Been discussing this with my band through email today. Here's what I just typed to them. To preface, our drummer likes it a lot and he says he hears some Kill Em All and Ride the Lightning vibe in there. This is my reply to him saying that.
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It's just hard for me to get excited about new Metallica anymore. When I think of Ride the Lightning and Kill Em All, I think of lightning fast downpicking, lots of blistering aggressiveness, fast tempos, unrelenting drum beats and a seriously angry frontman. None of that is present in these clips to my ears. If I had to come up with a way to compare what I've heard here to those two albums, I would say that it sounds like a group of guys that aren't nearly as talented and excited about their music as Metallica was back then, trying to bust out riffs in that style but actually sounding more like modern Metallica instead. When I think of KEA and RTL I think of innovation and a pissed off attitude that had never been done before with heavy music. I don't get that feeling from this.
Instead, I get the feeling that these guys are still trying really hard to be a metal band when deep down they don't really want to... or maybe even can't anymore, but feel like they have to. If this is really what they want to be doing, then awesome... good for them. I just hope this is really what they want to be doing.
At least Kirk is soloing again, that was rad to hear.
