Review: Metallica “Metallica” [Elektra Records]

The trends of the music industry dictated that bands needed to fit a weird set of standards in order to sell more and more. As expected, Metallica was not an exception. They simply threw away their ideas on how to thrash the world and put on their knees in front of the industry, along with all the whores that were around during the 90s. Metallica‘s self-titled marked a new era for the band, given the incorporation of the experienced producer Rob Rock who would supposedly give a fresher sound to the band. While his work left good results for the album’s production, the songwriting was not helpful at all, as Hetfield kept displaying his limitations in that department, even when talking about riffs.

Indeed, they play like a “nü metal” band in the initial part of the album, even to the point in which Kid Rock used the music of “Sad But True” to write a song. The opening track’s guitar work is also promising, as it shows itself as somehow forceful, but the rest of the album does not get better, as the band keeps on sounding like a commercial hard rock act at sometimes, while in others, they keep the “nü metal” rhythm. The ballads have nothing new to contribute. They are as boring and overlong as those they have written for previous albums. They have become more commercial, so “The Unforgiven” and “Nothing Else Matters” are more like what you may expect from Creed or any other grunge act. Perhaps, this is not as boring as their third album, but it is still a “no-go”.