It's been a Metallica week for me. Last weekend, I caught snippets of Some Kind of Monster on Netflix. That movie is the thing that should not be. Drama from 40 year old multi-millionaires struggling with remedial art? It's a train wrecking into a flaming bus, and it's good fun.
Of course the recent Grammy fiasco during the performance with Lady Gaga possibly put the band into my frontal lobe. Thats how these little musical digressions start, folks. For those not aware, James mic was unplugged.
Metallica is an entity that has always been there in my life. I was 9 when Kill 'Em All came out, making the release of Master of Puppets smack dab in the middle of my influential preteen years. I grew up (and old) with them. I watched every triumph and misstep as a fan from the sidelines. They are part of my DNA.
Like so many other fans, for me, Metallica has 3 masterpieces, 2 great LP's, and one pretty badass EP. From 1983 till 1991 they could do no wrong. The forged a legend that is pay dirt 35 years later. They are the U2 of Heavy Metal because of their early work. They became the biggest metal band that ever was.
But from there, they kinda phoned in a couple of LP's (I secretly love Re-load), did a bunch of covers (I'm sorry, but they all suck! Turn the Page? Whiskey on the Jar?), and a song for a movie soundtrack. They sued Napster (they were right in doing so) and shit out the unlistenable St Anger.
Now, I did enjoy 2008's Death Magnetic. My bro Snyder and I both geeked out about it in a major way. It felt good to hear Metallica sound metallic. DM was well received and breathed new life into the band. It's been 8 years, and now they follow it up with an ever better LP worthy of the brand. I listened to Hard Wired today in its entirety. I had heard the singles, and the one that blew me away was "Spit out the Bone."
It's safe to say that Metallica is finally aging well. They play to their strengths, have learned from mistakes and just about killed it this time. Good show! They could have made another shit LP and toured, but they pushed themselves forward. I dare say it's really good.
So forgive me for this late (and kinda vague) review. I guess I have blown off so much Metallica over the years it has become habit. But take LuLu out of the equation and the last 8 years have been pretty stellar. Death Magnetic is ok, Through the Never is cool, and Hard Wired is the best we can expect from Metallica. Dayum, they even hosted the infamous "Big Four" shows. Not too shabby of a run.
I do have an old bone to pick though. Am I the only one who cares that Enter Sandman is loosely about Peter Pan? Not very metal.
Rufio > Pan.
Nago
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