It always amazes me the hate that this album gets amongst fans and non-fans. First it was the whole sell-out thing by doing a video for One, which was something they said they would not bow down to. But you know what? The whole scene had changed since they began, especially with MTV starting up and being such an influential medium. Then there was the whole “Where’s the bass?” thing. James did mention much later on that they were just messin’ with the new guy. Plus, you can here it anyway it’s just not prominent. Also Lars gets some grief over his drumming skills on this album as well, which is mind boggling to me as his playing is fantastic here. Anyway, I really like this album, so zero negative vibes from me. This was to be the last album produced by Fleming Rasmussen before they would go with Bob Rock and mega stardom.
Let’s get down to the tunes. We start with the epic Blackened, a nailed on textbook Metallica masterpiece. Huge fat riff, plenty of chugga-chugga and that change in pace awesome. Title track is next , and basically more of the same, no let up in the quality here. Next, and an epic slow fade into the beginning of Eye Of The Beholder, and we are off and running. This needs to be played LOUD!!! Then a bonafide ‘Tallica classic, One, is next with its very striking anti-war message about a soldier who has lost all of his limbs and nearly all of his senses. This was the one that made everyone pay attention – not just the metalheads.
So that’s disc 1 done, now onto disc 2 with Shortest Straw – with a groove change very early on in proceedings, with plenty of jun-jun’s to keep that head banging. It’s quite noticeable how the mood is becoming a lot more serious with the lyrics compared to their earlier albums. Monster track, Harvester of Sorrow, is next with that sooooo doomy beginning that fits the subject matter perfectly. Then one of my favourite Metallica tracks ever, The Frayed Ends of Sanity, which starts with an almost funky choppy groove with a huge riff. The middle section and the ending is killer. If this doesn’t get you bouncing round the broom cupboard then nothing will. Flip over onto the last side and straight into the acoustic intro to Live Is To Die, an almost instrumental that was about as mellow as Metallica got at the time. Which brings us to album closer, Dyers Eve, which is very early ‘Tallica, and the only song that has thrash written all over – superb ending.
So there you have a fantastic album that doesn’t deserve all the hate.
9.5/10 from The Grooveman.
