06-28-2003, 06:33 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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salmon?
Location: Outside Providence
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Mettalica video game
Hope it don't suck as much as the album
Quote:
Metallica's 'St. Anger' moves band into new place
"St. Anger" is the first album of new Metallica material in about six years. That alone is noteworthy, but the story behind the album is much deeper than that. That the band is musically largely intact is kind of amazing.
Longtime member bassist Jason Newstad left the band three years ago. The year before that, the band was instrumental in an anti-Napster campaign. This expressed the music industry's profound frustration with the widely used peer-to-peer computer file-sharing program. Metallica's drummer Lars Ulrich says that this was intended to maintain the integrity of the band's work, but out in the field it was largely viewed as another example of rich rock star greed.
Then, lead singer James Hetfield went in for extensive substance abuse rehab and followed it up with the psychological reconstruction of the band's core relationships and philosophy. Like many other fans, I was curious how well "St. Anger" would shake out.
The band upped the ante on how well it would be received. Getting wind of the distribution of purloined unfinished tapes of many of the performances, the band rush-released it late the week before it was scheduled to come out.
The first copies of "St. Anger" were distributed with a bonus DVD containing the band doing the whole album in a live studio setting.
Recognizing all the flack the band had received from its opposition to Internet distribution of its material, the band gives something back to the fans on the Internet. There's an insert in the CD that gives you a code with which you can sign in to enter the "Metallica Vault." As well as the usual photos and fan stuff, the site has several dozen live tracks with instructions that they are available for downloading and ripping CD copies.
After listening to the album four or five times and watching the DVD twice, I downloaded 10 tracks. I got lost in the technology when trying to convert the MP3 files to a form to burn onto CDs, but the problem was all mine ... working with technology just past my level of understanding. The live songs are great, though.
How is the album?
The band seems to have more of a reflective message now on the album. This does not mean the album's wimpy in any way. "Could I have my wasted days back? Would I use them to get back on track?" the album starts. "My lifestyle determines my death style!"
This is not the frame of mind of some headbanging nihilist. It marks a transition: Hetfield has moved the band into a place where the band's lifestyle won't detract from the music.
This is, after all, the speed metal band that spawned a whole generation of today's hard rock activities. One could say that there would be no Deftones, no Limp Bizkit or Korn if Metallica hadn't cut through.
The fan base is still there but crumbling a little. Like the band members, they're maturing. A healthy first week of sales put the album at No. 1 in the album sales charts, if only for one week, even in a shorter week due to the rush release date. The fans seem to like that the band has returned to its roots, making basic music. They're unencumbered by complicated arrangements of unfamiliar songs. They've jammed the songs into being, so they're tight.
Replacement bassist Robert Trujillo (formerly from Suicidal Tendencies) fits right in, which is interesting given the long history of the band's classic lineup. But change is good.
If all this multimedia stuff isn't already enough, the DVD teases the upcoming Metallica video game.
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spleen edit: added quote
Last edited by meanSpleen; 06-28-2003 at 06:54 PM..
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