Metallica
St. Anger

THE REVIEW

I headed to the record store, thinking, as I did during all the latest Metallica releases, that I would waste my money, as the previous ones were far from brilliant: the "black album" had abandoned thrash metal, but was listenable, "Load" had taken the 'Tallica completely out of the heavy metal world and "Re-Load" was the straw that broke the camel's back: a sordid mix of poorly played hard rock and pop/rock.

"St. Anger," however, seems to me a bold attempt to recover, bringing back some good old aggression to the songs of a band that, had they made a "Tri-Load," would really have been finished, dead to me! Here, they’re coming back a bit to their roots; it's impossible not to say that "St. Anger" has some metal in it, because there's a bit more grit and anger (whether fake or not doesn't concern me, the result is what matters), but equally impossible to deny is that "St. Anger" took a wrong turn. They wanted to go back to thrash metal, but in these 11 songs, Metallica got off a few stops early, because the prevailing sound is crossover/nu metal, and the main shadows lurking in the album are Limp Bizkit, Korn, and System Of A Down. At the same time, I felt able to give a (barely) passing grade to "St. Anger" because at least it is an evident break from "Load" and "Re-Load."

The album starts with "Frantic," which kicks off fairly decently to be the opener/heiress to a song like "Fuel." Here, we're in a sort of post-thrash mixed with nu metal, which (at least to my ears) sounds listenable; moving forward it will reveal itself as one of the (rare) good tracks on the whole album. Right from the first song, Lars Ulrich’s strange use of the drums becomes evident, namely drums with muted snares, which practically seems like he's playing pots and pans, yet it lends a bit of power to the songs. The title track arrives immediately, and here we're confronted with a piece that is all nu-metal, from the first note to the last, dominated by Fred Durst in terms of James's vocal lines (which I had appreciated much more on the "black album"), but musically, I like the song, especially for Ulrich’s (simple, I know) use of the double bass—it’s listenable to the end. Many talk about "Some Kind Of Monster" as a rip-off of the gigantic "Master Of Puppets": but where? Here we're facing the classic song/disaster, the worst of the album with a helpless riff à la SOAD. System Of A Down combined with a certain punk rock rhythm in "Dirty Window," an acceptable track, especially for the urgent chorus rhythm. A good track is "Invisible Kid," with a good riff but a somewhat repetitive song; I really don't know to whom I could compare Hetfield throughout the album if not to Fred Durst's phrases, yet I like the melodic lines of the song’s core. The riff of "My World" is practically identical to the previous "St. Anger," and for this reason, it’s not worth mentioning; reaching self-plagiarism in the same album is too much!

Nu metal returns to dominate with "Shoot Me Again," a song born to be on a Korn album and not a Metallica one, yet it's listenable for its good riff and the syncopated rhythms typical of Jhonatan Davis and company’s crossover. "Sweet Dream" can once again be likened to Limp Bizkit, but it has decent riffs and therefore is beaten by the already mentioned "Some Kind Of Monster" in the worst song contest. "Unnamed Feeling" can be considered an excellent song because, aside from the usual nu-metal hints, it can musically remind one of some bits from the "black album," except for James Durst. Another Korn-ish piece is "Purify" for its very groovy initial trend; I no longer comment on Hetfield because he only lacks the turned-around cap. "All Within My Hands" has a good structure but is decent mainly for the resurrection of James’s typical voice; it’s a bit late, though, as it is the last track on the disc. Biggest flaws to highlight: the total absence of Kirk Hammet—there are two possibilities: either he didn’t make it to the recordings or he was asleep for all the first 10 tracks, waking up just to play a few melodic breaks in "All Within My Hands." Concerning the curly guitarist, what's the point of making an album without even a lousy solo, because the only decent thing from the previous two records were precisely those: the solos! The second major flaw was entrusting the bass recordings to that damn bastard Bob Rock, truly responsible for 'Tallica's musical decline, from a genius like Cliff Burton (rest in peace, one of the greatest bassists of the last 20 years) to a dumbass like Bob Rock (obviously passing through the decent Newsted, now with Voivod) is quite the change!

I reiterate that "St. Anger" achieved a passing grade more for the intentions of returning to a raw sound and the significant differences from its predecessors than for its actual value. We're not quite on the right track, but if they proceed better, perhaps we might once again hear the "four horsemen" play a decent thrash metal record.