Aussie_Outlaw said:
[color=#AOEOOA]With Metallica and the fact they 'don't care', which I think is quite a weird thing to claim especially when they've tried to go backwards on this latest album, from what has been heard, they're trying to go back to their heavier roots away from Load and Reload. Which I say they're doing since they're attempting to listen to the fans but sadly they're going the wrong way about it.
I think after this new record which will sell (of course it will, it's got a brilliant brand name on it), the Load/Reload fans will go crazy for it, the casual listener will go BLEH, and the Metal fans claiming they've sold out will say that Metallica are just trying too hard to go back to their roots and that Metallica has 'lost it'.
I can't really see this current record as natural progression rather as a claim to their roots, and in that aspect I feel it'll fail badly.[/color]
I read a quote from Lars about the direction of the new album that addressed comments like this perfectly. I can't remember it word for word, but was something like this..:
""The new album is going to be the next step forward for Metallica. We made a progression in our sound from our older material to the Load and Re-Load era, and now it is time to move forward again. Alot of people have been saying that by making another heavy record we are trying to take a step back, but that is far from the case. This is the next step forward for Metallica into a new era, and making an angry record seemed a logical step after all the shit we have been through in the last 2 years.""
Those aren't his words, but those are all the points he made, and it all makes perfect sence. Hetfield is the main songwriter for the band, and he has been through a lot of shit over the last few years, it is not suprising that he just wants to let it all out. Also, I think the new Metallica logo is a symbol of progression, while it embodies elements of the 80s logo and the more modern logo, it shows a newer sounding Metallica, with elements of their older material, giving them a fresh sound, and from the 2 short clips of one song which I have heard, I can say that their sound is fresh, and not something they have done before. When Megadeth made TWNAH, sure they returned to form, but they made an album that, as Sydo said, is one of the safest sounding albums I have heard, and they didn't get bagged out for it at all. Metallica threaten to make another heavy record after a few softer ones, and they cop a real bagging for it, and I really don't understand why. So many people complained about the Load/Re-Load era, but when Metallica set out to release another heavier record, people complain again. It is almost like these people aren't fans at all, but critics who will criticise anything the band tries to do, no matter what direction it takes. Anyway, the point I'm making is, I don't think they have sold out and tried to recapture the old magic, it sounds like they have a had a shit time and are out to make angry music to vent. I think it was Winmar that said the sound clips didn't even sound like Metallica, and I agree, as it is a new sound and something they have never done before.
Gore: I understand what your saying about the black album being crucial for Metallica's survival, and I completely agree, without a turn in that direction they would have likely gone under like so many other metal bands, but I still think it is the most commercial sounding thing Metallica have put their name too. As Troops said, that is not necessarily a bad thing, as it still rocks, I just think it is a commercial sounding album. Hell, Michael Jackson is damn commercial, and I like his stuff!
