Metallica ARE...Hardwired…To Self-Destruct

what made Lars great is his parts and choices imo, more the creative aspect and how his parts worked with the arrangement than the physical. he was my Ringo basically.

(and a good role model for a not-technically-blessed drummer like myself)

There's a great bit in 'Orion' where Lars accents the riff in a strange way, but it works really well.

the whole "lars is a terrible drummer" thing has been so overblown and is wrong imo, feel like at a certain point metal became so regimented with double bass/trigger machinedrum exactitude that his quirks are perceived as "weak"

slayer worship has a lot to do w/it and the idea of slayer as the "ultimate" metal band

otm. i like that even though i'm sure the performances on this album are many takes Pro-Tooled together (just like everything else, nbd), it feels like it's not to a click and has a certain looseness and character to it.

at live shows on the other hand he rushes like a maniac to the point where i don't know how the other members keep it together, but that is kinda charming too.

lars is a v rigid, inflexible, and unmusical drummer but also his limitations give him a very idiosyncratic style, dude's fills are v much his own. this is super apparently on lulu where he improvises a lot and it fuckin rules. also what he does seems v physically exhausting and he plays two hour shows, etc. i know people love to shit on lars but he's so inextricable from metallica's sound

this is super apparent*

slayer worship has a lot to do w/it and the idea of slayer as the "ultimate" metal band

Which is weird as hell since Lombardo is a super loose drummer, the way he drives the band is much more about groove than relentless machine-gun battery.

There's a lot of moments on ...And Justice For All where certain transitions between certain riffs would be far more jarring if it wasn't for Lars helping to glue it together.

i dunno. I mean, I think it's ok to admit Lars isn't a great drummer. it is true that metal is full of such robodrummers like Flo Mounier, Dave Lombardo, Proscriptor, Pete Sandoval, etc that the expectation do tend to be elevated for metal drummers, but I mean there's a reason that the early Sodom albums are revered despite the horrible drumming. nothing Lars does on disc is embarrassing and complements the music fine.

live, though, he *IS* quite sloppy, he speeds up at weird times, he omits beats. If you listen to a MOP-era bootleg, you could barely tell songs like "For Whom the Bell Tolls" from songs like "Damage Inc" because Lars would speed the songs up to where they sounded like a different animal (fortunately he got over those zips by the AJFA era).

They've always been kind of known for being sloppy live (the Cunning Stunts DVD is one of the worst recorded performances of the band I think you could find). They've definitely taken it more serious in recent years, because on listening to bootlegs from the last 5 years, I don't hear the same complacency that I heard say, when they were half-enthusiastically playing their classics during the Load years.

doesn't impact the enjoyment of their live sets any (I do think it's fair to expect bands to play well live for what you pay, but there's a huge diff between Metallica-esque sloppiness, and the outright DGAF attitude HR gives live in Bad Brains these days)...there are some metalheads that will be at concerts basically counting every gaffe and I feel like that's the wrong way to enjoy a metal show but ymmv

speaking of....I am kind of excited of being able to go to a Metallica show and looking forward to the new stuff. I haven't seen them since 1999 and judging for their 2009 Mexico performance (released on DVD a few years ago)....I'd really like to again.

Funnily enough, I was thinking about ,Cunning Stunts last night and how I haven't seen it (or any of the Live Shit stuff) for years... I don't really remember the quality of the performances sticking out, more moments like Newsted's bass solo and Hetfield's terrible acting during the "burning man" section, which surely must be the most unconvincing "what the fuck?" Hetfield has ever uttered.

In fact, does Hammett cock up the 'One' solo on Cunning Stunts or am I confusing it with a different show entirely? It's been a long time!

lol he butchers it badly. he falls about a measure and a half behind and you kind of see it register in his face and he tries to catch up.

the 'burning man' thing was funny. long before the days of social media, I learned of this gimmick via USENet, so I knew it was going to happen at my show. but most of the fans there were telling me "OMG IT WAS REAL, HE WENT TO THE HOSPITAL". so I kept asking them how it was possible that none of that was staged when the flaming man APPEARED IN THE PROMO VIDEO FOR THE TOUR and I was telling people hours before the show it was gonna happen (i was a dick that didn't care about spoilers).

they wree like "coincidence!"

in a way, I kinda hated that aspect of Metallica live. like, the Load tour show I saw was 2:30 - 2:45, and yet a good half hour of that was pointless Hammett guitar solos, pointless Newsted solos, playing fragments of a bunch of songs without actually *playing* them (I'm not talking the medleys, either - I mean they played the intro for "Sanitarium" and at least 2 other songs and just stopped 20 seconds in.

like, if you're going to put on a 2+ hour show, be Springsteen and keep the music going.

they seem to be doing that now though. I could do without the guitar solos tho. drum solos are fun live because of the athletic nature of them, but when I hear a 2-3 minute disembodied solo I'm kinda like "i'd rather be hearing a tune".

re: lar's drumming, whoever compared him to ringo upthread otm, of course there are better drummers than lars but the guy can swing, and it is not possible to swing when you are playing double bass blast beats the whole damn time

what made Lars great is his parts and choices imo, more the creative aspect and how his parts worked with the arrangement than the physical. he was my Ringo basically.

Yeah, he's not a great drummer, but he's a very good composer of drum parts.

i've never thought of ringo as sloppy or not a good drummer

Lars is weird in Metallica becuz he's actually the lead guitarist not the drummer.

people sometimes see simplicity and taste as negatives in a drummer, compared to flashier contemporaries.

They absolutely killed on Howard Stern recently, worth seeking out. Also I am my own best friend.

First live performance of the new song. Lars is keeping the beard, it seems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHOrR2XvEcU

everything about that -- including and/or especially hetfield's denim vest w/ patches -- just makes me want to search for vintage live clips of "battery."

i do think the new stuff i've heard is on an upward swing but sorta like how a bowlful of necco wafers is better than a bowlful of nails.

always thought lars' drumming on Lulu was spectacular because of his limitations, it's the sound of a drummer really struggling, you feel the weight of the beats and it fits the atmosphere and concept of the record nicely - the doomy/sludgy genre vibes too

one of the underrated things about Lulu is that they are working with Lou's guys so they actually sound pretty good instead of their usual active rock production

always thought lars' drumming on Lulu was spectacular because of his limitations, it's the sound of a drummer really struggling, you feel the weight of the beats and it fits the atmosphere and concept of the record nicely - the doomy/sludgy genre vibes too

exactly!

Just finished listening to this. (It leaked, so I torrented it - I've already paid for the 3CD deluxe edition.) As I suspected, they split it across two discs because they felt like that's how it worked best artistically, just like Baroness did with Yellow & Green. The total running time is just over 77 minutes - shorter than Load. Most of the songs are in the 6-7 minute range; the longest is 8:15 ("Halo on Fire," the last song on Disc 1).

There are some real surprises here; it's not all head-down thrash. "Dream No More" might be the slowest non-ballad Metallica have ever recorded; it's basically doom, and Hetfield delivers a vocal unlike anything I've ever heard from him, at the top of his range, almost keening. There are some Baroness-ish guitar harmonies on "Halo on Fire," and the bass and drums are kind of "Until It Sleeps"-ish. Lots of midtempo stuff on the second disc, with the exception of "Spit Out the Bone," a seven-minute thrash-blast that I think features Trujillo's first bass solo on record (fuzzed-out, loud as hell). It's definitely heavier and more knuckle-dragging than Death Magnetic, which retained some boogie elements from the Load/ReLoad era mixed with Black Album-style heaviness. This time, they're back to full-on metal-ness; no ballads, even though Hetfield is really singing a lot of the time, and sounding really good.

I'm gonna be listening to this all week, and reviewing it at length for Burning Ambulance. (An editor contacted me about possibly writing it up, but he was looking for a negative review and I couldn't promise him one - hadn't heard it yet - so I didn't get the assignment.)

i'm so excited

Only listened to the first half so far. Not really convinced my the slower material just yet.

he was looking for a negative review

Is this normal in music criticism?

but he was looking for a negative review and I couldn't promise him one - hadn't heard it yet - so I didn't get the assignment.)
― Don Van Gorp, midwest regional VP, marketing (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, November 12, 2016 4:04 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what the fuck is up with this shit

I'm not gonna reveal the name of the site, but it's very popular on ILX and a number of ILXors, in fact, write for it.

I've heard of things like that happening in the past, but I can't believe it's still happening.

fuck those sites/magazines who insist on negative (or positive) reviews. Why not just review something fairly?

i love this so far but i'm a huge metallica apologist and lulu fan so ymmv. it is way better than death magnetic

"Dream No More" might be the slowest non-ballad Metallica have ever recorded

i don't think this is true though. the tempo (and overall vibe) is v reload

it fuckin rocks though

After listening to "Dream No More" 2 or 3 more times, I think it's Sabbath-meets-"Sad But True," with more groove, because Trujillo is a more groove-oriented bassist than Newsted. He listens to a ton of jazz, worships Jaco Pastorius, was in Infectious Grooves...all that seeps into Metallica now. You can hear it on "Halo On Fire," too.

I will probably only ever listen to a 7/8 track edit (77 minutes is just way too long for what they do, I've never understood their fetish for long-ass albums) but this is pretty damn good. The opening 4-track run is very satisfying.

This album makes me so happy. There was about 20 minutes or so of filler on Death Magnetic, but for a 77 minute album (really, it's more like two LPs of 37 and 40 minute lengths) it's so taut. You can hear a renewed sense of fun in their music now that they've gone back to their metal roots, and there are some cool little experimental moments like Phil mentioned that work very well.

First Rush's Clockwork Angels, then Maiden's Book of Souls, now this one. It feels like my favourite bands have been rediscovering that old magic at the same time.

Honestly the other Metallica album that most comes to mind when listening to disc 1 is Kill Em All.

the stuff on disc two kinda runs together but i do really love "manUNkind" plus i'll never stop loling at the title

the stuff on disc two kinda runs together

Agreed; disc 1 is definitely the best stuff, but the last track is fucking massive.

I like "Spit out the Bone" but it could do with two or three fewer jam-out sections

Makes me glad that there's a song about Cthulhu on this.

After my second listen I am forced to conclude that there are good bits here and there, but overall this is mediocre.

After a while I just put on Ride the Lightning and all is forgotten.

Apparently Metallica have made videos for every track on the new album, which are premiering on a bunch of websites across the globe today and tomorrow. The clip for what I currently think is the best song on the album, "Now That We're Dead," will be on Pitchfork at 6 PM EST.

am i the only one bored silly w video albums? i just don't care. they're like the futon of the music world.