James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Jason Newstead, Kirk Hammet...
Kill Em All
KILL EM ALL was Metallica's first LP release from way way back in 1983. The album was a Mega Force worldwide release.
KILL... features songs written by James and Lars, and even Dave Mustaine. But lets all be happy that Mustaine was
long gone when the line up that came to be recognized as the original four-James, Lars, Kirk, and Cliff-
hit the studio. My recommendations for this album are: MotorBreath, Whiplash, The Four Horsemen, and lastly but certainly not leastly-Pulling Teeth, the coolest bass solo. Tid Bit or Info: HIT THE LIGHTS is not only the first song on the album, but it is also Metallica's first song...like ever.
Ride the Lightening
1984 found the Metallica boys releasing their second album "Ride the Lightning."
Ride...took Metallica's original sting from Kill...and gave it a more polished sound.
One of Metallica's most widely most loved songs to date "Fade To Black" is a
"rock ballad with some ballz". Some people claim the song promoted suicide although, it has been said that it
was written by James in response to all of their equipment being stolen after a show. Whatever you want
to say it is about, the song is totally awesome. My personal favorites would have to be : Fight Fire with Fire, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Fade to Black, Creeping Death, and The Call of KTULU.
Master of Puppets
Master Of Puppets...Oh what can be said about Master Of Puppets? Althought its extrememly hard
to claim one album as Metallica's best, I'd definitely consider Master of Puppets for the spot. The title track is a long epic
tale of the follies of drug abuse. Puppets starts hard, with Battery, and never lets up. Best songs? Battery-definite awesome beginning, Master of Puppets
-that solo deal in the middle is one of my favorites, The Thing That Should Not Be, Welcome Home-Sanitarium, ORION-instrumental, and of course: Damage Inc.
The sad part is that other than part of the following tour this is the last Metallica product with the great
Cliff Burton. He died in a tour bus crash late in 1986. But then came Jason Newsted. Newsted came
in to fill the hole, which was really big; taking Metallica to its second life past strictly fast power chords.
...And Justice For All
And then came ...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. It was 1988 when the new line up of Metallica put out their first album.
Jason Newsted was a fireball of energy, fresh from Flotsom & Jetsom that came in to fill the gap left by the beloved Cliff Burton.
He had some shoes to fill, and I must say he filled them pretty well! Metallica lost a one of a kind personality when Cliff died, but
gained a totally new dimension with Newsted's arrival. Justice... also produced Metallica's first music video for the song "One." The video featured scenes
from the movie "Johnny Got A Gun", a really disturbing thing to watch, but it suits the song perfectly nonetheless. Other commendable songs on this classic Metallica album include:
Blackened, ...And Justice For All, Eye of the Beholder, One-awesome!, Harvester of Sorrow, To Live is To Die, and I'll leave it at that. But as in true Metallica form, there isn't a song
on the album that is worth listening to. ...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL is a key album in anyone's collection.
Metallica The Black Album
It's 1991...and Metallica released Metallica, The very Black Album that you can barely see on this page...
Anyhow, this album may be Metallica's most popular, or at least well known because of how much
publicity it got, how long Metallica fans waited for another album, or maybe it's just cause the songs
are really good! Breaking away a bit from their signature power chords and fast guitar solos, Metallica
started to experiment with more technique and style, while still keeping their unique sound. Collaborating
an album of hard rock, in-your-face lyrics and a few ballads, the long nights spent in the studio paid off,
with the help of producer Bob Rock. The Black Album is definitely up there with one of the best and is highly
recommended as a must have. Some of my favorites are: Enter Sandman, Sad but True, The Unforgiven, Wherever I
Roam, Don't Tread on Me-awesome, Nothing Else Matters, and...to keep it short, The Struggle Within.
Load
In 1996 Metallica dropped a big fat "Load" on the world. heh. Load came five years after "Metallica" and found the four
horsemen all grown up, complete with short hair! James and Lars decided to let Jason and Kirk contribute more and Metallica
grew as a band. Now, I know that some people were disappointed with the album, because it differed from all the albums before,
BUT you must recognize that at this time music in general was growing and changing, I mean, Swing Dancing Music was actually
becoming popular! At any rate, there are some worthwhile songs on this album, and in my opinion they are: Ain't my B*tch-good
starter with a real gritty sound, Until it Sleeps, Hero of the Day, Bleeding Me-totally love it, Mama Said, and The Outlaw Torn. With this new
album Metallica took to the road on the Lollapolooza Tour. Some said with the new look , joining Polooza, and lack of speed that
they had sold out. I admit I wasn't too impressed with the songs at first, but I've found an appreciation for it. A line from Hero of the Day
says, "...and the fist I've made for years can't hold or feel, so
please excuse me while I tend to how I feel." This album is about growth, and maturity, and whatever that quote means to you...
ReLoad
In 1997 Metallica released RELoad, also produced with Bob Rock, James Hetfield, and Lars Ulrich. By now Metallica's fans got used
to their new "look", learned to appreciate their modified sound. When Fuel debuted on Saturday Nite Live, I was very pleased
with the song. Other songs that I like are: The Memory Remains-although the chic in the background can get annoying towards the end...,
Unforgiven II, Better Than You, and Carpe Diem Baby. We'll just keep it at that for now. Anyhow, RELoad is a good album, if you really
don like Metallica, then I'm sure you'll like it.
No greater reflection of what makes Metallica "Metallica" are their influences. And as they did in 1981 when they started, 1984 with Garage Days Revisited and 1987 with Garage Days Re-Revisited, the band did what comes natural...they went back to the garage. Hah.
Anyway, Metallica was and is very much a garage band. Whether it's in Kirk's basement, Jason's Chophouse, Lars' Dungeon or on stage in front of 50,000 screaming fans, Metallica always plays that song or that riff that helped them out somewhere along the road. They had
already released 2 garage projects and put out a smattering of cover songs as B-sides. In fact, the Garage Days projects had become so collectable and rare, that poorly-recorded bootleg copies have been circulating for outrageous prices.
The band chose 11 new songs to record its third "in the garage" project, again with Bob Rock. The project was aptly-titled Garage Inc. as it incorporates ALL the previously-recorded garage cover songs along with the 11 new tracks. As for what songs are the best on the album...
It really all depends on the listener with this album. My personal likes are: from Disc I- Turn the Page-I love like every ballad by Metallica, Die Die My Darlin', Loverman, Astronomy, Whiskey in the Jar, Tuesday's Gone And as for Disc II-Last Caress-Green Hill, Am I Evil?, Breadfan,
Stone Cold Crazy, So What, and I could probably leave it at that...The Garage cds are definitely cool. Still haven't bought them myself tho
And a small tribute to Cliff Burton, a truly talented guitarist. He's definitely missed.
If you really wanna know ALL about MetallicA you should probably go ahead and check out their official website...
