MoeFOH's Album of the Week... Week #13

[MoeFOH]

MoeFOH's Album of the Week 🎶

Same as the movie thread, each week we're going to spotlight an album... be it a classic, new release, hidden gem, or outright turd... and open it for discussion: i.e. post up your favourite tracks, clips, lyrics, experiences if you saw live, etc... or dive deeper and give us a critique on why you think it's great, overrated, or a complete train wreck... And finally score it for us...  

All contributors go into a monthly prize draw for a 3-cigar sampler! 

PM me with suggestions if there's an album you want to nominate for next week's discussion. 

 

Week #13: Metallica (Black Album)

I was a cursory sort of fan of Metallica in their early years and their heyday, then in my mid-twenties somewhere I started the journey through the entire catalogue, and that made me a pretty serious fan of their work. This album is straight up awesome. Great from start to finish. It's the first album where Bob Rock came in and put his stamp on their sound. This collaboration and some simply great songwriting launched them into massive mainstream success. Of course, you only play Metallica LOUD. And when in the mood (road trips especially), this one really hits on all cylinders! 

Over to you...

Who's a fan? How highly do you rate this album?

Thoughts, memories, experiences, favourite tracks...? 

Post em up!

Score it out of 10!

[MoeFOH]

 

[Greenhorn2]

The sellout album. A lot of diehard Metallica fans felt they sold out their music style on this album. I like the album even though the music seemed to be more mainstream at the time. Seen them in concert around this time and they played more of their earlier material than this recent material.  Overall a very good album, around a7-8/10. And Justice for All was some of their better work, original Metallica. 

[riderpride]

46 minutes ago, Greenhorn2 said:

The sellout album.

I give that dishonor to Load, but I see where you're coming from as they started moving mainstream- that may also be due to a greater acceptance of hard rock too. 

Best album is Justice,  then Master, Kill em, Lighting, then Black. Everything since has been an abomination. 

Saw them on the Load tour, and even though I disliked that album, they put on a great show. 

7/10 for pushing the genre forward, but offset by the increase in suck.

Thanks for another great choice Steve

Cheers!

[Ford2112]

This album marked my departure.  1/10. Metallica went from being a thrash metal band to being a band that little kids listen to. In short, this album sucks as far as I'm concerned,but album sales would say otherwise. Then again a lot of people like Justin Bleiber

 

Oh one more thing...CLIFF!!

[Chibearsv]

This isn't an album I play very often any more.  I do like My Friend of Misery and Enter Sandman when they pop up on a station though.  I'd give it a 6 out of 10.  I actually prefer it when Metallica covers other bands and their Garage album is one of my favorites.  

[Cigar Surgeon]

This album was nominated for the best album of the 90s show for Cigar Jukebox and I had a lot of commentary being a long time Metallica fan.

This album was both great for metal as a genre, and terrible for Metallica as a band. This album made radio play of metal possible and no doubt brought legions of new fans to Metallica that didn't exist before.

But if you listen to Justice, and then you listen to the Black album, man these songs are just a shadow of what the band was.

For the metal genre this was like a 9/10. For long time Metallica fans I think this was like a 2/10.

My 1.55 cents.

Also '89 Grammys. Never forget.

[bassistheplace]

well, I'm not an aficionado of metal, nor Metallica. hard to argue the success of this record. they just never did it for me 5/10

[Akela3rd]

I like the idea of Metallica more than the band itself to be honest. Lifelong Motorhead and Charged GBH fan and both of these bands are cited as influences though Metallica never quite hit the same spot for me.
Decent enough album and I use Enter Sandman as my morning alarm - one of the great musical build ups before hitting it's stride. I agree that their earlier stuff was better, harder, more thrilling but this album helped push hard metal into the mainstream and for that, kudos.
6/10 and not an album, or indeed a band, I actively search for but OK when their songs pop up. Now if anyone wants to discuss Napalm Death...

Sent by spooky action at a distance

[Ford2112]

1 hour ago, Akela3rd said:

I like the idea of Metallica more than the band itself to be honest. Lifelong Motorhead and Charged GBH fan and both of these bands are cited as influences though Metallica never quite hit the same spot for me.

That's because Motorhead rules!!!

[Cigar Surgeon]

8 minutes ago, Ford2112 said:

That's because Motorhead rules!!!

[Edicion]

It became a ritual to listen to Metallica throughout my (daily) training during the Fat Bastard Competition a few months ago.

Gets an extra point for that: 7 / 10.

[sageman]

Enter Sandman has been on my workout playlist for 24 years which cements that specific album in my memory for childhood. I agree with @Cigar Surgeon on how it brought Metal to the masses, because it was definitely my window into it. I was born around the time Metallica released their first album, so this album was my first exposure. But they just have so many "power ballads" that I'm not looking for if I listen to metal (which isn't often). I'd go Bryan Adams if I'm looking for ballads! 

Enter Sandman 10/10

Album 4/10 

[RichG]

Man…I thought you guys were being a little harsh because I remembered liking this album when I was about 13 years old.

i just put on a few songs…then I put on Master of Puppets…and yah not even a comparison…it doesn’t hold a candle to any of their earlier albums.  

I’ll give it 6/10 for nostalgia and because I like to play Nothing Else Matters on acoustic. 

[bassistheplace]

Lemmy!

[ayedfy]

23 hours ago, Cigar Surgeon said:

This album was both great for metal as a genre, and terrible for Metallica as a band. This album made radio play of metal possible and no doubt brought legions of new fans to Metallica that didn't exist before.

But if you listen to Justice, and then you listen to the Black album, man these songs are just a shadow of what the band was.

For the metal genre this was like a 9/10. For long time Metallica fans I think this was like a 2/10.

Nailed it. Better than so much other pop metal that came out through the 80s and 90s, but the beginning of the end for the band.

5/10 for me at best. Some nostalgia factor as Nothing Else Matters was the first song I ever learned on guitar. Looking through the tracklist the only one I actually wanted to put on for a listen today was Wherever I May Roam.

Then again I'm in the extremely small camp of people with a soft spot for St Anger, so my opinion is meaningless.

[Doctorossi]

Yeah, I feel no compulsion at all to put this record on. Lightning and Puppets are all I need. Also, I think Enter Sandman is horrifyingly overrated. I'll give this record a 5/10.

[zappaFREAK]

There is not much better than watching Mariano Rivera come in from the dugout in the 9th inning to this song!  Go Yanks!

[Puros Y Vino]

I got into Metallica just as Ride The Lightning was released and was hooked. I Tracked down Kill Em All and then patiently waited for the subsequent albums.  By the time the "Black Album" arrived it signaled two things for me. 

• Cliff and his influence on their sound, really was gone. 
• Jason's debut on And Justice For All was a great sign that the "old" Metallica sound would continue, was also squashed.

Having heard Enter Sandman, on the radio no less, was bittersweet.  It was cool that they started to get airplay, it sucked that they had to water down their sound.  And I don't mean the "heaviness" was watered down, because the Black Album has some gritty, heavy riffs. It's more that the songwriting style had changed. They abandoned their roots to a degree.  Nonetheless, I picked up the album and found it to be enjoyable. I'd skip "Enter Sandman" as excessive radio airplay of the song and music video made me sick of it TBH. 

Standout tracks for me.

• Sad But True (sick, heavy, plodding riffs. Love it)
• Holier Than Thou (probably the "fastest" song on the album.  Very catchy)
• The Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters. (drastic departures for them style wise. Though they have done some "softer" tracks with varying levels of success. Fade to Black for instance).

The rest of the tracks are best consumed as a full album listen. I rarely pick them out to listen ad-hoc.  So, as an overall album, it's a win.  Most of the tracks seems to be offshoots of each other. The tone on his album is definitely harder on the low end. Less thrashy speed, more Sabbath like, droning riffs.  It also marks their departure in writing. Less about the metal genre itself and their influences and more about themselves as people. Especially James.  Their songs started to document their personal struggles.  As a longtime fan, I didn't hate it at all.  I've gone through the same experience with Rush.  They started off as a hard rock/Zeppelinsque band that went over to Prog rock with every successive album. Synths get added, songs got shorter, etc.  I could respect that they wanted to change their sound and not be pigeon holed by their past. Metallica's transition thankfully was not as extreme as theirs. They still put out solid albums.  Load/Re-Load were very much a continuation of the Black Album. I won't even address St Anger. 

This is a solid 7/10 for me. 

[riderpride]

On 6/13/2022 at 10:20 PM, Ford2112 said:

This album marked my departure.  1/10. Metallica went from being a thrash metal band to being a band that little kids listen to. In short, this album sucks as far as I'm concerned,but album sales would say otherwise. Then again a lot of people like Justin Bleiber

 

Oh one more thing...CLIFF!!

1/10 might be a touch harsh. Remember Lemmy coved Sandman and the Lem factor has to multiply everything by at least 2 

And RIP Cliff

Cheers 

[Ford2112]

7 hours ago, riderpride said:

1/10 might be a touch harsh.

It is meant to be. These guys went from saying they would never do a video and would never sell out to hiring a therapist to help the band sort out their "issues" and playing national anthems for baseball games. Now they make their own whiskey. Pas por moi. Cliff was God. And in my opinion Ride the Lightning is their best work. Master a close second, Kill em all and then Justice,then the ep Garage days. After that? NOTHING ELSE MATTERS?

[riderpride]

19 minutes ago, Ford2112 said:

It is meant to be. These guys went from saying they would never do a video and would never sell out to hiring a therapist to help the band sort out their "issues" and playing national anthems for baseball games. Now they make their own whiskey. Pas por moi. Cliff was God. And in my opinion Ride the Lightning is their best work. Master a close second, Kill em all and then Justice,then the ep Garage days. After that? NOTHING ELSE MATTERS?

Ride, Master, and Justice are all great. Better not come on while I'm behind the wheel or it will look like @WarriorPrincess is driving.

No idea they had a whiskey - probably that terrapure junk

Cheers