ALBUMS
Metallica has recorded seven albums and two cover EPs, and several singles. They are all very individual records, each with a different type of sound, influenced by time, events and a lot of feelings.
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KILL ‘EM ALL (1983)
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The comparison with Motörhead on this record is impossible to avoid. The rattly, fast sound that defines Motörhead, is something that the early Metallica did a good job imitating. They have themselves confessed that they more or less ripped off Motörhead in everything that they wrote at the time. But young Hetfield’s voice sounds a little bit sharper than Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister and Hammett’s guitaring in all songs is more refine than what is heard in Motörhead tunes. The intro to "The Four Horsemen" could definitely be a Motörhead intro, but the tune develops into a characteristic Metallica sound.
The lyrics are to say the least a bit immature, but go well with the sound on "Kill ‘em all". The main message is that you should bang your head, jump in the fire and kill demons. It is a record filled with raw energy and anger, which crawls onto you after a few minutes of listening. The songs often begin with one or two verses and then a guitar solo followed by another verse. "Kill ‘em all" is totally ok for a debut album, but can perhaps feel a bit strange to unaccustomed listeners. |
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RIDE THE LIGHTNING (1984)
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"Ride the Lightning", released only a year later than "Kill ‘em all", really shows a step forward musically and clearly marks out the way which Metallica will from there on head. Now there is not much Motörhead left in the sound, and the lyrics have developed to serious questions. "Fight fire with fire" and "For whom the bell tolls" bring up the meaninglessness of war, "Ride the Lightning" deals with the question of death penalty and includes a line which probably sums up Metallica’s own opinion:
"Who made you God to say: "I’ll take your life from you!!" " The most melodic tunes on this albums are "Fade to black" and "Creeping death", which both set the mood on this record. |
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MASTER OF PUPPETS (1986)
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Master of Puppets is an energetic, beautiful and genius record. Each song on this album is a "hit". The energy flows through in every single song and there is not any space left for soft ballads. This album is much more mature than the previous ones. The sound has developed into excellency and the lyrics have turned into story telling, still about things like insanity, the meaninglessness of war and also religious hypocrisy. Everything is very well put together and well produced. The character of all the songs is speed and the fast tunes still appeal to people; Master of Puppets is by many regarded as the best Metallica record ever. As usual the album also has an instrumental tune, "Orion" which is a sweeping sound-experience with the ultimate bass-solo ever. This was Cliff Burton’s last album before he died, but he left his soul in the bass-solo on "Orion".
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... AND JUSTICE FOR ALL ( 1988)
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This is Jason Newsted’s first real Metallica record, beside the cover EP "Garage days re-revisited". He has himself complained about the lack of bass on "... And justice for all", but fills his roll as a bassplayer fine anyway. The album differs a lot from "Master of puppets", both the music and the production are poorer. The tempo is slower but the sound has turned heavier. Again war is the major subject, and "One" leads the anti-war league with a text that resembles a scary 1st World War time novel by Dalton Trumbo. The almost 10 minutes long "To live is to die" is a tribute to Cliff Burton based on his text:
"When a man lies he murders some part of the world These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives All this I cannot bear to witness any longer Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home"
"...And justice for all" also pays attention to the rotten society that we live in, where justice is nothing but a joke, or more likely a nightmare, and the only way to get through is to pay people off. The undertone on this record is thus a sharp protest towards the established society. |
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METALLICA (1991)
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"Metallica" or "The Black Album" as it also is known, turned out to be Metallica’s greatest hit ever. It has sold over 11 million copies, but the question is however this record really is so extremely good or if the promotion made it better than it is. Perhaps the timing was perfect; though the band had been around for a decade, people might have tired of other heavy-metal bands, and found what they searched for, metally speaking, in "TBA". The album is marked out by "Enter Sandman", "Sad but true", "The Unforgiven" and "Nothing else matters". These four hits hide the other songs on the record, songs that has not much to offer neither musically nor lyricly. |
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LOAD (1996)
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RELOAD (1997)
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Reload came out a year later than Load, but was recorded at the same time. The astonishing part of these recordings is that Reload is regarded by many as loads better than Load. The four musicians continue to keep a country touch in the sound, but Reload is however much more mainstream. Everything is turned heavier than on Load, and people seem to like this heavy sound better than the country influenced sound. It is however nice that Metallica has gone a bit more back to their roots, and speeded up the tunes.
The CD is one of their greatest recordings, and to let Marianne Faithful hum a squeaky melody on a song which they chose to call "The Memory Remains" shows some courage. Another tune, which also is remarkable, is "The Unforgiven II ". This song is a continuation of "The Unforgiven" on TBA, but not a ballad. To sum it up Reload is a fresh bunch of nice tunes.
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