Metallica

Ah, this album. One of heavy metal's most famous, and in some places, infamous creations. Like the face that launched a thousand ships, this record led to so much more acceptance of metal plus two billion slabs of crunching groove, groove, groove - I jest. But quite seriously, the Black Album, whether you like, love, adore, dislike, hate, or loathe it, is one of the most important and influential albums in metal and rock history, for better or worse. This is the album where Metallica apparently decided to "go against" everything they had supposedly stood for in the '80s musically, that obviously being thrash, although not only do I not think Metallica consciously went against their original, speedier sound, I also doubt many thrash bands from that era would have given a shit about obsessive teenage fans who actually believed there was some kind of genre war going on for 'true metal' or something, bought into the whole thrash vs glam thing, and said things like: "I hate glam, it's for pussies! I listen to thrash, I'm a real man!".

Then again, there was Lars Ulrich's famous quotation, "Fuck MTV! We'll never do a video!", and then they ignored that and did one with One (pardon the repetition and pun) from ...And Justice For All. There's no doubt that Metallica often shot themselves in the foot by saying one thing and later doing another entirely. I don't think the Black Album was ever meant to be perceived as an attack on what Metallica used to be though, and I certainly don't consider it to be that.

Still, as much as I find the whole phenomenon of "thrash purism" to be somewhat ridiculous and over the top at times (although in its own twisted way, is also admirable in its dedication), it isn't hard to understand why Metallica's hardcore fan base might at the very least have been rather surprised when they first heard "Enter Sandman". Sure, it's heavy as hell with a pounding rhythm that commands you to rock hard, but it's also slower, a little easier on the ears, and nowhere near fast or aggressive enough to be thrash.

Then again, this isn't a thrash album. Metallica was tired of making epic, progressive stuff, and after the grueling recording process of ...And Justice For All, who wouldn't be? They knew that they could never keep that up, so what did they do? They made this album, a pure heavy (as opposed to thrash) metal one, chock-full of anthems related to the subjects of darkness, voices in one's head, touring, and religion, along with a couple of epics about girls and difficult childhoods. All typical rock and metal subjects, but the interesting thing is that they weren't done in the manner of bands like Maiden or Priest. It was different, more focused on ultra heavy, groovy rhythms and less on classic metal melodies and the '80s style of songwriting.

Going back to how many thrash fans must have felt when they heard this album for the first time, again one has to admit it is a little extreme for a band that once claimed to hate MTV so much that they'd never do a video to go completely the other way and make not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE videos, five singles, and five hits (or more, if you count some of the other songs on here).

So yeah, for a portion of the fan base to harbor feelings of shock, distrust, and even resentment towards the band is understandable, but at their roots, did Metallica not always have as much classic metal and rock in their veins as they did thrash? In fact, they obviously couldn't have had thrash in their veins since they virtually invented thrash. It came from an amalgamation of various sounds. I'm speaking more broadly of influences as opposed to actual music. Along with their more NWOBHM-influenced material early on, including some of their most famous songs such as Seek and Destroy, plus many other factors, Metallica also had their slower songs and ballads which many other thrash bands didn't even bother with.

The point I'm trying to make is that in my opinion, Metallica were never just a "pure thrash" band and nothing else. Sure, they had that sound, but they always had diverse influences and were never afraid to experiment. And that, perhaps, in a nutshell, explains their enduring popularity. I don't particularly like what they did with Load and Reload even if I consider them to be decent albums, because it did seem less like innovation and more like cashing into the alt-rock trend, and also the fact that they were actually saying garbage like "heavy metal is dead" at the time. However, Metallica have always played many different styles of music, all rooted in either heavy rock or metal. Diversity, I feel, is a good thing so long as one doesn't completely lose sight of one's prime influences. And at the time that this album was released in '91, I don't think Metallica had done so, they were simply streamlining their sound a bit, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. What happened later is another story, even if I don't care that much.

But I digress. Enter Sandman, that tune that so quickly became one of metal's most famous songs, is just the beginning of the ride. An anthem if there ever was one, but what comes next?

"DUN, DUN DUN DUN DIN! DIN DUN..." etc.

Followed by a brief silence.

Then a drum roll, and it begins. Something heavy enough that when played at high volumes, it's like a skyscraper falling slowly, but deliberately onto one's head, beating you senseless again, again, and again, a monster groove of mammoth proportions, if little complex, not that this matters. Sad But True, people. A song that crushes like Black Sabbath's slowest and heaviest songs with more of a groove and a really thick, bassy sound. Catchy? Hell yeah, but so are Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio, etc, and the type of metalheads who refute every thrash, death, or black metal band that's remotely catchy still barely have a single bad thing to say about those bands apart from Priest "selling out to the glam scene" with Turbo. This points to a rather odd aspect of some extreme metal fans' behavioral patterns; for those who take music a little too seriously, basically, the 'code of true metal' goes something like this: it's not alright to be catchy if you're an extreme band, 'cos metal is generally underground, not mainstream, and being catchy is selling out, but if you're a classic metal band, somehow it's acceptable and even wanted.

Funny, that.

In any case, Sad But True was another of this album's big hits and it's not hard to see why. I can imagine the band sitting down and working out how they could write a really bottom heavy song in terms of riffage, yet still keep it catchy and accessible. Indeed, Sad But True is dominated by simple pentatonic and phrygian melodies, with the main riff a crushing piece of low, groove-based metal. And yes, like Enter Sandman, compared to songs such as ...And Justice For All's title track, this is ridiculously simple.

And in this case, that's the beauty of it. Heavy metal, like every other genre, doesn't always need to be more intellectual, thoughtful, progressive, or complex than other music. Of course it can be, and that's welcome too. However, plenty of the best metal songs are fairly straightforward, Accept's Balls to the Wall and Maiden's The Number Of The Beast being just two famous examples. Sad But True is remarkably unfettered, content to be a crushing rocker with a killer groove and little else, and that's why it's my favourite song on the album. It's not pretentious. It's just there. The bass rumbles, the vocals are a vicious snarl, the lyrics are sinister, and the solo is good.

I think I've got my main points across with these two songs; they define most of what follows, so there's no need for excessive details. Holier than Thou is another straightforward song, almost a thrasher but not quite, and aside from the unnecessary cussing, it's pretty good. The Unforgiven isn't on the same level as One, (Welcome Home) Sanitarium, or Fade to Black, but it's still a great song with excellent use of dynamics, an interesting reversal with the heavy verses and soft chorus, and a strong atmosphere. Wherever I May Roam is another more epic track, fairly straight but with interesting use of phrygian and harmonic minor scales, a cool sitar intro, a great performance by James, and another strong solo. Don't Tread On Me is a crushing groove-based track much like Sad But True, quite similar to what Pantera had already started with Cowboys from Hell, but even more similar to what followed two years later. If you ever wondered where they got inspiration from, I'd wager strongly that a lot of it was the Black Album's heaviest and slowest numbers. Again, for better or worse, it may not be true, but it seems that way to me.

Through The Never is a throwback to Metallica's old days, a vicious thrasher with really dark lyrics and an angry, nasty feel. Not a bad song, but pretty nondescript and ordinary. And of course we have Nothing Else Matters, one of Metallica's most famous and infamous songs, both for good reasons. It's a gentle ballad, probably the most purely positive song Metallica had written at that point in time, and a love song too; not something that went down well with the kind of strict thrash fans who hated glam. At the same time, it's one of Metallica's most popular songs. It all depends on your perspective, I guess. Melodically speaking, by most standards, it's very well written. Not my favourite song, but again, it generally just works as what it is.

Around this point is where the album does trail off a little bit with the rather unremarkable Of Wolf And Man. There's nothing much I can say about this song as it's just a heavy metal song with elements of thrash and doesn't really stand out at all. Thankfully, this is almost immediately redeemed with "The God That Failed" which is another groove-based monster with the guitars tuned down half a step for extra heaviness. Like Sad But True, this song simply bulldozes everything in its path with those deep, low riffs and works by virtue of its sound. I believe this song is about James' mother and her beliefs which, from what I've heard, led to her death. lt's therefore very personal, but obviously James felt it was appropriate. A powerful, crushing song, regardless.

Finally, we get the interesting, if not overly slow and miserable (no pun intended) My Friend Of Misery, followed by the semi-thrasher The Struggle Within. Considering what came before them, I wouldn't say either song is fantastic, but the former is quite unusual and the latter is a nice way to close the album, if unremarkable. Nothing special, still there are more than enough strong songs beforehand to make up for this.

So that's the Black Album. A record with an enormous legacy that both broke Metallica hugely into the mainstream and also alienated some of the band's fans who only wanted thrash, thrash, thrash, and more thrash! Again, that's fair enough, and I'm not saying anything bad about anyone here, but I am saying this: look at the direction Metallica was already taking with Ride The Lightning. That album was a huge progression from the "pure thrash" of Kill 'Em All. And then Master of Puppets, the first thrash album to gain truly enormous popularity, also a very accessible album in its own way. Even …And Justice For All had its more commercial tracks.

As for the Black Album, it was and is indeed far from either a thrash album or an underground one. At the time, though, it was simply a step towards greater accessibility, dropping much of the band's more extreme edge while retaining their variety.

This album is a landmark whether you love or despise it, a pivotal record in the heavy metal genre overall, to be either treasured or hated (depending on your point of view; I suppose it's really about how seriously you take the underground aspect of the genre, how much you cling to certain sounds, and how much you enjoy the more commercial side of rock and metal) as one of the records that really brought heavy metal into the rock mainstream (as in, heavy metal that wasn't glam) and properly legitimized an entire genre, won millions upon millions of new fans, made Metallica into a household name, and, if songs like Sad But True, Don't Tread On Me, and The God That Failed were any indication, paved the way for an entire new style of metal that would be popularized by Pantera, a band both loved and hated by many. But a lot of all this, I think, is related to the belief in some circles that "the '80s rocked, the '90s sucked!", though.

The '90s were certainly different. It's as if everything slowed down, became groovier, simpler, grungier, and darker, with less flash, less bright colours, less over the top singing and styles, less shredding, etc, while displaying more angst, more thuggish attitudes along with rapping in the case of nu-metal, more resentment towards parents and politicians, more political correctness, and general darkness. It's not hard to understand then how many old school thrashers may have felt, plus many glam fans, classic metal fans, etc. So going on the assumption that the "hated" part is really about the sounds you enjoy and more a symptom of the "love the '80s, fuck the '90s" mentality, it's fair enough.

Still, this also means that if you look at it with a different attitude, the only negative aspect of the Black Album's legacy doesn't have to be a negative. It becomes one only if you cling to the dream that Metallica should have stayed with their original thrash sound, and thus never made it truly massive commercially as they did. Since that isn't what happened and they are still one of the biggest metal bands of all time, again, for better or worse, nowadays, I just shrug, put on Sad But True, and resume slow headbanging, or maybe "head-nodding" in this case.