Interesting readings over at music blog Idolator.
It seems that Metallica had an album listening party for a few tracks of their new album last week in London. No big deal. So the guy from UK music blog The Quietus goes along and listens to 6 tracks. No big deal. So the guy writes a review of what he heard at the listening party. No big deal.
So the review is good - "Right from the off, it’s a relief to hear that the utterly awful production of St. Anger is no more. Ulrich has replaced the old dustbin lid from that album with an actual snare drum, and the sound is fresh, clean and resonant (even though the songs are still only rough mixes at this stage)."
No big deal - but to me and millions of other Metallica fans it IS a big deal. The sound quality of St Anger is shit. Its beyond shit. Its diarrhea when you are out in the bush camping and you have no toilet paper. Its shit shit. Its that bad that I haven't listened to it all the way through. Its been out for 5 years and even though I have tried to relisten a few times I just give up and listen to something better. The songs are good, its just the sound quality is, well - shit. What saved the band in my opinion (which is why you are reading this) is that they recorded a live DVD of the band playing the entire album from start to finish. It was filmed at their studio/HQ in California, and released as a bonus disc with the first pressings of St Anger. And its this live version that I listen to. I ripped the audio off the disc and made a CD of the tunes - like thousands of other fans have had to do. And its this live version that showcases some of the great tunes off the album, especially the version of Unamed Feeling
My favourite song off the album. Both musically and lyrically.
Name this for me, heat the cold air
Take the chill off of my life
And if I could I'd turn my eyes
To look inside to see what's coming
and
Found safety in this loneliness
But I can not stand it anymore
and then the bit on the bridge before the last chorus
Get the fuck out of here I just wanna get the fuck away from me
I rage, I glaze, I hurt, I hate I hate it all, why why why me?
I cannot sleep with a head like this I wanna cry, I wanna scream
I rage, I glaze, I hurt, I hate
I wanna hate it all away
That - my friends - is classic Metallica. And without the live version of this album I would nt have "discovered" this song.
Again, its live where the songs come alive. And this video shows a lot of what makes them one of the best live bands out there today. And I also like to see a reinvigorated James Hetfield rocking out. This was a personal album for him - watch their Some Kind Of Monster docu if you haven't already.
So yeah back to the new Metallica album. Jeez i get off track sometimes......
So the guy from The Quietus gets a notice from Metallica's record company via a third party that the review has to be taken down. And that is a big deal. I'm no journalist, but if you a) invite a journalist to a listening party and b) play them a few songs from one of this years most highly anticipated albums, then chances are the journalist is going to write about and publish it. And what makes me scratch my fat head is that the guys review was a positive one. Sure, it wasn't a full review - the listening party only played 6 of the potential 10 tracks from the album. But its something - better than nothing. It shows hope to us Metallica fans that the new album could be good. It might sound good. It might showcase the mighty Rob Trujillo on a Metallica album (Bob Rock played bass on St Anger as Rob hadn't joined the band yet). It might have a Kirk Hammett guitar solo on it (you really notice the lack of solo's on St Anger - solo's are a part of the Metallica formula). It might have a listenable snare sound. And it might have a more return to form lyrical content.
If all of the above happens - im in. I'm back to where I was in my Metallica fandomness pre 2003.
Heres Idolator's story on the original The Quietus story.
And the original Comcast story
And here is the link to the original The Quietus review that was pulled - it can be found using Google cache.
I know its all a bunch of journalists with their undies in a knot, but its bad press. Bad press is not good press. This band has bad so much bad press since 2000's Napster incident - especially on the internet. They don't need any more negativity pointed their way. If the band or the morons working for them had any fucking idea they would have let a review like the one on The Quietus stay up and let the people that matter - the listening public - get a good feel for what we might soon to hear. Without good early reviews the new album will be written off based on their last recording effort.
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