Time to call it a day, lads....

supes · January 2014

I think it's the sound of a band bored at where they're at. They don't want to play the style of music the fans love them for so they keep trying something new. Unfortunately it's mostly shit.

breakstuff · January 2014

Kirk's definitely regressed in his old age. Here he is in 10 years time.

mike_l · January 2014

Went downhill after the Justice album, although the Black album is Ok, Load/Reload/St Anger are 98.5% shite. Death Magnetic is like a band trying to redo their best work, Master of Puppets, although I like DM.

bertie · January 2014

DiscoStu said:

And I thought S&M sucked!

then you're doing it wrong

d8m · January 2014

)

dogload · January 2014

I think they should have given up round the time of St. Anger and the Some Kind Of Monster film, which showed them as a business, desperately trying to keep it together to make more 'product'. I don't know how much of it was playing to the camera, but they didn't really do themselves any favours as far as looking cool goes... apart from Kirk, who came over very well in a 'Luke-warm Water' role.

It's nice to watch 'Some Kind Of Monster' followed by 'The Story Of Anvil' to remind oneself that you are in a band coz you are supposed to enjoy the music!

digitalscream · January 2014

It seems to me that they've been having a similar kind of meltdown to Geoff Tate/Queensryche over the last 15 years.

QR managed to fix the problems by sacking GT. Metallica would probably have to sack the whole band and start again.

Cirrus · January 2014

Bidley;145826" said:
If any other band had done this, there wouldn't have been much of a reaction at all. Just sayin'.

To be honest, it was pants but not the abortion I thought it would be by the comments. Anyone expecting anything groundbreaking or genuinely inspirational from Metallica now is just looking for the next thing to whine about.

I dunno, I hear that said quite a lot when people lay into Metallica. I'm not a fan or a hater, I accept that they had a big influence for a while. But if I'd watched that performance on TV having never heard of the band, I'd have put it in the same category I reserve for eurovision acts or that terrible Estonian metal band with the spinning drummers and seizure-inducing camera editing - largely tasteless circus metal performed quite badly with no real artistic merit to it, played by players who don't believe in what they're doing.

Cirrus · January 2014

And I quite liked some of St Anger...

axisus · January 2014

I'm not a fan, but if they want to record a CD and people out there want to buy that record I say let it be. Just move on. I have moved on from many bands.

Bucket · January 2014

Let's remember why we loved them to start with:

How the fuck does James sing that and play that at the same time?

randomhandclaps · January 2014

My wife's oldest friend (who epitomises virtually everything I hate about how the modern industry and it's fawning business focus rather than art orientation) is part of Metallica's UK & Europe based management group. When you see the kind of idiotic & bullshitting sycophants they surround themselves with it's not really a surprise that their eyes are more on the bank balance rather than the music.

RocknRollDave · January 2014

My issue with Metallica is that there are two musicians in the band who I do not believe have the inate ability required for the job.

yes, I know we all have to work on our chops, we all have to learn and improve (and these two show no signs of trying to do that either) but there still has to be that basic, natural tendency towards your instrument...and they do not possess it, IMO.

IanSavage · January 2014

Bucket said:

Metallica should have quit after Death Magnetic, and gone out on a solid-but-unspectacular album that goes some way towards undoing the damage to their reputation from the three shitty albums before. Actually no, they should've chucked it in after the Black album.

Instead, no - they keep churning out lame publicity stunt after lame publicity stunt, basically acting up for attention and making themselves look worse, more out-of-touch and less credible every time. Where's this new album they've been apparently writing and recording for the last five years or however long it's been? Haven't heard much about that, but as long as they managed to get Lulu out...

If they can write another album that's as good as Master of Puppets, then fine. But they won't.

Also, in the video - what possible benefit is there to putting loads of tinkly piano over One? It sounds like a fucking mess. And Kirk's soloing sounds completely out of tune, it's shite. It's like Metallica foraying into avant-garde free jazz and failing.

"...hope you like our new direction. On the bass, Rob Trujilo...he wrote this..."

mudslide73 · January 2014

Thank F*** for that... I thought Rob was calling KaBL a day!

I used to love these guys... pre Black album only for me now. They would have scoffed at what they've become if the band of 85-86 could see themselves now. They were anti everything that could be considered corporate... videos? ...

mike_l · January 2014

RocknRollDave said:

My issue with Metallica is that there are two musicians in the band who I do not believe have the inate ability required for the job.

Being fair, a drummerist is a psychopath who hangs around musicians
^:)^

EdGrip · January 2014

I think you can't expect a band to continue sounding like they're young and full of it as they grow through middle age. Some bands manage this because their fans allow them the elasticity to change their sound and do different things. If your fans are Metallica fans, you're basically fucked. They want you to churn out another Black Album or Master of Puppets. No wonder they're bored and "just trying to make product".

How many of us were all about teh br00talz when we were young, and then grew out of it and explored and diversified? Not an option if you're Metallica.

EdGrip · January 2014

What I'm saying is, basically, Metallica built themselves a prison in 1986 in which they must read Total Guitar for all eternity while outside they can see, through the bars of their cell, a world where people are free to move on to Guitarist.

Also, I did not realise that Master of Puppets is older than I am. Wow.

RocknRollDave · January 2014

EdGrip said:

I think you can't expect a band to continue sounding like they're young and full of it as they grow through middle age. Some bands manage this because their fans allow them the elasticity to change their sound and do different things. If your fans are Metallica fans, you're basically fucked. They want you to churn out another Black Album or Master of Puppets. No wonder they're bored and "just trying to make product".
How many of us were all about teh br00talz when we were young, and then grew out of it and explored and diversified? Not an option if you're Metallica.

None of that would matter if they could even play their own old songs to any level of competance, never mind with fire and urgency, the actual right notes in the right order would do.

Cirrus · January 2014

There are plenty of bands that have changed their style over the years, so I don't buy the argument that they're stuck in purgatory forever being compared to what they did before. The ideal way to not be compared to a past triumph is to do something totally different, and this is true even if you're a massive commercial juggernaut of a band: Pink Floyd, Radiohead, REM and U2 all made massive changes in direction at the expense of some of their old fans.

I think the problem really is that the passion to play has just left them, and the muse has left them too.

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Time to call it a day, lads....

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