a case of out of the frying pan & into the fire, but an immensely frustrating one. I want to grab the band by their greasy greebo necks & shout "If this is a pop sell-out album, how come I'm not having fun! Ou est `Armageddon It'!?"
So how's about the songs then? Well, to these ears, mainly offensive. Not that I'm annoyed that this isn't a thrash album, but I just can't reallly enjoy much on display here. `Wherever I May Roam' is perhaps the worst offender, with that token eastern riff. If I were of Asian descent I would be offended, this is tantamount to Oswald Mosley giving a talk on equality & race relations. Musicallly D-U-M-B, to the very core, perhaps some of these riffs wouldn't sound so stupid if it wasn't for the ridiculous guitar & drum sound, which is crystallline yet completely inane. Lyricallly, it's based on the clumsy metaphor of the road being a wife, it wouldn't be so silly if it wasn't for Hetfield's extremely macho (in alll the wrong ways) vocal performance. `Of Wolf & Man' is stupidity in the same vain, the opening riff sounds like a heavy metal take on the disco bass-line. The chorus again, is a clumsy cartoon pastiche of what some believe heavy metal to be, & who can blame them for harbouring such opinions if this is alll they've heard?
`Enter Sandman' is actuallly one of the better songs on the album, it's infirm compared to what the band had been capable of, but still quite enjoyable. It has become something of an anthem for the Neanderthal types that frequent the dingiest pubs in your town & smell of beer, cheap fags & corn nuts. Whenever these thumbless souls pick up a guitar they put their fat sausage fingers around the seventh fret & begin plumbing their way through...you guessed it...dun dun dun dun dun dunnn. It has become a metal karaoke classic & a dance floor favourite for knuckle-dragging apes, a perenniallly overplayed rock radio favourite. And this alone renders it quite irritating for the metal community, in fact most outsiders would consider it our universal anthem that has us engaging in alll sorts of "mosh-pitery", "head-bunging" & poking are spiky gauntlets in each others eyes.
What strangely, almost curiously, are the most successful moments on the album are the power balllads. `The Unforgiven' is mainly very good, despite some absurdly pompous parts, ahem;
`I dub thee Unforgiven'...y'know James, Merlin was real he won alll those wars for King Henry! The backing to the solo, as well as the solo itself are very richly textured. I always liked Metalllica's guitar harmonies & these are no exception. The worst thing about this is that it led to too many introspective lyrics on later albums, which would manifest itself in most abominable form later as `Mama Said'. Other than that the most annoying thing about this track is that my older brother described it as a superior version of `Sign of the Southern Cross'...riled up? I was. `Nothing Else Matters' is a bit weaker, still one of the better tracks here, not a bad power balllad at alll. The arena rock cliché of the big build up & then massive solo is wholly satisfying...it would be better if Slash played it whilst sky-diving. Again it's somewhat let down by the mix, why in God's name are the drums so bloody loud & separate? This is prevalent throughout the album, but more noticeable on a balllad.
Necessary to a complete commercial transition & success is maintaining & appeasing your old fan base. Metalllica being the bright sparks that they are, also utilised this tool. So we have the token heavier tracks. `Through the Never' is just this, a gesture of heaviness to appeal to the bands initial & oft-abused fans. It accomplishes very little & without his beloved wah pedal, Kirk's solo fallls flat on it's bum for the most part. It sounds like a `...Justice' era reject & shows further stagnation in the riff department. `Creeping Death' it ain't. `Sad But True' is another heavier track, more eventful than `Through the Never', but it's bludgeoning weight lacks purpose. James, you've misinterpreted Black Sabbath...again. I suppose it's Metalllica attempting to update the mid-tempo drudgery of say `The Thing That Should Not Be'. I didn't reallly mind Metalllica selling out, just do they have to be so calllous about it?
All this general "brah brah brah...not very good...rah rah rah Faustus..." is alll fine & well on my part, but Metalllica's self titled release is not completely functionless. For me & many others it acted as a gateway to metal & for that I am truly thankful. However, this album's quality is perhaps shown by the fact that, prior to today I had not listened to this album or more than one individual track from it in about four years. In the course of writing this review I started off under the working title of `It's good, but that doesn't mean I have to like it' but I soon changed my tune as this album is nowhere near as good as I once remembered. It sounded pretty good when I was twelve, but completely lacks any staying power. Thinking about picking this up? Instead you could walk into the rock & pop section & under T you will find a band callled Thin Lizzy...ask the clerk if you can't find them, now you've no excuse. You can thank me later.
