Raging on with Metallica

I stopped checking on what Metallica had been doing for quite a while. Like many of you out there, I was guilty of thinking that the rock band had reached its peak with the Black Album in the early ’90’s and that it was only downhill after that. I had gotten to thinking that rock music has already gone through so many changes during the past decade. Think Nirvana. There was also the phenomenal rise of hip hop and the likes of Eminem taking over the anger management section of popular music. With even the face and sound of anger changed, I did not think there was really much for Metallica to do except play its old hits.

There were also problems within the group, all of them well-publicized. There was the battle drummer Lars Ulrich launched against Napster regarding the illegal downloading of songs. He was right, but he also alienated a lot of people including their fans. Bassist Jason Newstead left. He was rumored to have said Metallica was not going into what he believed was the right direction. Then guitarist James Hetfield went into rehab. Good for him, but with all those things going in and the lack of a real big-selling album, it was inevitable everybody would start to think Metallica was kaput.

Then came St. Anger, and it is one of those instances when method met madness and won the day. The album is an exorcism. These guys faced down their demons and emerged with more energy and creativity that I remember.

Is this the result of Newstead’s departure? Did new bassist Robert Trujillo bring on the very positive anger that rages throughout the album? Maybe Hetfield, Ulrich and guitarist Kirk Hammett just decided to bat for the positive and get on with the music. And it is great music that will be ranked among Metallica’s best.

These guys do know their music! They do not introduce anything new but the flow of the tracks and the intricate arrangements show the inadequacies of many other rock bands today. Metal has gone melodic but has definitely not given up on the anger. Frantic, which is everything the title says, sets the pace and is one of the best cuts in the collection. The Unnamed Feeling, which slowly builds up its intensity, is another. The other cuts are Some Kind of Monster, Dirty Window, Invisible Kid, My World, Shoot Me Again, Sweet Amber, Purify, All Within My Hands and the title cut.

For more of – or should I say everything of –Metallica, especially the music, every copy of the CD comes with a number which is the buyer’s all access pass to Metallica Music Online. Insert the CD into the computer, click on the metallicavault com, <http://www.metal-licavault.com> link. So get the CD, punch in your personal number and log on. It will be quite an experience.

After five weeks in the US market, St. Anger has dropped from number one to number six but it cannot be denied that the album has reestablished Metallica as a major force in the field of rock music. No other band rages the way these guys do and the fact that theirs is the only rock album with no pop compromises in the top 10 says a lot about the group’s newfound ability to cope with the changing times.

Top 10

The top 10 albums from Billboard Magazine’s Top 200 list are Chapter II by Ashanti; Dangerously in Love by Beyonce; Dance with My Father by Luther Vandross; Hotel Paper by Michelle Branch; Get Rich or Die Tryin’ by 50 Cent; St. Anger by Metallica; Fallen by Evanescence; After the Storm by Monica; Come Away with Me by Norah Jones; and Da Unbreakables by the Three 6 Mafia.

The top 10 singles listing in the Hot 100 is as follows: Crazy in Love by Beyonce featuring Jay-Z. Beyonce is of course the famous Beyonce of Destiny’s Child gone solo; Magic Stick by Lil’ Kim featuring 50 Cent; Rock wit U (Awww Baby) by Ashanti; Right Thurr by Chingy; Unwell by matchbox twenty; Get Busy by Sean Paul; Bring Me to Life by Evanescence featuring Paul McCoy; This is the Night by Clay Aiken; Miss Independent by Kelly Clarkson; and Never Leave You — Uh Ooh, Uh Oooh! by Lumidee. Take note that Aiken and Clarkson are both products of the vastly popular talent show American Idol.