|
|
Post by FrankSobotka1514 on Jun 24, 2020 12:13:00 GMT
There has probably never been an album by a major band that has made me angrier than the “Black Album” except maybe it’s predecessor “And Justice For All”, albeit for entirely different reasons. AJFA is a fantastic album pretty much start to finish with one major caveat - it is the worst sounding album by a major label artist that I’ve ever heard. Perhaps there were other ways to haze the new guy rather than essentially removing all traces of him during production. Perhaps they could have made Lars sound less like a wind-up cymbal monkey. But ok, fine, it is what it is. So they hire a real producer and put out the Black Album. The opening track, while stylistically different than anything that came before it, is a perfect hard rock song. And everything else on the album? Utter crap, a complete slap in the face to their first three legendary metal albums. I’ve been told that it brought metal into the mainstream. Possibly, but not good metal. I mean unless you count shit like Papa Roach and Puddle of Mudd good. So what say you, is it a metal masterpiece, lazy garbage, or somewhere in between?
I need sports back, I’m debating the merits of a 20 year old album.
|
|
|
|
Post by orkrdrkr on Jun 24, 2020 12:30:29 GMT
I thought that the Black Album was more like 30 years old.
Yeah, people have always had mixed feelings about it. I remember a TV program where the presenter said that it was questionable whether it was their best, but it was nonetheless their best-selling without doubt. On other hand, I knew quite a few Metallica fans who abhorred anything that the band did afterwards (especially St. Anger which was the most abominable) and did not mind it much at all, but would perhaps not rank it as a favorite.
|
|
|
|
Post by FrankSobotka1514 on Jun 24, 2020 12:42:45 GMT
I thought that the Black Album was more like 30 years old. Yeah, people have always had mixed feelings about it. I remember a TV program where the presenter said that it was questionable whether it was their best, but it was nonetheless their best-selling without doubt. On other hand, I knew quite a few Metallica fans who abhorred anything that the band did afterwards (especially St. Anger which was the most abominable) and did not mind it much at all, but would perhaps not rank it as a favorite. You’re correct, it was 30 years ago. My math is off this morning. In light of what came out AFTER the Black album, it’s clearly not their worst, but to me it paved the way for everything that followed it. |
|
|
|
Post by Jokers_Wilde on Jun 24, 2020 12:50:17 GMT
I need sports back, I’m debating the merits of a 20 year old album.
I was going to comment:
Don't look now, but next summer, it will be THIRTY years old. 
However, you caught it. Good man!
I was amped for the new album to come out after hearing all of Metallica's previous albums. I remember getting the cassette the week it came out from the local music store.
Not as edgy as their previous albums. However, I must have loved it because I did end up getting it on CD eventually.
And, about your other comment:
I agree. I miss sports, too.
Joker's Wilde |
|
|
|
Post by Rey Kahuka on Jun 24, 2020 13:22:20 GMT
Yeah other than Enter Sandman, it's pretty lousy. It was the beginning of their transition to Bob Seger-land. I don't think it was lazy, Hetfield still seems to have put effort into the song writing. It's just a departure from what came before. It's softer, it's weaker. It represents an aging perspective for the band members. It's natural, so I can't blame them for that. But it was definitely a turning point toward all the terrible stuff that came after it.
Actually I think it was AJFA that brought metal into the mainstream. One was their first music video, and it was hugely popular on Mtv. Even my sister liked it and she listened to New Kids On The Block for Christ's sake. I think I had been into them for about a year when AJFA was released. The thing about AJFA is that all the songs felt like they were 10 minutes long. The tracks on their previous albums weren't short by any means, but they were fun to listen to. AJFA just dragged in places. Maybe it's because their first three studio albums were so damn good (I consider them to be the holy trinity of metal, and it's all the same band) that it was an impossible act to follow.
To be honest, I can still listen to Kill Em All, Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets for the music's sake, whereas AJFA I'd probably only enjoy for nostalgic purposes. I wouldn't even bother with the black album and I never bought a Metallica album after that.
|
|
|
|
Post by FrankSobotka1514 on Jun 24, 2020 13:38:48 GMT
Yeah other than Enter Sandman, it's pretty lousy. It was the beginning of their transition to Bob Seger-land. I don't think it was lazy, Hetfield still seems to have put effort into the song writing. It's just a departure from what came before. It's softer, it's weaker. It represents an aging perspective for the band members. It's natural, so I can't blame them for that. But it was definitely a turning point toward all the terrible stuff that came after it. Actually I think it was AJFA that brought metal into the mainstream. One was their first music video, and it was hugely popular on Mtv. Even my sister liked it and she listened to New Kids On The Block for Christ's sake. I think I had been into them for about a year when AJFA was released. The thing about AJFA is that all the songs felt like they were 10 minutes long. The tracks on their previous albums weren't short by any means, but they were fun to listen to. AJFA just dragged in places. Maybe it's because their first three studio albums were so damn good (I consider them to be the holy trinity of metal, and it's all the same band) that it was an impossible act to follow. To be honest, I can still listen to Kill Em All, Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets for the music's sake, whereas AJFA I'd probably only enjoy for nostalgic purposes. I wouldn't even bother with the black album and I never bought a Metallica album after that. The only album of theirs I own post-Black Album is Death Magnetic. To me that album is as if AJFA and the Black Album has a baby. Endlessly long songs but with better production values, though I’ll argue that Rick Rubin is the most overrated producer there ever was. Sure his catalog is long and impressive, but everything is always loud to the point of distortion. DM has a few good moments when compared to what came before, but other that one track I never play anything from it. To me the whole DM album is as if a cleverly designed AI program made a Metallica album. |
|
|
|
Post by _ on Jun 24, 2020 15:53:11 GMT
I hated it when it came out, but I don't care anymore, I haven't listened to them since about '96.
|
|
|
|
Post by hoskotafe3 on Jun 24, 2020 18:35:52 GMT
Loved it, mainly because I was 10 years old when it came out and so was one of those kids who it made metal mainstream to. I got the guitar tab book when I was about 13 and would sit on my bed for hours every day playing along with the whole album.
Of course I ended up getting the earlier albums once I was about 15 and preferring them, but the Black album will always have a place in my heart. The big 3 from 1991 (Black, Ten and Nevermind) along with Throwing Copper from 1994 were the first albums I could play along with from start to finish which always gives them a special place in my heart.
|
|
|
|
Post by Winston Wolfe on Jun 24, 2020 19:47:13 GMT
Yes, although it is the weakest of the first five I’m surprise people consider this the beginning of their downfall.
|
|
|
|
Post by millar70 on Jun 24, 2020 21:01:29 GMT
The Black Album is fantastic, almost as good as And Justice....but not quite.
Both of those were a step down from the albums before them, but nowhere near as much as some of you seem to think, at least to my ears anyways.
Metallica didn't start producing mediocre music until after the Load albums.
|
|
|
|
Post by twothousandonemark on Jun 25, 2020 1:45:25 GMT
Yes it's good, very good. Does it rule? Not exactly.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jayman on Jun 25, 2020 17:49:59 GMT
I never cared for this album. I never bought this one and never bought another metallica album
|
|
|
|
Post by _ on Jun 25, 2020 17:57:10 GMT
I never cared for this album. I never bought this one and never bought another metallica album I had Load and Re Load on cassette. But I heard St Anger was god awful. |
|
|
|
Post by SportsFan19 on Jun 26, 2020 0:20:31 GMT
I never cared for this album. I never bought this one and never bought another metallica album I had Load and Re Load on cassette. But I heard St Anger was god awful. I had the same, except just kind of gave up/lost track of them after that. Stopped trying to follow all the latest music after that. |
|
