Post by Cupcake Avenger on Jul 12, 2005 16:57:29 GMT -5
I don't agree with most Metallica fans or rock music critics on this one. Most of the critics hail The Black Album as being a metal masterpiece, and the hardcore fans all dislike it for being too mainstream. I disagree with both. Metallica's self-titled fifth album, called by many (including me) The Black Album, is neither a masterwork nor a complete piece of trash. It falls somewhere in between the two.
The lyrics in many cases is more impressive than Black's predocessors, but it's the songs themselves that aren't as good as Metallica's earlier efforts. I don't love the songwriting on Ride the Lightning's "Fight Fire with Fire", in many cases it isn't that good. But, I love the song structure and therefore it is a better song than say "Through the Never", which has excellent lyrical structure but the song itself is rather bland and boring.
The Black Album's best songs are the ones where James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, and Jason Newstead dare to stretch their musical capabilities and confirm originality still runs deep within their metalhead veins. "The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters", and "Enter Sandman" all bend old Metallica traditions to become the best songs on the album, especially the first two I mentioned. "The Unforgiven" is part ballad, part western epic, and part heavy metal rocker, while "Nothing Else Matters" is their first full-fledged melodic ballad ("Fade to Black" was pretty damn close to being a full-on ballad though), and what's more, it's a love song!
Metallica's fifth certainly has its moments of greatness, but it's just not a masterpiece. Songs like "Holier than Thou", "Through the Never", "The Struggle Within", and "The God that Failed" all bring the album down like a ship with a hole in it. And yet, it shines it places also, and so The Black Album doesn't quite sink.
The lyrics in many cases is more impressive than Black's predocessors, but it's the songs themselves that aren't as good as Metallica's earlier efforts. I don't love the songwriting on Ride the Lightning's "Fight Fire with Fire", in many cases it isn't that good. But, I love the song structure and therefore it is a better song than say "Through the Never", which has excellent lyrical structure but the song itself is rather bland and boring.
The Black Album's best songs are the ones where James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, and Jason Newstead dare to stretch their musical capabilities and confirm originality still runs deep within their metalhead veins. "The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters", and "Enter Sandman" all bend old Metallica traditions to become the best songs on the album, especially the first two I mentioned. "The Unforgiven" is part ballad, part western epic, and part heavy metal rocker, while "Nothing Else Matters" is their first full-fledged melodic ballad ("Fade to Black" was pretty damn close to being a full-on ballad though), and what's more, it's a love song!
Metallica's fifth certainly has its moments of greatness, but it's just not a masterpiece. Songs like "Holier than Thou", "Through the Never", "The Struggle Within", and "The God that Failed" all bring the album down like a ship with a hole in it. And yet, it shines it places also, and so The Black Album doesn't quite sink.
