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Other Topics => Entertainment => Topic started by: Torgo on May 31, 2007, 09:33:40 PM



Title: Best Metallica studio album.
Post by: Torgo on May 31, 2007, 09:33:40 PM
BTW, I decided to limit this poll only to Metallica's full length studio albums of all original material.  That's why I didn't list stuff like the Garage Days Re-revisited E.P. and S&M.

Anyway,  while I do realize that Master of Puppets will always rightfully so be the definitive Metallica release, my personal favorite has always been  And Justice For All.

I've been listening to Metallica ever since they came out with Kill 'Em All when I was 8(!) in 1983 and I feel that they exhibited a dramatic growth up through Justice.

I wasn't one of the fans that hated The Black Album.  I did realize that they had taken their original style about to the limit on Justice and a change was necessary.  While it's a much more commercial/mainstream release in comparison, it still has a ton of great songs on it and they actually still sounded like Metallica on it.

I try to act like Load, Re-Load and St. Anger don't exist.

The reason I hate Load/Re-Load isn't totally due to  them stretching out sonically (in a lot of ill advised directions) ,  but that the songwriting IMO is just thoroughly mediocre to sometimes just plain bad.

St. Anger is just an unlistenable mess, which sucks because every now and then I hear a glimmer of a cool idea on there in which I'm like "WHY DIDN'T THEY WORK MORE WITH THAT!"

Anyway, I figured that since they're knee deep in working on their new album with Rick Rubin, that I would see what you all thought of their studio releases. 


Title: Re: Best Metallica studio album.
Post by: Ash on May 31, 2007, 09:45:31 PM
I voted for Master of Puppets but I do agree with you about And Justice For All...
Justice totally rocks from beginning to end.

Matter of fact, the very first Metallica song I ever heard was Blackened when a friend loaned me his cassette tape back in 1989.
Lots of people complain about the lack of bass in Justice but I've never really noticed it. 

I'd have to say that my all time favorite song by Metallica is "Dyers Eve".
It's the last track on the Justice album.

I actually got to see Metallica in concert at Lollapalooza '96 at the Des Moines State Fairgrounds right after they released the Load album.
It was a massive outdoor show and I remember it being hotter than hell outside with the temperature hovering around 95-100 degrees for most of the day.
Soundgarden opened for them and Metallica didn't go onstage until almost midnight.
I didn't go into the mosh pit because I was wearing sandals.  (I wasn't about to get my feet crushed)
And someone from the audience threw a full water bottle at Jason Newstead and hit him in the face with it.
James Hetfield stopped the show and had some harsh words.  ( I don't blame him)
I later heard that the guy who did it got beat up pretty bad by fellow audience members.

Crazy times I tell ya!




Title: Re: Best Metallica studio album.
Post by: Shadow on May 31, 2007, 11:05:39 PM
While I agree that Master of Puppets is the "definitive" Metallica album, I gotta go with Ride the Lightning. To me it was more polished than Kill 'em All, retained the heavy feel, but didn't suffer from the over produced sound that started to appear on subsequent albums. Load and Re-Load were just ok to me. St. Anger was just pure crap.


Title: Re: Best Metallica studio album.
Post by: Jack on June 01, 2007, 07:54:43 AM
I went with Ride the Lightning, as it was the first Metallica album I ever heard.  I'm sort of proud of myself for introducing all my friends to that album before any of them had heard of Metallica.  Master of Puppets was absolutely fantastic as well though.

We saw them live in Minneapolis on the Justice for All tour.  Quite a show.  I remember the entire audience pumping their fists in the air to one of their tunes. 


Title: Re: Best Metallica studio album.
Post by: Oldskool138 on June 01, 2007, 11:57:24 AM
It's a tie between Lightning and Puppets.  I chose Puppets because of one song on Lightning..."Escape".  It has long been my least favorite song from 80's Metallica.  "Escape" is the tie-breaker...Otherwise I'd have to lean more towards Lightning.  "The Call Of Ktulu" is one of my favorite songs of all time!  :thumbup:


Title: Re: Best Metallica studio album.
Post by: BeyondTheGrave on June 01, 2007, 12:50:24 PM
This is tough because I love their first 4 releases but I went with Master of Puppets. Just because "Battery" and "Damage Inc." can make me into a crazy moshing madman. I also didn't mind "Black" album. It did go in a commerical direcation but still Metalllica. After that I don't care what they say they went what was popular in the 90s with "alternative" stuff that was happening.

I also love their covers of Discharge songs and the Anti-Nowhere Leagues So What? being a big punk fan and all.


Title: Re: Best Metallica studio album.
Post by: Torgo on June 01, 2007, 03:59:10 PM
I actually got to see Metallica in concert at Lollapalooza '96 at the Des Moines State Fairgrounds right after they released the Load album.
It was a massive outdoor show and I remember it being hotter than hell outside with the temperature hovering around 95-100 degrees for most of the day.
Soundgarden opened for them and Metallica didn't go onstage until almost midnight.
I didn't go into the mosh pit because I was wearing sandals.  (I wasn't about to get my feet crushed)
And someone from the audience threw a full water bottle at Jason Newstead and hit him in the face with it.
I saw it happen.
James Hetfield stopped the show and had some harsh words.  ( I don't blame him)
I later heard that the guy who did it got beat up pretty bad by fellow audience members.

Crazy times I tell ya!




I got to see Metallica live on the Justice tour in Roanoke, VA.  The acoustics are terrible in that venue (if you can even call it that  :lookingup: ) so it just sounded like a sonic blur at times. If you weren't really well versed in their material up to that point, you would have had absolutely no idea what they were playing at times.  though I had a blast still, and my ears rang for about a week afterwards (which might explain why I have a bit of tinnitus in my ears now  :teddyr: ).

BTW, the bottle throwing thing reminded me of something.

When I saw Primus in Charlotte, NC in 1996 on the Tales from the Punchbowl tour, someone threw a shoe(!) at Les Claypool and it hit his electric-upright bass dead on.  He stopped playing, asked in his mic "now who was the stupid bastard that threw a shoe  at me like that?!"  The people around the idiot  who threw the show, all picked him up crowd surfing style and crowd surfed him over to the security door in which he was promptly ejected.   :teddyr:  Too funny.

BTW, Helmet opened up for Primus at that particular show.  I can't for the life of me remember who opened for Metallica on that show on the Justice tour. Might have been The Cult.


Title: Re: Best Metallica studio album.
Post by: Mr_Vindictive on June 01, 2007, 08:07:40 PM
My vote was for ...And Justice For All.

Master Of Puppets is a great album, and I love Master and The Thing That Should Not Be.  Both are awesome.  Ride The Lighting is great too with Ride The Lightning, For Whom The Bell Tolls, and Call Of Ktulu.

Justice won out for me because of One.  I lose it during the last third of that song, absolutely fantastic.  It's hard and fast as hell.  One is the defining Metallica song for me.  Also, Harvester Of Sorrow is a hell of a lot of fun too.

I really liked S&M despite thinking that I would loathe it.  Metallica really did a great job with that album and Michael Kamen's orchestra work is beautiful.  Obviously beauty isn't something you think of when speaking of Metallica but it works really well.


Title: Re: Best Metallica studio album.
Post by: Mr. DS on June 05, 2007, 11:38:17 AM
Master Of Puppets by far has my vote.  I don't think that band ever was the same after the unfortunate loss of Cliff Burton.  Justice was a good album but I severely hated the Black Album.  I don't want to use the term "sold out" because I never liked the term but I will say musically they seemed to go downhill after that album. 

St. Anger was them trying to recapture the good old days but it just sounds silly. 


Title: Re: Best Metallica studio album.
Post by: count_nefaria on June 14, 2007, 07:52:42 AM
For me Kill'em All. It helped to the development of Thrash Metal and well, most songs were written by Dave Mustaine, and I prefer Megadeth than Metallica hehe.
But the first four albums are all very good.