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Metallica Overated?


Chaosphere72

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drinking with a few mates last night and the topic of discussion came up on metallica and there latest release and tour.a few heads that are metallica fans in the group freely admitted that they were overated now and that death magnetic lyrically was poor, but musically very clever.personally i really don't follow or listen to them much these days but was wondering what do u think ? are they overrated ?ie there's better bands out there to be listened to , or are they setting the standards for every other rock metal band?

ps i certainly im not a metallica hater, i do admire james hetfield as a talented front man and poss the only interesting member in that band . havent really listened to them seriously since the black album heard bits of death magnetic didnt really kick me in the balls and make me pay attention .

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are they setting the standards for every other rock metal band?
They never did. They were a good bay area thrash band, but they weren't exactly raising the bar. They changed it up a bit with the acoustic ballad shit, but that was well......shit.

Nowadays they are a fucking parody. St Anger is the worst album ever released by any band ever. Death Magnetic is a boring album which wouldn't be thought about twice if it was done as some new bands first album with songs that go on far too long and is mastered far too loud in attempt to get people speaking about it.

"You heard Death Magnetic?"

"Yeah, its really loud."

"Totally I noticed that as well."

"......."

"emm......."

"How much was that jacket"

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More importantly: have Metallica ever actually been in any way relevant?

I'm not trolling, honestly.

Trolling aside; about as relevant as Black Flag, Led Zeppelin, Naplalm Death or the Beatles. Massively influential within their musical genre but not necessarily relevant to someone who doesn't give a damn about what they do.

Nice diplomatical answer there.

(although I' say anyone with sales of 100million are "relevant" even if they are the biggest bag of shite ever)

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most certainly relevant yes ! the-res no denying that with albums like kill'em'all ,ride master & justice .but there's a lot of metal bands that really should call it a day cough!slayer! and go and do something different cough!exodus and leave what greatness they have achieved intact .it is crap when u are in the bar and that's all that some guy whats to talk to u about IE death magnetic world tour. while u politely bring in Devin Townsend or meshuggah or blotted science angle just to get away from that commercially driven hype bollocks .

although i do like the new metallica merchandise shirts! lol do i jack lol i suppose it sad to see a lot of the youth today not want to push the boundaries further. a fair few will are more than content just to lie back and listen to any old repetitive fodder in the modern metal scene .

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The Blotted Science album is pretty good. Ron Jarzombek is an incredible guitarist. Check out Inkompatible by Spastic Ink if you haven't already. Like Dream Theater meets Spiral Architect.

However Exodus' reworking of Bonded By Blood is excellent. I still find them to be near the top of the pile of the thrash bands that are still kicking about.

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Metallica... relevant?

Interesting question.

Regardless how long has passed, they made, IMHO, some amazing metal albums.

It was good that they had the balls to do what they wanted to do regarding the last few albums even if some of it is terrible.

100% biast opinion... Devin Townsend has written some songs that put Metallica to shame..

Almost Again, All Hail the New Flesh, Love?, Seventh Wave, Truth.. etc etc.

Meshuggah are another fine example of showing how it's done.

Regarding the present performance... Metallica are getting on. James can still get some pretty decent notes but the roughness has gone. Lars is really nothing compared to Gene Hoglan who is not much younger than him, Kirk...I still think he is a decent player, Rob...solid bass player.

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Good Points Hog

Devin Townsend when he came along certainly kicked my ass and made me distant towards the more commercially repetitive driven mainstream music .the guy pretty much reinvented the wheel a total genius that can turn in on whether it be strapping young lad or the Devin Townsend band .rem fondly seeing both in Glasgow many years ago prob one of the best gigs i have ever witnessed , i cannot say enough good things about this man .same as meshuggah a band that will put a listener ion a major high without the need of chemicals lol unfortunately there's not enough of these bands to show the others what true musical genius is all about .

ps i think some Sol Nigger Within needs to be listened to RIGHT NOW!

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I fall within the "pro Metallica" bandwagon. I still enjoy listening to their stuff old and new to this day, I'm not sure if they still have the maximum respect of the fans as they once did, however for me I still get a buzz from their music.

I really enjoyed Death Magnetic, it's got some great solid tunes and riffs, and for me its a return to form. I'm going to see them in Glasgow again at the end of the month for a third time, and no matter what anyone says about them personally or musically they still put on one hell of a show! :up:

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most certainly relevant yes ! the-res no denying that with albums like kill'em'all ,ride master & justice .but there's a lot of metal bands that really should call it a day cough!slayer! and go and do something different cough!exodus and leave what greatness they have achieved intact .it is crap when u are in the bar and that's all that some guy whats to talk to u about IE death magnetic world tour. while u politely bring in Devin Townsend or meshuggah or blotted science angle just to get away from that commercially driven hype bollocks .

although i do like the new metallica merchandise shirts! lol do i jack lol i suppose it sad to see a lot of the youth today not want to push the boundaries further. a fair few will are more than content just to lie back and listen to any old repetitive fodder in the modern metal scene .

That was a chore to read. Type better.

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I loved Metallica when I was a teenager so they'll always be special to me. I don't really know much about metal bands other than the few I happened to get into when I was a kid - Maiden, Helloween (now there's a band!) and Testament - so I don't know how influential or relevant Metallica are/were.

Load, Reload and St. Anger were pish (in fact I think I bought St. Anger from Hog - gimme my money back!) but I think Death Magnetic has some great arrangements if I could be so wanky to say so.

Hunt you down without Mercyyyyyyy, hunt you down all nightmare long. Not poetic genius but it gives me the feeling :up:

Also, Some Kind of Monster is hilarious.

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I was going to avoid this, but I can't.

Metallica's influence over the metal genre is not up for debate, they are very influential, and I admit most of that influence comes from the first 4 or 5 albums, so at least back then, yes they were relevant.

EVERY Metallica thread I have to point out that they get punished for being an awesome metal band at the beginning of their career, which was their downfall, because now, nobody wants anything less than a re-hash of Puppets. But to be honest, if they wanted to be like Iron Maiden and Slayer and release the same shit for the next 15+ years after that then I think they'd be a huge disappointment and earn the "sell-out" label with far FAR more justification than releasing some more Rock orientated albums and trying something new. On a dissimilar note to Teabag's post, I think that if a new band came along with St. Anger or Death Magnetic they'd be praised as the next metal gods.

I don't think they are relevant in the metal scene at all any more, but I went to see them in Sheffield last weekend and for my money they still put on the best live show on earth (not including Kiss).

For some reason no-one can accept that they are just a very fan-based band now who aren't going for global domination anymore - their fanbase is big enough and I completely resent the fact that people think they owe people who are not fans of the band any sort of explanation to the type of music they make now. They just happen to make the music they want to. How fucking dare they.

Don't get me started on your Dev shite Hog. Everyone in the world, including himself, knows that Lars is not an amazing drummer, but he's the driving force behind the biggest metal band in the world, which might just be more of an achievement than being a fantastic technical drummer who is oddly agile considering he can eat a whole wedding cake in one sitting.

Tea time.

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Yes Dan a friend of mines turned me on to the wicked talents of Ron Jarzombek , the guy is unbelievably gifted as a guitarist and writes some amazing music .what gets me is his status! still not well known or recognized which is a criminal shame i my book .Thanks for the recommendation i def will be checking out his other stuff.

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I'd also like to add -

If you wanna see a band that deserves being ripped into, I'll like to bring your attention to exhibit A - Megadeth, aka Solo Dave Mustaine

His last two albums have done nothing but rip off the old Megadeth stuff, under some HORRENDOUS song titles and he talks copious amounts of bollocks in his tri-daily interviews that appear on the net, not just prattling like Lars, really cringworthy nonsense and his ever changing set of morals. THEY are a band out of the loop and an underrated example of why bands should continue to evolve.

Starving.

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I'm not a lover of the expression "over-rated". Always ends in circular debate. You can't, however, argue with Metallica's influence. That said, aside from St. Anger, the only other thing I hold against them is being at least partly responsible for Trivium and Black Tide.

I love the vast majority of Metallica's stuff, and have got quite a bit of time for the Load/ReLoad era material, particularly 'Fixxer', 'Hero of the Day' and 'Ain't My Bitch'. Aye, you could probably have distilled it down to a really solid single album, but in terms of experimenting, I thought it panned out pretty well.

The less said about St. Anger, the better. Pretty much everyone accepts it as being a big fat black hole. I've re-listened countless times and it just doesn't click for me. I class Death Magnetic as a bit of a return to form, but it's exactly what I expected from it. The songs themselves could have been released in '85. It's not exactly their boldest work, but it's their most consistent in the better part of twenty years.

As an aside, I always find it difficult to tie down a meaning for the word 'relevant' in this context. Relevant to what? Regardless of your opinion of them, can you ever describe a band this successful as 'irrelevant'?

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YES Metallica are overated..people tell me they are the best band ever, the heaviest band, best musicians etc etc.....eh?

They have been influencial, no doubt, but there are bands from the same period as them that were making far more face ripping tunes. Obviously they're well past it now.

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I'd also like to add -

If you wanna see a band that deserves being ripped into, I'll like to bring your attention to exhibit A - Megadeth, aka Solo Dave Mustaine

His last two albums have done nothing but rip off the old Megadeth stuff, under some HORRENDOUS song titles and he talks copious amounts of bollocks in his tri-daily interviews that appear on the net, not just prattling like Lars, really cringworthy nonsense and his ever changing set of morals. THEY are a band out of the loop and an underrated example of why bands should continue to evolve.

Starving.

I agree with the Megadeth thing 100%. Also agree that Gene Hoglan could eat a house....easily.

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Nowadays, they are a pale shadow of the band they once were.

In their day however, they were extremely influential. I clearly remember that there used to be a new clone coming out every week that Kerrang! would get lathered up about.

I saw them on the "Puppets" tour and they were bloody fantastic. Not so sure I would bother now though.....

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I'm not sure what the answer to this question is...sometimes i think they are underrated...people are quick to forget what they have achieved and i all i hear from people is:

lars is crap

james can't sing

trujillio isn't as good as newstead

kirk is gay

to which i would reply

yeah he isn't what the used to be but the drumming on previous albums is immense (justice, s&m and the black album particular highlights). He has managed to push forward the biggest metal band ever

yes he can he's better than pretty much every other metal singer there is...

newstead ruled. trujillio is still cool

kirk is probably gay....so what?

metallica are 'over-slated' by A) jealous metal bands that haven't achieved commercial success and B) people won't accept that just because load and reload aren't thrash albums that they are still two of the best rock records relased in the 90s

Because they are multi-millionaires and major egos people forget what a good and they are.

yes lars is a total prick. yes the naptster thing was band. yes st anger is pretty poor.

death magnetic is good, and having seen them at leeds last year - they still have it live. Allbiet less 'in your face and rebelious'

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I'm not sure what the answer to this question is...sometimes i think they are underrated...people are quick to forget what they have achieved and i all i hear from people is:

lars is crap

james can't sing

trujillio isn't as good as newstead

kirk is gay

to which i would reply

yeah he isn't what the used to be but the drumming on previous albums is immense (justice, s&m and the black album particular highlights). He has managed to push forward the biggest metal band ever

yes he can he's better than pretty much every other metal singer there is...

newstead ruled. trujillio is still cool

kirk is probably gay....so what?

metallica are 'over-slated' by A) jealous metal bands that haven't achieved commercial success and B) people won't accept that just because load and reload aren't thrash albums that they are still two of the best rock records relased in the 90s

Because they are multi-millionaires and major egos people forget what a good and they are.

yes lars is a total prick. yes the naptster thing was band. yes st anger is pretty poor.

death magnetic is good, and having seen them at leeds last year - they still have it live. Allbiet less 'in your face and rebelious'

All good points, except saying "st anger is pretty poor", which is a parallel understatement to "Hitler had a minor dislike of the jews".

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