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Rating: Because there are those who can and those who simply cannot. The demagoguery that has infiltrated the 'Heavy' world of the last 40 years, from Black Sabbath to today, wants, indeed demands, that Metal be absolute by definition. For some, there are no half measures, translated in simple terms, either there is the amplification of distorted guitars and basses accompanied by pounding drums and intense rhythms, or it is not Metal.
In light of this, that the Metallica have not just been a Metal band doesn’t come as a revelation today, but already from their self-titled 1991 album (in my opinion already from "Ride The Lightning" a few years earlier), it reveals their ability to venture beyond the limits, stepping outside of the world where the 'four horsemen' feel comfortable, yet somewhat constrained, thus violating what is an unwritten law.
Following the much-criticized "Load" and "Reload," which deserve a standalone discussion not in this review, Metallica released in the spring of 1999 together with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, "Symphony & Metallica." The orchestra led by the late Michael Kamen, (for those unaware, already collaborating with the band since 1991), undertakes a challenging yet fascinating task, remixing Metallica’s pieces in a symphonic key. For those unfamiliar with the live tracklist, it is essential to note that the reproduced songs are mostly posthumous to Cliff Burton; in fact, there are no pieces from their fastest and meanest album "Kill'Em All" and most of the selected tracks present a less Thrash structure, but much more linear to ease the Californian orchestra's task, with exceptions to be seen later. The opening cannot but be a tribute to Ennio Morricone, as for years, the band begins its live shows with "The Ecstasy Of Gold", always emotional, it leads into "The Call Of The Ktulu" an instrumental track that earned a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, whose bass track from the late Cliff Burton is taken up in a symphonic key, lightened and accompanied by the violins of the San Francisco orchestra and his replacement Jason Newsted, one of the scapegoats for the band’s change, in substance however the piece remains largely unchanged. Unaltered too is the power of "Master Of Puppets" which, apart from James Hetfield’s less acidic and more 'clean' vocal lines, remains the classic unchanged over time, where Kamen’s strings can only accompany Kirk Hammett’s solo. Following Hetfield’s play on words renaming "Of Wolf And Man" as "On Wolfgang and Man", in honor of Wolfgang A. Mozart, the first real instrumental hand is felt in the intro of "The Thing That Not Should Be", then the live takes off with the softer pieces of our career; the "Alternica" as someone sarcastically dubbed them, present two of their aces "Fuel" and "The Memory Remains" (among the little salvageable from the "Reload" album), being these pieces softer and less Metal than the first part of the setlist, the tunes from the strings and violins become more substantial and impactful.
To make the live album appealing to the market, the group decides to give birth, in collaboration with the orchestra, to two exclusive tracks, "Minus Human" and "No Leaf Clover", the latter with a sensational impact, is the latest and perhaps nauseating demonstration that Metallica, by convention, are not just a Metal band, interrupting the album's description, I can't help but recall the words of Kerry King, guitarist of Slayer, who said: "I no longer recognize that band (Metallica), are they the ones who created Master Of Puppets or the ones who had the courage to release Load?" Without resuming the discussion on demagoguery illustrated at the beginning, it is evident that King, who in that sense is a Metal absolutist, and in that interview demonstrated himself somewhat of a moralist, a champion of true old-school Metal, however, for fairness, it is worth remembering that when the pop/punk group Sum 41 contacted him in 2002 to collaborate on the piece "What We Are All About?" he certainly didn’t back away.
Closing this parenthesis and returning to us, the journey of the so-abbreviated "S&M" continues with the slow tracks of the '90s, with the pop/rock of "Hero Of The Day" wisely accompanied for the entire piece by strings, trumpets, and violins, all the while the much-criticized Newsted perfectly takes on the role of second voice of the group. Another piece worthy of note is "Bleeding Me", personally among the most successful pieces of the band’s rock repertoire, yet it doesn’t change its base structure present on its album "Load". To disprove those who might think this album is merely a simple live reordered and arranged, here come the notes of "Nothing Else Matters", in this case too Kamen’s men succeed in immersing the piece in a gentle atmosphere of apparent peace, wisely surrounding Kirk Hammett’s final solo. "For Whom The Bell Tolls" rekindles the adrenaline of the old times, the same goes for the symphonic interpretation of "Sad But True", one of the pillars of "Metallica" the turning point album, symbolically the first stamped "Alternica". The only piece in my opinion not very well executed is "One", already delicate and technical on its own, it had to endure a sort of forceful adaptation for this type of rework, in the overall live it feels a bit like a disjointed track forced into orchestral adaptation.
The closing falls again to two great classics from the California quartet’s history, "Enter Sandman" strong with its adrenaline-inducing cadence perhaps slightly softened by the accompaniment of violins, precedes "Battery", a splendid closing from the start, specifically Kamen’s orchestra perfectly reinterprets the initial arpeggio, the rest is in the hands of Hetfield and company, illustrating a worthy closure of a live that smells of different and historical. Excellent idea to include in the DVD a multi-angle option, allowing the scene to be viewed from different cameras, which means the 4 band members can be followed individually, an option however available only for some tracks.
"Symphony & Metallica" is nothing but the natural outcome of a radical musical change that occurred during the '90s, which indeed saw the commercialization of a live DVD, but it was primarily the demonstration of the versatility of what is among the greatest Metal bands of all time. To the absolutists, this statement of mine might seem blasphemy; nevertheless, the demand that Metal be absolute by definition still exists today, but it’s also true that I don’t expect bands like Megadeth, Slayer, or Anthrax to do what Metallica did in San Francisco in 1999, because as said from the beginning, for obvious reasons some can and some simply cannot; I may be biased, but "S&M" docet.
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