Metallica: Still worth the hype?

METALLICA: a name that sparks profound passion from just about every music fan around the world. Be it fanatical idol worship or bitter loathing, everybody's got an opinion about these guys, and here at Peacedogman is no exception.

But are they really "all that"?Are they the LED ZEPPELIN of this generation as VH1 claimed? Before we dissect the history of the band its impact on the music industry, let's take a look at how a few of our resident staff writers feel about these questions.

WILL BROADBENT: I think the first few METALLICA records were indeed very good, and I think they still hold up well today. With no video or radio play, they sold records just through underground word of mouth and touring, which I don't think anyone would be able to do if your music wasn't "all that." Every big to mid-level thrash band pretty much followed their lead, and when METALLICA pussied out and slowed things down for the Black Album, everyone from ANTHRAX and MEGADETH to TESTAMENT and OVERKILL got in line to try and "ride the lightning" they created. So their impact and influence can never be put into doubt.

RAY DORSEY: Well, they are certainly not the LED ZEPPELIN of any generation, in my opinion. METALLICA came along at the perfect time & things worked out very well for them. They did some great stuff, and at one point were surely one of the predominant metal bands around. The way "Master Of Puppets" sold, especially out of the box upon release (I was working at a record store then) was quite impressive & back in the very early days, '83 or thereabouts they were quite scary live in the power that they generated, the aggression combined with excellent musicianship.

To compare them, songwriting-wise, with something like ZEPPELIN, SABBATH, PRIEST, MAIDEN, etc. however, I think is ludicrous. Even their best, most involved and thoughtful songs ("Disposable Heroes," "...And Justice For All," etc.) had nowhere near the dynamics, melodies or deft touches of things like "When The Levee Breaks," "Under The Sun (Every Day Comes & Goes)" or "Saints In Hell." In truth, METALLICA actually probably never did an album as good as ARTILLERY's "Terror Squad." But, for most metal fans in the '80's, they spear-headed a movement, I would say.

How? Well, first their countless followers began to speed up their heavy metal and made it a kind of sport (who could be the fastest?), and then metal fans began to develop an interest in punk and hardcore due to James Hetfield wearing GBH and MISFITS shirts. And then they followed up that first album with two records that showed there was more to them than just speed and got some mainstream attention out of it too, and rightfully so. They may have released only three good albums, but their influence can't be denied. For better or for worse, metal would have looked completely different without those three records.

MARK MARCHMAN: "Kill 'em All" is probably my favorite metal record of all time, has been for years and years. It's the culmination of METALLICA's early days. Why did they rule so much? Because Lars was a huge NWOBHM collector, and Cliff was constantly introducing the band to great stuff as well. The band learned the best songs by bands like DIAMOND HEAD, MERCYFUL FATE, BUDGIE, BLITZKRIEG, SWEET SAVAGE, HOLOCAUST, and a ton of others. They played these songs, and fans thought they were their own, because the records were so obscure. I think with the doors they opened, they should be regarded up there with bands like PRIEST and MAIDEN, but not PURPLE, SABBATH, or ZEPPELIN. They just didn't have enough good, groundbreaking material after "Master" to warrant such inclusion. But then again, when I was growing up, the FM stations would play ZEP songs every night at ten. Now, it's 'mandatory METALLICA' instead. I'd much rather hear 'Achilles Last Stand' or 'Out on the Tiles' than 'Enter Sandman' and 'Fade to Black' for the thousandth time, but whatever.

Hit the lights

First off, looking into METALLICA's origin helps explain how they've achieved the success they have. Lars Ulrich came from a highly privileged family with a father who was a tennis star, and that provided for Lars the money and opportunity to see the world and gain a far wider perspective of things than anyone else in any other American metal band could ever hope or dream to have. As Ian Christe tells us in his book Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal, he would take frequent trips over to England to see his favorite NWOBHM bands perform and think nothing of it. He even spent a few months living with the parents of Sean Harris, lead singer of DIAMOND HEAD, and got to witness first-hand the band's creative process by sitting in during their practices. His father Torben Ulrich, in the METALLICA documentary "Some Kind of Monster", explains, "Lars had a very good vision at the time, of where he saw that particular, you know, the metal music going, because he could see it with European ears and eyes, I think."

One could argue that his experience with DIAMOND HEAD gave him a considerable head-start into how to run his own band later on. From there, it was all a matter of spreading their "No Life 'til Leather" demo as far as possible and winning over the right people. Ray Dorsey, a familiar face in Peacedogman Land, explains how it happened:

RAY: It had a lot to do with the underground heavy music press at the time. There was one mag in particular from San Francisco, Metal Mania, piloted by Ron Quintana, which had a major effect on things. It was a small mag usually 16-24 pages, done on newsprint, but Ron got it around, distributed it around the world into the right hands. He had a unique perspective on music & knew his shit. He also was a DJ with a show on KUSF (college radio in SF) called Rampage Radio. He would think nothing of playing the "No Life Till Leather" demo, then following it with jazz fusion like COLOSEUM II, then THE DEAD BOYS, then RETURN TO FOREVER, then SABBATH, then DISCHARGE, then SCORPIONS' "Lonesome Crow." He was friends with METALLICA & I think he helped lay the grassroots thing with them so, as they became more popular, it just flowed. They were seen as the beginning of a whole genre by a lot of people & the other bands as followers... not always true but it was a powerful perception. Other writers like Gene Khoury, Brian Lew, etc. of the time had similar (although not probably as powerful) of an effect. Then, they were the ones Johnny Z signed to Megaforce & the rest is history, I guess.

A popular notion among youngsters within the metal community is that of "Well, I have all the music from these British bands that influenced METALLICA… what the hell do I need METALLICA for? What did they ever do for the underground scene?" Yes, bands such as DIAMOND HEAD, ANGEL WITCH, HOLOCAUST and the like are pretty well known to today's metal fans, but it's important to remember that at the time nobody in America had the slightest idea what was going on in the British metal scene. Let's face it: the royalties that these bands have received from the METALLICA covers of their songs has made them more money than the original recordings ever will.

As guitarist Brian Tatler of DIAMOND HEAD attests, it's largely because of METALLICA that anybody on this side of the pond has any idea who these guys are. As he explains in Classic Rock magazine, "If it hadn't been for METALLICA and Lars Ulrich, and the songwriter's royalties that me and Sean [Harris] get, I don't know what we would've done. We'd have probably slipped into obscurity along with, I don't know, ANGEL WITCH or something. But they've managed to keep the money coming in for us and raise our profile by covering four DIAMOND HEAD songs on an album that's sold over five million copies, that's just…you can't buy that sort of thing you know? I must've seen hundreds of articles where Lars is raving about DIAMOND HEAD, and it's just brilliant, more power to 'em."

MARK: As far as discs that deserve equal status to the early METALLICA releases - there aren't many. METALLICA kind of ushered in the whole thrash movement. It's weird, because there were punk bands like GBH and DISCHARGE that were heavy and fast. EXODUS, MERCYFUL FATE, and SLAYER, were all rapidly establishing their reputations, but a lot of people were put off by the satanic themes. These bands were all very underground in the early-mid 1980s (with no internet, hard as that is to imagine) and for every ten METALLICA fans, only maybe one or two were aware of these other bands. METALLICA were really a cut above the rest, and that's why they ended up on a major label. Even bands that ended up with better discographies in the long run didn't have a sound to challenge them in the early days. Go back and listen to VOIVOD's "RRRÖÖÖÄÄÄRRR" compared to "Master of Puppets". Believe me, despite what the message boards say, there weren't many other bands on the same level back in 84-85. I spent a lot of time trying to convert people back then!

RAY: Nothing at that time really gained the kind of momentum that METALLICA did. They basically had a lot of things work out for them from the beginning on, you know, with the kind of grassroots push I was talking about above, the signing by Johnny Z, the tour with Ozzy for "Master Of Puppets" later in '86 was a real big thing in it, I think. Think of it, each night a captive audience of 10-15,000 people, many of which hadn't heard them before suddenly were hearing them at top volume. Of course, irritating personality or not, Lars was also instrumental in blowing his/their own horn early on. Kind of a metal David Lee Roth, he at least understood the business in the early days. It always killed me that EXODUS for one, were seen as METALLICA-clones which is really fucking hysterical in my opinion, as in the '85 era, EXODUS was just absolutely crushing METALLICA....but....whatever.

MARK: Regarding "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of Puppets"… again, lots of influences from obscure bands, and it seemed that METALLICA had created this sort of 'creative lifting', and were the only thrash band that used it. You didn't hear ANTHRAX covering GASKIN songs or VENOM covering PRAYING MANTIS. The punk and NWOBHM covers (plus an EXODUS riff or two) were morphed into originals like "Master of Puppets", "Creeping Death", "Battery", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", etc. Eventually, "RTL" came out on Elektra, and so did "Master". Stuff like this was on MTV around '86, and I watched it a million times on our brandy new VHS player. This was also the time that thrash bands were being given a chance to record albums for major labels. Plus, they were and have always been road hogs, which I think is also admirable. They're not like the friggin' BEATLES in the late 60s…it was all about bringin' it live.

Hammer of "Justice" crushes you…

After the tragic death of bassist Cliff Burton in 1986, the band bounced back two years later with "…And Justice for All", and while it was their crowning achievement in technical ability, one question was on everyone's mind: where's the bass? Actually, there are almost as many supposed reasons out there for lack of bottom end as there are riffs on the album: ranging from Jason Newsted playing too closely to what the rhythm guitar was doing, to Jason's absence during the mixing process, even a proposed theory that the band was still bitter about the loss of their comrade, and if Cliff couldn't play bass on the new album, then nobody could. Whatever the reason, the hollow, dry sound of the album, in addition to the release of the band's first video (something they said they'd never do), rubbed many fans the wrong way.

MARK: The "post Cliff" albums like "Garage Days" and "Justice" had weird production and weirder arrangements. Cliff's bottom end was gone, but there were a lot of great riffs. His absence left a huge hole to me, as much as I liked Jason Newsted. It occurred to me during the "Justice" period that they had forgotten how to write songs, as the riffs seemed at odds with each other on those records. But they were still 'fighting the good fight'. I saw them at Monsters of Rock around '87 and they sounded like complete dog shit…I couldn't even figure out which song was which. SCORPIONS blew them off the stage easily. Then, they gave a miserable performance of "One" at the Grammy awards in '89, and then lost to JETHRO TULL - "Crest of a Knave". I loved that TULL album!

But perhaps the biggest impact "Justice" had was its effect on how METALLICA would look at songwriting in the future. They have since gone on record several times claiming to have exhausted themselves after playing the 9 minute riff-packed songs from the album live. It may seem ironic, but the ultra-technical "Justice" would prove to be the precursor to the far simpler material of the band's catalog since.

Color our world Blackened

Enter producer Bob Rock. Although the METALLICA boys had already decided that they wanted to make a simpler album, Rock convinced the band that they needed to write music that sounded better in a stadium and bring, as he called it, more "life" into their songs. This of course translated to slower tempos, far more emphasis on vocals and (gasp!) introspective lyrics.

MARK: One of the odd things about the Bob Rock era albums was this: it seemed that the songwriting and arrangements shifted to more of a vocal than instrumental focus. The previous albums were marinated in NWOBHM and other metal, with a high degree of emphasis on Lars' musical heroes. Hetfield was never a big record collector. He liked a lot of Lars' music, but was more of an REO SPEEDWAGON and TED NUGENT kind of guy at heart. I think with Bob Rock's encouragement and pop focus, Hetfield really began to think of himself as a 'singer'. The stupid, SKYNYRD worship and lack of decent riffage on the "Black", "Load" and "Reload" albums seemed to point to this new direction. I always pictured Hetfield gaining more power in the band during this time period.

This brings up a good point. According to Lars' accounts of the recording of the Black Album, it was James that had a much easier time clicking with the band's new producer. As he told VH1, "He didn't [gain my trust] for a long time. I'm not even sure he gained my trust until the 'Load' sessions. He struck more of a chord with James than with me, because they had that 'muso' thing. They could sit and talk vintage guitars and chord progressions and all this crap that represented everything about musicians that I hated."

By this point, METALLICA was on top of the world. However, this also meant that they weren't in it for just themselves anymore. As early as the release of the "Cliff 'em All" video, young fans were writing letters expressing their disappointment as seeing Cliff Burton smoking weed on camera. It had become painfully obvious that not only were there employees and family members to consider at this point, but there was a whole new generation that looked up to and idolized the band. METALLICA was now too big for the underground scene from whence they came, and that scene now had to move on without them.

A heavy "Load" to bear

A more radio-friendly METALLICA ushered in by the Black Album was one thing, but nobody expected such a radical change when the band's sixth and seventh studio albums were released. And although the persona people associated with METALLICA wasn't nearly as dated as the glam rockers of their former LA stomping ground, the band still felt the need to "modernize" or "mature" and shed that old persona. The group photo on the back of "Load", featuring the band with short hair and leisure suits, horrified many fans who felt betrayed by their metal heroes. As HIRAX frontman and old friend of the band, Katon W. DePena, said, "I understand all the new hairstyles and trends, but METALLICA's one band that didn't need to do any of that shit. But I guess they figure if they're going to sell out, they might as well do it rad."

But this of course begs the question: did they really have to give in and conform to trends in music that have occurred since their inception? One can see "Load" and "Reload" as their answer to the alternative rock explosion, and this notion is confirmed in a Rolling Stone interview with Lars in 1995. When asked whom he considers to be the band's peers, he says, "The only contemporary band I think of as a peer is ALICE IN CHAINS. They sit on a pedestal for me, pretty much above everybody else. They're like a '90s BLACK SABBATH. There's something about the riffs, the looseness. It's not boxed in, it's not square. Sometimes when I listen to some of our earlier stuff, I get this vision in my mind of a square. ALICE IN CHAINS' sound has a lot of round edges to it."

Indeed, while listening to these two albums, the half-step tuning, bluesy riffs and heavy wah were taken directly from AIC. While taking nothing away from the great work of the Seattle quartet, this without a doubt signifies the final nail in the coffin of the thrash metal METALLICA, and for that matter, thrash metal in the U.S. period.

Madly in "Anger" with you

As far as "St. Anger", it's a shame that more time in "Some Kind of Monster" wasn't devoted to the creative process that went into the album (as opposed to psycho-analysis and the band members' "feelings"). Perhaps they didn't want to show their audience the moment when Lars brings in a SLIPKNOT CD and says, "Let's try and appeal to this audience"? The album that earned them the title "MALLCORE-TALLICA" is already horribly dated, thanks to younger, flashier crossovers like TRIVIUM and AVENGED SEVENFOLD. Of course, there is the infamous scene in "SKOM" where Kirk Hammett tries to explain this to them by saying, "Can I say something that I think is bullshit? This whole fucking 'solo outdates the whole thing'… that's so bullshit, you know? If you don't put a guitar solo on one of these songs, that dates it to this period, and that's cemented to a trend that's happening in music right now. I think that's stupid and I think that's totally trendy."

Well guys, he told you so. But even if they had listened to Kirk Hammett's pleas, it may have only slightly improved things. As a whole, the album sounds like it was made by teenagers with far less talent, know-how and potential than a band the caliber of METALLICA. Still, nobody can call it a pop album - with the pots & pans drumming and the muddy C-tuned guitars, it definitely did not have mass appeal written on it. It was clearly an attempt on the part of METALLICA to win back the kids that they alienated with the whole Napster fiasco… even if it didn't necessarily succeed.

MARK: I wasn't as offended by "St. Anger" as many others. But I actually thought there were some good intentions with it. The band knew it had lost its way. They knew they were dumb, fat, and happy. They made an effort to do something different without repeating themselves. The final product in retrospect reminds me of KISS' "Music from the Elder" a little! In a lot of ways, I liked the final product more so than some blasphemous later-period regurgitations/reformations of PRIEST, MAIDEN, RAINBOW, SABBATH, etc.

They'll never stop; they'll never quit… but should they?

If you went back in time, walked up to a kid waiting in line to see a METALLICA concert in 1985, put a pair of headphones on him and played him "St. Anger", he wouldn't be able to guess in a million years that it was the band he was waiting in line to see. METALLICA has gone through one of the most radical transformations of any band in rock history, and volumes can be written on the compromises made by the band of their initial ethos.

WILL: I think the fact that people are second guessing their love of the first few METALLICA records (and I do it too, sometimes) is based on the utterly shitty, lowest common denominator catering "music" they've been creating for (almost) the last twenty years. They also did a major blunder when they pissed off the underground fans that made them who they are. Nowadays, they could give Gene Simmons marketing lessons. There is no product now that they won't put the METALLICA logo on. When I saw a guy wearing a shirt showing cartoon likenesses of James, Lars, Kirk and Robert performing with Spongebob Squarepants, I knew they had sunk as low as they could possibly go. They have become what they rallied against in the 80's.

But do they still have something to offer, and what makes people both in the mainstream and the underground still gobble up anything with the METALLICA name on it? This is another question that sparks up heavy emotion from the Peacedogman staff:

MARK: I think mainstream music fans will continue to see METALLICA as "edgy" and perpetually "heavy" for lack of exposure to anything else. Underground music fans seem to associate them with a simpler, happier time and the early records, and will never give up on that possible 'return to form' someday. It's like that old girlfriend that you've all but forgotten...but the memories are so good, any chance of rekindling it later is almost irresistible.

ROBBERT: To tell you the truth I have no idea, because everyone with a decent set of ears and common sense should be able to hear that everything after the Black Album is mediocre at best. "St. Anger" is an absolute piece of shit and Lars Ulrich has definitely sold out. Of course "St. Anger" was presented as a glorious return to form so that probably explains the underground people. They just had to check that out. I'm not so sure they can pull that off a second time. As for the mainstream people, that's probably for roughly the same reasons they go to see THE ROLLING STONES (whose glory days are long past) or Robbie Williams (even though he can't sing for shit). I don't know man, people are sheep. Still, even though METALLICA in general and snot-nosed little Larsie fuckin' Ulrich in particular can suck my cock now I'm still grateful for those first three albums. They're indispensable!

WILL: I think that whatever "underground" element still buying new METALLICA releases are mostly just kids who grew up in the 80's who still hold a nostalgic attachment to the band from back when they were "good." They still support the band for the same reasons that I bust out "Rocky III" to watch when I'm drunk. No credible rock fan seriously thinks they are putting out worthwhile music. The average American moron has been dumbed down to the point to where they will eat shit with a smile, which is why mainstream media will remain blindly loyal to METALLICA Inc. That and the infinitely deep pockets of current Elektra Records owners Warner Brothers will ensure their status as "the next LED ZEP" for all time.

RAY: Well, at one point, this sort of reaction was warranted, after the likes of "Master of Puppets" & "...And Justice for All" (arguably, their best album in my opinion.) However, with the Black Album, they issued their "Killing Machine" or "British Steel" and crossed over into the big time. At that point, they became larger than life, I guess, and for the same reasons that Madonna fans will buy anything she puts out, same goes for these guys. I think a lot of underground people can see through it. I don't think a lot of people into bands like ANATA, PHAZM or MALSTROM went rushing out to buy "St. Anger," but those on the periphery (and there are many... the "laymen," as I prefer to call them) get caught up in it and buy it en masse. It's like the people who will now buy MASTODON because they are written up in all the big mags but still wouldn't buy BIBLE OF THE DEVIL or DIRTY POWER because they never heard of it.

Wow, just… wow. Ray brings up yet another excellent point here. Whether underground metal fanatics like it or not, METALLICA is really the only metal band that's been given a fair chance by the mainstream. And just like music fans wrote off pretty much any other thrash act from the 80s as "METALLICA wannabes", there are countless folks out there who see METALLICA as "the only metal band that exists". To be fair, it's hard not to sympathize with someone whose only outlet to music is rock radio and comes to this conclusion after hearing METALLICA half a dozen times during an eight hour work shift.

Is all that glitters really gold?

To try and understand why METALLICA is called "the LED ZEPPELIN of this generation" requires a closer look at both bands. Let's spell out the facts and see just how the two relate:

	LED ZEPPELIN	METALLICA
Formation:	1968 in London, England	1981 in Los Angeles, CA
Origins	Emerged from the ashes of THE YARDBIRDS.	Were able to rise above the rest of the thrash scene due to Lars' foresight into the NWOBHM and the band's willingness to tour constantly.
Influences:	Owed everything to the blues (Blind Willie Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jeff Beck's early ideas), though also incorporated other styles such as British folk, reggae, country, etc.	Lifted their sound from the European metal bands of the era, particularly DIAMOND HEAD and MERCYFUL FATE.
Studio output	Not counting the posthumous "Coda", the band released eight albums within 10 years.	Not counting the "Garage Days" releases, the band has released eight albums within 20 years.
Awards & Chart Positions	Seven #1 albums (including the live "How the West was Won" release); however, the band never released any singles or won any Grammy Awards.	Five #1 albums (including the live "S&M" release), five #1 singles and seven Grammy awards.
Sales figures	Over 300 million albums worldwide	Over 90 million albums worldwide
On the road	Toured relentlessly in their early days ("Led Zeppelin II" was actually recorded on the road), though in their later years they concentrated only on large venues.	Made a name for themselves by their rigorous touring, particularly after the release of the Black Album, where they spent the better part of three years touring the globe.
Public relations	As AMG puts it, they were not well liked by the music press, so the band rarely gave interviews. This of course led to the aura of mystery that surrounded the band throughout their career. Of course, it should also be mentioned that the seventies were a time period when the press had more restraint; oftentimes the cameras were 'turned off' backstage.	Has always been a very vocal band, particularly when it comes to one Lars Ulrich. This has, of course, come back to haunt them, most notably during the Napster debacle in 2000. In a world where news hits the internet in a matter of minutes, the band has had more than its fair share of bad press.
Persona	In addition to their "no interview" policy, the themes of mythology and mysticism in Robert Plant's lyrics spawned all sorts of rumors of occultism within the band.	In their early days, their "from the streets" image helped them supercede many of the clichés of the metal scene at the time. Recently, their "Some Kind of Monster" documentary completely shattered their mythic persona and brought them back to mortal status.
Management	Peter Grant, who was a champion for creative control and fair pay for the artists he managed, in addition to being instrumental in forming ZEPPELIN's Swan Song record label.	Q Prime's Cliff Burnstein, who in "Some Kind of Monster" insisted the band do a lame radio commercial, and then knocked on their former bandmate Jason Newsted by claiming he "lost his icon status when he left METALLICA".
On stage	Live performances ranged from spectacular to weak due to heavy drug use and complex compositions with multilayered guitar tracks.	Complexity of compositions suffered due to live performance (after being burnt out from playing material off "…And Justice for All").
Deceased members	The band broke up after the 1980 death of John Bonham, claiming that going on without him would have been in "poor taste".	After his death in 1986, Cliff Burton was replaced within two months.
Creative compromise	The synth-heavy "In Through the Out Door"	The alternative leanings of "Load" and "Reload" and the 'core flavor of "St. Anger"

Yes, there's enough on both subjects to write an encyclopedia, but we get a general idea. It can't be overstated how different the eras of METALLICA and LED ZEPPELIN were. Much like classic PINK FLOYD, LED ZEPPELIN thrived in an album-dominated age where bands had full creative freedom to do whatever the hell they wanted, not worry about writing hit singles, and made millions of dollars doing it and answered to no one. Unfortunately, this era died along with ZEPPELIN and the Roger Waters-era FLOYD. It's also worth stressing that the "Some Kind of Monster" documentary, made at the height of the current reality TV craze, would have been a complete disaster in ZEPPELIN's era - their mysterious persona was just too important.

But are METALLICA really the LED ZEPPELIN of this generation? Truth be told, it may be too early to tell. History has a funny way of defining a band's output. For instance, LED ZEPPELIN was originally labeled as a metal band, but one would be wary of doing that now - especially after Robert Plant called heavy metal a "mindless sham" and said that Tiny Tim was its inspiration, not them. But regardless of METALLICA's so-called transgressions, they'd have to try really hard to completely sever their relationship with heavy metal, even if they have distanced themselves from the super-stiff thrash genre. We're going to have to wait to see how successful METALLICA fans are with turning their kids onto them, and then how they interpret the music themselves.

Wherever They May Roam…

One of the most profound quotes from "Some Kind of Monster" was on the Deleted Scenes bonus disc, and came from manager Cliff Burnstein. During a meeting where the future of the band is put into question, this is what he has to say: "I think they were on a collision course to not have it be worth it anymore. The biggest problem… is when you've got a certain amount of success, money in the bank and all that, the next thing that you do, incrementally, does not change your life that much. The Black Album, in 1991, that changed their lives enormously… it changed the way they could live, it changed their own self-image. To make another album now, to do another tour, to make a certain amount of money - it doesn't change things. These are not life-shaking events anymore."

Or are they? In 2008, METALLICA finally unleashed "Death Magnetic" onto the scene, and while it's hard to call it a "comeback album" since the band's remained so consistently prominent in the public eye, it has proven enough to change plenty of minds. Gone is the crisp, clean influence of Bob Rock in favor of the intentionally-less-than-perfect sound of SLAYER/Def Jam producer Rick Rubin. Also, the one-riff lead-less wonders have made way for complex standard-tuned thrash metal compositions the likes of which haven't been heard in 25 years. And needless to say, critical acclaim for the album hasn't been in short supply. In our own review, Mark Marchman called it "the best album METALLICA has released in a long, long time" and "a much better album than it needs to be." Now whether "Death Magnetic" is a gracious attempt to grant their fans' wishes or a frantic counterattack aimed at younger, flashier bands like TRIVIUM or DRAGONFORCE, the numbers speak for themselves: They're the first band to have five consecutive studio albums debut at #1 on Billboard, and despite the struggling music industry they've managed to sell over 2.5 million copies of the album worldwide. Given the pride that no doubt comes with the METALLICA name, the foursome is still out to prove that they have something to offer.

Coming full circle, let's go back to the primary question presented in the title of this piece: "Is METALLICA still worth the hype?" Well, it's all a matter of who you ask. For the diehard underground metal freak whose few METALLICA CDs has over the years spawned a collection of a few thousand CDs from all over the world and spans all metal sub-genres, the answer is "no". But for the casual listener and radio rock fan who wasn't inspired to dive head-first into metal after hearing the Black Album, for whom METALLICA is still "the only metal band that exists", the answer is quite different. And for the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people whose livelihood rests in the ongoing success of the METALLICA machine, whether they're record execs, promoters, sound guys, whatever… the answer is a resounding "yes".

Although METALLICA is no longer associated with it, the metal underground continues to grow in leaps and bounds without them. While they may have given up the race for fastest, heaviest, most "true" metal band, there are countless other bands (more than Peacedogman could ever dream of covering) that are more than happy to take their place in that race. My personal feeling toward the subject is this: I've been over any feelings of "betrayal" I've held against them for a very long time. The most important thing they ever did for me was bringing metal to my bland and sheltered suburban existence, and for that I'm eternally grateful. And while it's true that before taking on this assignment I hadn't played my METALLICA discs this excessively since I was 14, had I not grown up on MTV and gotten my feet wet with the Black Album, however watered down a form of metal it may have been, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now.

In closing, I'd like to offer special thanks to the 4 Horsemen website, Ian Christe for his phenomenal book Sound of the Beast, and most importantly, my fellow Peacedogman staff writers for their help in the completion of this piece.

- Cardona

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