Metallica... New album '72 Seasons'

[ldj]

You can watch 'making ofs' on YouTube of Death Magnetic and Hardwired and see the problem.

They're not writing songs, they sit in a room with an engineer on the clock and quite literally copy and paste riffs together until the track is 7-8 minutes long and then call it a song.

I haven't listened to the last two tracks, but DM and Hardwired I always thought it was bizarre how amateur or basic the production was for a band who have unlimited resources.

There's no harmonies, vocal layers, interesting uses of reverb or delay, just anything to add a bit of gravitas, I'm not saying they have to turn into My Bloody Valentine, but this is Metallica for fuck sake, with all due respect to other thrash bands, in the 80s they just had that sense of grandeur that set them apart from everyone else.

Now their music sounds like anything a random lad could throw together in a daw in their bedroom.

[astfgyl]

Yeah I haven't even listened to the new one there because I know it's pointless. I actually enjoyed the last one the 2 times I listened to it but I still wouldn't reach for it again for any reason because there's just no point it's middling at best but only for someone who's stuck with them over the years.

All the previous comments about the songwriting are fair enough, they just don't have any spark at all and there's nothing creative going on.

I still like up as far as Black and some of the Loads but even with all the goodwill built up over the years it ends there. St Anger, Death Magnetic and the last one just don't really have anything to justify the status of the band and I wouldn't even go see them live again if I was given a free ticket and backstage passes and it was 50 yards from my gaff.

Find memories of the old albums which I still throw on here and there but it's well and truly over

[Circlepit]

I would have thought with Hetfield falling off the wagon and going through a divorce he would be full of piss amd vinegar and it would have translated into fury.
Not scratch the surface, fury I mean real deep down genuine channeled genuine grief, rage and pure passion.
Perhaps on examination the lyrics will reveal something like this.

He is apparently acting in am upcoming western film. He has a dark moody country album in him which I'd love to hear.

On the production front the drum sound is baffling. It sounds triggered to shit. As far as the song writing goes, who knows.
These four men whilst they have grown old together and been through the wars and come out far wealthier than ever imagined, there is no way they could touch the pure joyous attack of the earlier stuff.

Who among us are the same or capable of recreating the same artistic spark we did in our early 20's.
It's impossible to walk on their shoes but I can testify hand on heart that I still get the chills and holy shit moments from old and new music .
I wonder do they.

[Circlepit]

.

[Circlepit]

Double post

[Mooncat]

Who among us are the same or capable of recreating the same artistic spark we did in our early 20's.

Isn't that the whole problem with them though? That they are trying to recapture the spark of their early 20s rather than just being who they are now? It's just a limp, blatant cash grab at this point. Do you reckon any of these guys even listen to metal as a fan anymore, or have done in years? Who knows, but it sure doesn't sound like it.

[astfgyl]

Who among us are the same or capable of recreating the same artistic spark we did in our early 20's.

Isn't that the whole problem with them though? That they are trying to recapture the spark of their early 20s rather than just being who they are now? It's just a limp, blatant cash grab at this point. Do you reckon any of these guys even listen to metal as a fan anymore, or have done in years? Who knows, but it sure doesn't sound like it.

It's definitely weak but they definitely don't need the money

[Pagan Saviour]

Who among us are the same or capable of recreating the same artistic spark we did in our early 20's.

A valid point but the difference with these guys is they've made an obnoxious amount of money and I said it earlier that they are immune to the dips in popularity experienced by any other act at some point in their career. I think the two factors combined means there's literally no drive for them to get in there and make music, their backs have never been against the wall. The whole writing process looks excruciating for them.

Aside from the albums being cack they spend the time in between on hair brained ideas that should haemorrhage (and probably do) money yet they emerge the other side of it unscathed - Lulu, Through The Never, Orion Festival etc etc

[Circlepit]

The only Lulu track I heard was one they played on Jools Holland and it there is nothing more to say on that.
That film concert thing though. I saw a bit of that. That was a car crash.

My comment about them no longer being in their 20's and the diminishing amount of grit and swagger was not an effort at defending them. I suppose I'm just sad at how poor the whole thing has become.
It will still sell shit loads and the upcoming tour will be massive.
I'd pay him to not say tallica loves you.

[Pagan Saviour]

My comment about them no longer being in their 20's and the diminishing amount of grit and swagger was not an effort at defending them. I suppose I'm just sad at how poor the whole thing has become.

Ah yeah, didn't think you were defending them. There's so many bands that are in similar age bracket that at least have kept up a reasonable standard with their recorded output and that in itself is a sad yardstick to apply to Metallica. 

[Bürggermeister]

Who among us are the same or capable of recreating the same artistic spark we did in our early 20's.

It's not that their music isn't the same or has the energy and vitality of their youth, it's more that they've completely lost touch with whatever it was which made them good and nobody in their camp is brave enough to say it out loud. There are a few older bands who still release interesting new music, I'd say the likes of Voivod, Napalm Death, Sepultura, Anthrax, Living Colour, Killing Joke (if they ever release anything new again) for a start. They're bands who never stopped trying to progress, though, they never appeared embarrassed of their old stuff but also never tried to regurgitate it. They aways changed with every album, trying for something new. 'Tallica's thing of being an angry teenager trapped in a middle-aged man's body trying to capture the vibe of MOP in such a weak and contrived way just hasn't worked. It doesn't help that they're dominated, creatively, by a couple of fucking wankers who, lost whatever musical genius they possessed before the start of the century, to the point that it appears they are completely unable to write interesting, intelligent and heartfelt music (as SKOM perfectly illustrates). They turned their back on metal a long time ago and should have kept going in that direction because at least it was genuine.

[Pagan Saviour]

'Tallica's thing of being an angry teenager trapped in a middle-aged man's body trying to capture the vibe of MOP in such a weak and contrived way just hasn't worked. It doesn't help that they're dominated, creatively, by a couple of fucking wankers who, lost whatever musical genius they possessed before the start of the century, to the point that it appears they are completely unable to write interesting, intelligent and heartfelt music (as SKOM perfectly illustrates). They turned their back on metal a long time ago and should have kept going in that direction because at least it was genuine.

Perfect - Spot On!

[Circlepit]

That's it in a nutshell.
This new album has the dreaded self produced tag on top of it. Oh for a songwriting partner.
Anyway.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Personally, I think the age thing is bollocks. Hans Zimmer produced arguably his most creatively original score for Dune, when he was 63. If Metallica had continued with the kind of creative motivation they had up until And Justice... (accepting certain creative mistakes of that album to be, forgive the image, due to a bump in the road) they could have carried on writing rich, emotive music indefinitely, without even having to limit themselves to recreating what they'd done before. They decided to aim for fame instead and lost themselves between their past, present, and future. They've repeatedly demonstrated themselves to be lost ever since. Even now, in trying to get back to where they began, they're aiming at recreating the final product instead of the process that led to it. But their age has nothing to do with it imo. The originating artistic path choice errors were made when they were still in their late 20s.

[Don Gately]

Really the Black album was the fork in the road. At the time it came out it was great but nothing was very good after that. Look at Priest.. lost their way a bit with Turbo and Ram it Down but roared back with their best album in years with Painkiller. Even 2018 album was good.