Favorite “song” on St. Anger?

Until recently I had avoided this album for twenty years. Is it as bad as I remembered? Mostly.

There are some half-decent riffs here and there —even if they’re “stock” (to quote Lars). But the overall product is pretty much crap.

Off the top of my head the only things that stick with me are parts of Frantic, St. Anger, and Invisible Kid.

I have a feeling Frantic will take this, so I’ll give the nod to the title track. But that’s like picking between various bowls of kale. There are no good options here.

The Unnamed Feeling, since it's probably the most tolerable song snare-wise for me. 

That one and All Within My Hands had the most potential, had they been properly produced.

Sweet Amber could have been ok, but of course the snare drum/production ruins any momentum it could have had. 

I'll have to revisit this album at some point, but I really don't think my opinion on it will change for the better.

Still just started Reload, but my pick would probably either be Frantic, Some Kind of Monster, or Sweet Amber.

St. Anger is the only song from here I've heard in it's entirety. I like the riff, and I appreciate the references to classic albums (though I wish they hadn't chosen THAT Damage, Inc. line to reference lol). But I can't get over how the vocals in the chorus(?) does not sync with the drums. Overall this album isn't as bad as people say, but it's still not good. And especially since it's coming from Metallica... we know they can do so much better. But I'll have to come back and answer after I actually listen to the whole thing.

Can't pick, I have made it through the album twice and that was forcing myself.

Only song i’ve ever actually heard from this album (although not quite) was an orchestral version of All Within My Hands, and it still sucked lol

Metallica tries to be Korn lolz. Korn are the best at what they do folks, especially the early years!

There is good bits and pieces here and there.

Sweet Amber for me and unnamed feeling. Haven't listened to it for years. Went to the concert during this time though and I think they played maybe two songs from the album. St Anger and something else.

Dustofyears wrote:Metallica tries to be Korn lolz. Korn are the best at what they do folks, especially the early years!

There is good bits and pieces here and there.

Sweet Amber for me and unnamed feeling. Haven't listened to it for years. Went to the concert during this time though and I think they played maybe two songs from the album. St Anger and something else.

Yeah I'd definitely consider this a nu-metal album.

StevenCressler wrote:

Dustofyears wrote:Metallica tries to be Korn lolz. Korn are the best at what they do folks, especially the early years!

There is good bits and pieces here and there.

Sweet Amber for me and unnamed feeling. Haven't listened to it for years. Went to the concert during this time though and I think they played maybe two songs from the album. St Anger and something else.

Yeah I'd definitely consider this a nu-metal album.

And a very bad one.

It sounds more influenced by Slipknot than Korn, but yeah this was their attempt at that whole nu-metal sound (which by 2003 was on its commercial deathbed). 

I mean, I understand what they were trying to do from an artistic standpoint, but it just didn't turn out well at all. The whole Lulu thing was even worse.

All Within My Hands for sure!
Sweet Amber is another of my favorites.

Shoot Me Again's end is the fastest, the most furious and the most aggressive thing Metallica has ever done. Lose the "shoot me again, I ain't dead yet" faux-rap part and this is a great song.

MagnusPrime wrote:It sounds more influenced by Slipknot than Korn, but yeah this was their attempt at that whole nu-metal sound (which by 2003 was on its commercial deathbed). 

I mean, I understand what they were trying to do from an artistic standpoint, but it just didn't turn out well at all. The whole Lulu thing was even worse.

Agreed it is more like Slipknot. Who on earth would want to imitate a dreadful McDonald band like Slipknot, especially when your band's name is Metallica.

That's right nu metal was on it's last fumes with a few bands blending other styles with it. Then it was hello EMO!!! Metallica had a habit of catching on after the fact. Load comes out when grunge is hanging by its last thread. And yes, Load was very grunge influenced. Since DM they began to morph into this other sound that is their new unique sound. It's like Metallica trying to be Metallica lolz.

Someone has re-recorded St. Anger, calling it St. Banger, and released it 10 days ago.
He's used original vocal tracks with edits here and there but apparently made new recordings of all instruments.
He's also shortened the songs a lot and made some additional changes into the songs.

It sounds great! The last 30 seconds of Shoot Me Again is insane! All the thrash of the original shines in this version.

Dustofyears wrote:

MagnusPrime wrote:It sounds more influenced by Slipknot than Korn, but yeah this was their attempt at that whole nu-metal sound (which by 2003 was on its commercial deathbed). 

I mean, I understand what they were trying to do from an artistic standpoint, but it just didn't turn out well at all. The whole Lulu thing was even worse.

Agreed it is more like Slipknot. Who on earth would want to imitate a dreadful McDonald band like Slipknot, especially when your band's name is Metallica.

That's right nu metal was on it's last fumes with a few bands blending other styles with it. Then it was hello EMO!!! Metallica had a habit of catching on after the fact. Load comes out when grunge is hanging by its last thread. And yes, Load was very grunge influenced. Since DM they began to morph into this other sound that is their new unique sound. It's like Metallica trying to be Metallica lolz.

I call the style of their last 3 albums "Thrash & Roll", since they're more-or-less mixing their earlier aggression with the looser, bluesier playing techniques of the Load albums.

Good description.

MagnusPrime wrote:

Dustofyears wrote:

MagnusPrime wrote:It sounds more influenced by Slipknot than Korn, but yeah this was their attempt at that whole nu-metal sound (which by 2003 was on its commercial deathbed). 

I mean, I understand what they were trying to do from an artistic standpoint, but it just didn't turn out well at all. The whole Lulu thing was even worse.

Agreed it is more like Slipknot. Who on earth would want to imitate a dreadful McDonald band like Slipknot, especially when your band's name is Metallica.

That's right nu metal was on it's last fumes with a few bands blending other styles with it. Then it was hello EMO!!! Metallica had a habit of catching on after the fact. Load comes out when grunge is hanging by its last thread. And yes, Load was very grunge influenced. Since DM they began to morph into this other sound that is their new unique sound. It's like Metallica trying to be Metallica lolz.

I call the style of their last 3 albums "Thrash & Roll", since they're more-or-less mixing their earlier aggression with the looser, bluesier playing techniques of the Load albums.

That fits. I've been trying to figure out what to call them for a while. Similar to how later Morty albums are often called Death & Roll

MagnusPrime wrote:

Dustofyears wrote:

MagnusPrime wrote:It sounds more influenced by Slipknot than Korn, but yeah this was their attempt at that whole nu-metal sound (which by 2003 was on its commercial deathbed). 

I mean, I understand what they were trying to do from an artistic standpoint, but it just didn't turn out well at all. The whole Lulu thing was even worse.

Agreed it is more like Slipknot. Who on earth would want to imitate a dreadful McDonald band like Slipknot, especially when your band's name is Metallica.

That's right nu metal was on it's last fumes with a few bands blending other styles with it. Then it was hello EMO!!! Metallica had a habit of catching on after the fact. Load comes out when grunge is hanging by its last thread. And yes, Load was very grunge influenced. Since DM they began to morph into this other sound that is their new unique sound. It's like Metallica trying to be Metallica lolz.

I call the style of their last 3 albums "Thrash & Roll", since they're more-or-less mixing their earlier aggression with the looser, bluesier playing techniques of the Load albums.

That's an apt description. SO basically watered down commercial McDonalds thrash for the masses YAY!!!

And yet still better than Vengeance Rising!

I think “AI Metallica” is still the best description i’ve heard for the likes of 72 seasons. It really sounds sound like what you might get if you asked chat GPT to write a Metallica song

The songs on here have some great parts. If they had cut out almost half the song on almost all of them, the album would be much better (they're too long anyway).

Metallica’s greatest enemy post TBA is bloat.

Well, that and Lou Reed.

seth wrote:I think “AI Metallica” is still the best description i’ve heard for the likes of 72 seasons. It really sounds sound like what you might get if you asked chat GPT to write a Metallica song

Have only heard Hardwired in bits and pieces so I can't rant and old man grumble about it like I'd like to. Though what I have heard sounds average at best. Seasons is straight up AI Metalllica like you say, it just is. Give me the load albums anyday.

Pethead wrote:And yet still better than Vengeance Rising!

That's a joke aye... no really...that was a joke right...

I’d put Death Magnetic over any VR.

Even the album art for 72 seasons looks like something AI came up with lol. I don’t see how any human decided that was a good cover art. Still better than Load’s “art” though, that was just disgusting

I’ll take it over Hardwired’s art, as well.

And over the new True Strength’s art…