good intro to metallica but their ealier stuff is better
582814
This album was my introduction to Metallica and for a while I thought it was amazing. Then I bought the four albums that preceeded it and was completely blown away.

I'm not going to criticize Metallica for selling out...EVEN THOUGH this commercially strong album followed the incredibly ambitious "And Justice For All". Disappointing that the band couldn't raise their ambitions even further but what they did produce was a lean, mean, no nonsense version of their past four albums. The sound IS essentially the same, the only difference is that each song is about 4 minutes long and has only one riff. Great if you're after something more immediate but for the Metal purist this offers nothing that previous albums do not.

Still, a very good starting place if you've never heard Metallica before. Just make sure your second purchase is an earlier album (I'd suggest Ride The Lightning) and not the garbage they released after this.
1696738
There isn't anything really wrong with this Live album. It's overall pretty good. But one thing I've noticed is quite a few of the live albums I've come across almost play like Greatest Hits compilations, and I hate that. Greatest blah blah compilation metal albums I think are the DUMBEST things, from Obituary's to Hypocrisy's to Carcass's Choice Cuts. If your that interested in a band, ask someone who knows where to begin and buy an album, or download an MP3 album of where in that band's catalog of albums would be the best place to get the best taste for the group and if you will like them.

The way a live album should be, is uninterupted, the whole play set from beginning to finish. The idea is to capture the Live experience in that moment in time and place in a clear auditory means.

But anyway, Tokyo Showdown as an album is a good taste of whats to come for the future In Flames buyer, however it doesn't play a whole lot from the Jester Race which is In Flames without doubt finest album. But as a Live album, it's overall good and a worthy album for one's collection.
1869998
"Tunes" is basically a re-issue of the band's first two albums put together in one package with a few bonus tracks.  Morglbl are often described / categorized as jazz or fusion, but to my ears these guys have more in common with metallic guitar shredders like Joe Satriani than the jazz world.  In fact if you take away the band's occasionally humorous asides (ala Zappa) a lot of this music would fit right at home on a Satriani record.  Guitarist Christophe Godin is a guitar shredder of the first order and can hold his own with the best in the business.  The band alternate between metallic crunching and lighter more melodic fare.  A sense of humor is present throughout with the band sometimes throwing in silly voices and nonsense vocals.  This comes across a lot better on stage where the band are anything but serious, but on record I find it a bit annoying.  If you like the Morglbl's more recent material you should also like this earlier stuff.  For fans of guitar pyrotechnics Morglbl is a worthy purchase.  If you get the chance to see these guys live definitely give it a shot as they are great in concert.
422247
This album could be described as two things: 1)More Instruments/Less Pro-Tools and 2) It seemed Rushed.  The focus of the writing of this album seems more to be what there IS in life rather then what they want.  But I listen to the songs, and they seemed to of been written a little hurried, i.e. not as intelligent.  (also the singer has an obsession w/ Sh*t this album, lol).  This album will please more people of basic rock distortion albums but strays away from the first two albums.  Old Saliva fans may not be into it as Every or System, but if you never heard Saliva before this, you'd think they love AC/DC and Motorcycle Gangs.  Still, its well produced and worth it, but def. not there best work...
3050036
Better than Master of Puppets. It was a great album but this and Ride the Lightning are their best albums by far.
They matured a lot on this album, it's very progressive and complex with some thrash influences. The only Metallica albums that could be consider thrash metal would be Kill 'em All & Ride the Lightning. People didn't like this album because they changed their sound but Master of Puppets is when they made a major change in their sound. Ever since Ride the Lightning they had progressive influences in their music but that's when it really showed. It's also their first album without Cliff Burton (RIP Feb 10 1962-Sept 27 1986) and he's replaced with Jason Newsted and some people said that he didn't do a very good job on bass for this album but most of it was because the production, it was very under-produced. The double bass drums are louder than most of the instruments and there's a minimum amount of bass but besides that they put a lot of effort into it, it's their most accomplished album to date. James Helfield's vocals change a lot and improve, after Ride the Lightning he stopped screaming like it did on that album a little and mostly on Kill 'em All. The overall concept to it is better than on their earlier stuff, it's a little darker too with better lyrics. This still has some influences from Cliff Burton but it has some from Jason Newsted, so it has a good variety. It's their heaviest album to date and it's before they slow their songs down, that happens on The Black Album.
2050960
First off let me start by saying I'm a huge Metal fan and am quite fond of thrash. I listen to Bands like Megadeth, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Testament, Judas Priest, Sepultura and Black Sabbath on a regular basis. After listening to this album I can't honestly figure out why Anthrax are considered to be in the big four, on par with the likes of Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. It drives me mad. While some of the songs on here are pretty good, like the best track, the entertaining energetic "Caught in A Mosh," none of the tracks are on par with great thrash classics like Holy Wars...The Punishment Due, Raining Blood, or Battery. I know most metal vocalists suck, paticuarily thrash vocalists but Belladonna sticks out like a sore thumb in this band, because even though he's an acceptable singer, he sounds like he should be in a hair band not a thrash band like anthrax. The riffs are quite solid, with some such as the intro riff to "Imitation of Life" being one of the greatest thrash riffs ever, the band fail when it comes to writing solos. Sure people complain about kerry king and Jeff Hanneman of Slayer but I can assure you that Dan Spitz's solos are a lot worse and all sound exactly the same and have no energy. Charlie Bentante is an ok drummer, but he fails when compared to good thrash drummers like Dave lombardo, Gene Hoglan, Nick Menza and Lars Ulrich. And many of these songs are quite boring to tell the truth. In fact 3 stars is surely overly generous for this record but I do sort of like the bands lighthearded lyrics which contrast nicely to other metal bands constant rants about how the world sucks but it doesn't save the fact that there were better non-big four thrash bands significantly better than this, like Testament, Dark Angel and Sepultura. In paticular I think Testament should be part of the big four over Anthrax, there songs are a lot more memorable, their vocalist is better and the guitarist, alex skolnick writes jazz fusion solos that never fail to impress. On the other hand Anthrax mostly writes boring songs with boring solos. This stuff is absolutely dated; any people getting into thrash should absolutely avoid Anthrax and spend their time with better thrash bands like Metallica (1st 4 records), Slayer (all records but undisputed attitude), Megadeth (Killing is my business, Peace Sells and especially Rust in Peace), Testament (all but Demonic), Sepultura (Schizophrenia, Beneath The Remains, Arise, Chaos A.D), Dark Angel (Darkness Descends), and Exodus (Bonded by Blood). Avoid overrated dated stuff like this and buy the stuff above as you can save your money and have a lot more fun listening to good thrash.
4265179
Seems like the majority of Metallica fans feel St. Anger to be crap and Death Magnetic awesome. Hmm...

I've been into Metallica since 1982. I got No Life 'til Leather demo tape then. Yeah, I'm an old fart. Both the demo and following three albums (Kill 'em All, Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets) brought something new in Heavy Metal, each one in its' own special way.

...And Justice For All was good, but nothing new anymore. Black Album was decent mainstream Metal effort. And like we all know, the band went downhill after that. Until St. Anger came. It blew me away, again, like the demo and the 3 first LP's.

What was found in St. Anger was a band expanding its' limits and rediscovering what is crucial in Metal music: energy and feeling. And those made Metallica back in the 80's what it is now, a classic Heavy Metal band. So, St. Anger a classic? Yes!

Death Magnetic has very conventional approch in music. Like had ...And Justice For All, Black Album, Load, Reload, S&M and Garage Inc. What rises Death Magnetic to same "good solid seven" level with ...And Justice For All and Black Album, are OK but mostly average compositions - compared to 3 first albums - and energetic musicianship.

Still, a good - although overlong - album and I have played it a lot. Leave out "The Unforgiven III" and "Suicide & Redemption" and you get 57 minutes of great thrash 'n bang Metal. I would have given 4 stars if they would have left those 2 out themselves.

And by the way, if you want it without ultimately annoying digital distortion, get Japanese SHM-CD version.
3426867
Metallica has roamed and explored the rock Circuit just like most famous bands have done through history. Yet Metallica fans feel they are singled out. Blame it on Grunge/Alt rock (and Bob Rock) since metallica's rise to mainstream paralleled the Nirvana/PearlJam/AliceInChains movement.

Death Magnetic rocks hard for most of the album with its frantic drum bass & guitar noise, but like the Modern Metallica, there are moments where the pace slows down to actually allow the listener to breath. If you enjoy Kirk Hammett guitar solos this album is for you. Death Magnetic actually is closer to "And Justice for All..." than "Black". If you are searching for instant Metallica radio classics steer clear, this album is suited for grown-up Metallica fans. It is a new chapter in the bands legacy
2105349
This was recommended to me the guys in the Russell's Prog room discussion forum, and they were right. Knowing that I am a big fan of bands like Porcupine Tree, Riverside, Dream Theater, The Flower Kings, Transatlantic, etc., they said "you'll love this."

Well, they were partially right, I do like it, but I don't love it. Bader Nana is good, but not great, and certainly not up in the top tier with the above mentioned bands. All the songs are worth listening to but only 2 of them are really standouts after a few listens, the kind of songs that'll still be on my MP3 player in 2 years. They are the final 2: Desperate Measures and The Destroyer of Worlds. I also like songs 4-6, Journey, Earth 1348 and The Plague, a lot.

Overall I have to say that, to my ears this falls in what I call "the 2nd tier" prog bands; bands like Andromeda, Shadow Gallery, Magellan, etc. Don't get me wrong, these are all good bands, and I like all of them, I just don't think they are "crme of the crop" bands like Porcupine Tree and Riverside. In most cases they certainly have the playing chops of the best; they just don't seem to have the same level of pure creativity, the same compositional skills as the "big boys" do. And a lot of the time that makes all the difference in the world.

When I think of these "2nd tier" bands I think of bands that would be fine opening for bands like Porcupine Tree, Riverside and Dream Theater, but not headliners themselves. And that's just what I think of Bader Nana.

But this IS a notch above much of the stuff I have heard from most of the 2nd tier bands, and it is his first album so he certainly has room to grow and mature. I'll DEFINITELY be interested in hearing from him in the future so......3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for a debut effort that's good, really good, but not great.

(Have to say I'm not sure how happy I'd be if I had of paid the asking price of $30; I didn't get it from Amazon. Hopefully the price will come down and/or used copies will start being offered.)
2854738
Because 1) First of all it sounds great coming from metallica 2) Get a dose of where metallica got their influences from. If you listen carefuly you will find that many riffs are copied from the smaller bands. 3) because  it is a sort of a tribute album ( except the masters are paying tribute to  smaller unknown bands here ) to all those rock/metal bands  that never  became popular, but were kickass in their time. It is a great  eye(ear)opener to the fact that great bands are influenced by all types of  music not just what they play.
4152866
This isn't a bad album by any means, problem is other bands do almost the exact same thing only alot better.  Kalmah, Children of Bodom and Emperor (All of whom Norther borrows from liberally) play a similar style with better proficency.  The singer sounds somewhat like Shagrath from Dimmu Borgir and the music sounds like a cross between the bands mentioned above.  The original themes of this album are found the lyric concepts/layout and the keyboards.  The lyric booklet reads like it would look in the mirror, with every other song wrote backward and the lyrics themselves focus on personal torment.  The keyboards provide interesting contrasts between themselves and the black metal vocals.  Overall, if you already own the best from the bands mentioned above, Mirror of Madness isn't a bad buy, but otherwise I'd get those first.
821601
Firewind is a band that I discovered sometime a year ago & they were one of the bands that got me to get into power metal more than ever in recent years. Most of their albums are great ('Burning Earth' was OK) & their last one 'Allegiance' was AWESOME, but unfortunately after coming off an excellent album such as the latter, they didn't come through this time like I hoped that they would. 'The Premonition' definitely has the sound & excellent production of 'Allegiance' but the songs are not as good. I would say there are a few cool ones but that's about it. Maybe after a few listens I will appreciate it more but it definitely could have been better. Stand out tracks are "Mercenary Man," "Angels Forgive Me," "My Loneliness," & "Life Foreclosed."
1549898
Obviously if you are not a fan of Metallica this will not appeal to you.  FYI...my young daughters are starting to get into rock music....there was...IMHO....suprisingly little foul language in this...which is a good thing if you want younger ones to hear the music.  In a preconcert scene in the very beginning, a fan in the parking lot drops several MF bombs, but once you are past that the language was not noticable.  The mini-adventure film woven in here was a bit distracting, but added some interesting visuals to break up the concert fotage (again, young ones attention spans actually appreciated the breaks).  Overall a solid effort.
4850416
I think it's fair to say that this was the album Metallica decided to try something new and cater to the masses a.k.a. sell-out.  It's also fair to say that their best ever albums are their 3rd ("Master of Puppets"), 2nd ("Ride the Lightning"), 4th ("And Justice For All") ones and in that order too.

However, this the 5th album isn't all bad; as far as sell-outs go, this is actually very good.  "Enter Sandman" is a great track and has all the elements of one too: great slow intro buildup, great catchy riff, the necessary repetitive metal rhythm open low E string pedal bass, one heck of a brilliant guitar solo and a great ending.  For this brilliant track alone, I'd give this 5 stars but the other tracks are all also very good and most importantly while alienating many of their existing fan base, managed to gain many, many more crossover ones.

This version comes in a very nice cardboard mini-lp sleeve replica package and with an extra track that's a nice have but not essential.  The sound quality is good but is NOT remastered and so isn't much better than the one you already have except for the fact that from my experience with many other cds the Japanese pressings almost always seem to sound better than the U.S. or any other country pressings for some reason.  I wonder if it's because they take better care and effort at mastering?

You'll find that this is the case for all the other albums released in this format from Metallica.  Maybe, someday, they'll re-release all the albums in this format again BUT remastered for an improved sound.  However, even though this version of the "Black" album is not remastered, the sound quality is pretty decent and I'm happy with it which is a compliment because if you read my other reviews, you'll find that I have very little tolerance for badly mastered discs with poor sound quality and especially those that claim to be remastered.  I hate false and misleading advertising and I like to be sure that I get what I paid for as advertised.

My recommendation: if you don't already have this given the high price just to get the mlps packaging and the fact that this is not remastered, you are better off not getting this version and holding on to the original that you have.  If you are new to Metallica and don't mind paying a premium for this, go ahead as although this is a sell-out compared to their better earlier albums, this is still a very, very good album and I highly recommend this album although not necessarily this high-priced version.
4123850
I like this album better than their early thrash albums like "Kill 'em all" and "Ride the lightning". "Garage Inc." is itself a thrashy type album, but I just found the music more engaging than on those other albums. It doesn't have any great songs, like "Fade to black"-an all time classic song from "Ride the lightning"-but the songs are what I would call "listenable". Of their early albums, I think that "Master of puppets" is their best. The good songs on "Garage Inc." aren't of that quality either, but hey, if you like heavy metal, "Garage Inc." will please. There are lots of heavy metal type sound modules in it-that is, certain lead guitar type sounds, rhythm guitar sounds etc, which are classic 'heavy metal'.

  From the first cd-which includes covers of songs by Black Sabbath and Nick Cave-my favourite songs are:

Whiskey in the jar-it's this song which got me interested in buying this compilation. There was an Australian radio station which had a listener poll of the top 2000 odd songs of all time, and this song made the cut. It's a cover of Thin Lizzy's version, from what I've heard. Not a big Thin Lizzy fan, so hats off to Metallica to doing something I can appreciate with this song.

Tuesday's gone-a respectful, bluesy, country ballad, for the most part. Has accoustic guitar, steel string accoustic guitar and it also features a harmonica. So, this album is not just purely aggro thrash metal...there's some stylistic variety to it.

The second cd is superior to the first, I think. My favourite songs from that are:

Am I evil-has occultish lyrics (I don't tend to associate Metallica with BS lyrics, but this compilation has the kind of lyrics which you associate with the dark side of metal...but not really to an extreme extent). The song has some baroque and intricate fast lead guitar work. The intro also has a Black Sabbath vibe to it, despite being a Diamond Head song originally.

Breadfan-the riff is similar to the one in that great Red Hot Chilli Peppers' song "Around the world". The Peppers song is newer though, I think, so maybe they've heard something like this song previously. There is a change of pace in this song which reminds me of Metallica's original instrumental "Orion".

So What?-this song is really in your face and a lot of fun. By a punk band I've never heard of before: "Anti-Nowhere League". The lyrics are relatively shocking, even now, so I suppose it would take courage for Metallica to sing this song nowadays! It has real punk rock attitude and the language to go with that. If you're a teenager, this is the song to either make sure your parents never hear you playing, or to play this song just to spite them.

Overall, the sound quality on this cd is excellent (in stark contrast to the sound quality on my favourite Metallica album, "Reload").  Occasionally a couple of songs don't sound very hi-fi, but it's not as bad as, say, The Moldy Peaches debut cd, which takes that lo-fi sound to a whole different level.

The booklet which comes with this cd has very lengthy notes on the compilation, and the picture of the band in cover band mode is good for a laugh too.

If you like thrash metal, punk rock, and the bass guitar, I think you will like this album.

Just a couple of notes I made on some songs from this album:

Last caress/Green Hell-a nihilistic punk song veering into a frantic thrash song. Has an out of whack version of Iron Maiden's intro to their all time classic song "Run to the hills" for the outro.

Damage case-the intro reminded me of Wolfmother's riff for "Woman". Wolfmother won a Grammy for heavy metal or something a couple of years ago, I think.

Too late, too late-reminded me a bit of AC/DC, guitar sound wise.

Anyway, here are some heavy metal albums I highly recommend and have reviewed here (most of them):

Metallica: Reload/Master of puppets/Self-titled

Coldseed: Completion makes the tragedy
1100785
Necrophagia is better than they first appear. Anselmo is also a better guitar player than I first thought also. The vocals could use some work, but it is still cool.
4666756
This essentially is a basic representation of Zakk's style.  For the most part it is generalized lead playing and a few rhythm chops.  This is good for the player who wants to graze some metal style and learn a few chops when Zakk played with Ozzy.  However, if you are heavily into Zakk and have a gist of metal playing, then I would get something a bit more defined and somewhat more complex.