dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 13, 2023 7:36:48 GMT -5
OUR TOP 2
BLACKENED
VS.
ONE
Participants:
and me!
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 13, 2023 7:56:40 GMT -5
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 13, 2023 8:05:18 GMT -5
I'm gonna be gone for th next few months doing my first sem of my senior year so we won't do another ranking until December but now that we've done 4 albums and ostensively did the first decade of Metallica's life, I think it'd be fun to take a look back on the past few rankings with a quick and optional Q&A.
1. What was your experience listening to Metallica for the first time? 2. How was your experience revisiting these albums? 3. How would you rank the first four albums from least favorite to favorite.
Participants: macattack singingrulebritannia khan rowellfarm490 DadJokes Gonza'90 American Idiot nathanalbright tanooki razorshark Mayman willapted33
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Jun 2, 2024 11:00:13 GMT -5
![](https://shop.semmstore.com/cdn/shop/files/ac85fa50f132e20d884e6b068e706675.png?v=1696885337)
It’s been a while since we ranked Metallica and what a way to have a comeback.
Just to remind ourselves where we are in this journey: James Hetfield, inspired by Axl Rose and Guns N’ Roses, wants to steer the band towards a heavier and harsher edge in their music. But they had also moved towards bigger, more epic compositions which alienated a section of their audience. Kirk Hammett said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 91: “We realized the general consensus was that the songs were too long. Everyone in the crowd would have these long faces, and I’d think, Goddamn, they’re not enjoying it as much as we are.” But it wasn’t just the fans who thought the album was flawed, James himself thought so as well: “After listening to the …Justice album, it was pretty apparent that we needed some guidance”
Thus the direction now was to streamline and simplify the songs, as Lars Ulrich puts it.
“When it came to the next album, we didn’t want to go down the same progressive, demanding route. We had our sights set on bigger things. You have to remember that there had been some mega albums around that time – Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Bruce Springsteen… eight million, nine million copies sold. And we wanted that. It’s obvious. We wanted a Back In Black.” Guitarist Kirk Hammet added. And considering a lot of his original work wasn’t used and also because the mixing and production muted much of his work, this next album could also be considered the first proper album with the new Metallica line-up with bassist Jason Newstead
But to guide their new sound, they also needed a producer who could take the charge and confidently gear them and help realize their ideas.
Enter Bob Rock. Rock may not be as celebrated a producer as other people like Mutt Lange, Steve Albini, Brian Eno, or George Martin, but for a while in the 80s to the mid-90s he was a pretty successful producer. He produced Dr. Feelgood by Mötley Crüe, was the engineer and mixer for Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and New Jersey as well as Permanent Vacation by Aerosmith, he's even worked with Cher for her 1992 album. He’s helped rock bands like The Cult, The Offspring, 311, Skid Row, and Veruca Salt, to pop acts like Nelly Furtado and even Michael Bublé for his albums.
It’d be wrong and disingenuous to call The Black Album ‘Metallica going pop’. After all, A lot of riffs and melodies for "The Black Album" while they were created on tour for …And Justice for All. It was actually Dr. Feelgood that led to Lars thinking that Bob should help with the album.
But this was a move towards a more accessible sound. Rock’s favorite Metallica songs were For Whom the Bell Tolls and Seek & Destroy, ones with more groove to them. Initially, they simply wanted Rock to help in mixing the album but he pushed to actually have a hand in the production. The band was hesitant at first. Lars remembers their initial relationship this way: “We’re Metallica, nobody produces us, nobody tells us what to do. And then after a while we kinda got the guard down a little bit and said: ‘Well, maybe we should go hang with this guy. He was brutally honest with us. He said he’d seen us play a bunch of times and: ‘You guys have not captured what’s live on record yet.’ We’re like: ‘Excuse me? Who the fuck are you?’
Rather than their usual motto of doing their own takes, he insisted that the band get together in the same room and play the songs live. Kirk Hammet expanded on this period in 2003: ““We had never been challenged before and nobody ever really said, ‘Well you can also do it this way, and you can also try it in a different key or why don't you try this kind of drum fill.’ We were like, ‘Why don't you go f--- yourself and stop telling us what to do. Just get us that bass sound like you got for the Mötley Crüe album.”
Metallica spent more than eight months recording and re-recording songs mostly at the One on One Recording Studios in Los Angeles, but they also spent a week working at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver. It was a lengthy and even costly measure as remixing the album to something they liked actually cost them $1 million. “The goal from the start was to get this thing perfect,” Hammett said. “Even though we had our problems with Bob, we knew that he was the person who could get that done.”
But it wasn’t just sonically that Rock pushed them, the band themselves were pushing themselves when it came to songwriting. A lot of the members were going through turbulent divorces and rough patches in their lives. Whether indirectly or not, The Black Album was one of the first where they truly got emotional. For his part, Rock recalled it being this way: “It wasn’t a fun, easy record to make. Sure, we had some laughs, but things were difficult. I told the guys when we were done that I’d never work with them again. They felt the same way about me.”
James reflected on Bob Rock’s legacy in metal and on Metallica: “The word ʻBobʼ strikes fear into all Metalhead. But a producer isnʼt meant to make you sound like him, heʼs meant to make you sound like the best version of yourself that you can possibly be.” And for better or worse, a new relationship was formed in that time as Bob Rock would stick with the band up until 2003’s St. Anger.
To this day, The Black Album remains not just Metallica’s most successful and best selling Metallica project going 16x Platinum in the United States alone, it’s one of the biggest metal albums of all time. The Black Album sold 600,000 copies in its first week alone, hitting No.1 in 10 countries and topping the Billboard 200 for four weeks. In 2014, it became the first record to sell over 16 million copies since SoundScan started charting record sales in 1991.
Despite the tough road getting to it, the band is proud. Kirk said it best: “It was tough, but there was never any hesitation or doubt about going down the wrong road. When we looked at everything, we fucking knew we had fucking great material.
Send me your lists NUMBERED from #1 to #12.
Tracklist: Enter Sandman Sad but True Holier than Thou The Unforgiven Wherever I May Roam Don’t Tread on Me Through the Never Nothing Else Matters Of Wolf and Man The God That Failed My Friend of Misery The Struggle Within
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Jun 16, 2024 22:48:08 GMT -5
3 Weeks left to send, be the first to send a list
Thank you singingrulebritannia for being the first sender
|
|
|
Post by Mayman on Jun 24, 2024 0:47:00 GMT -5
Sent! Solid songs but def a step down from their previous three albums.
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Jun 24, 2024 4:54:02 GMT -5
2 Weeks left to send, Thank you Mayman forsending but we're still up to only 2 lists. C'mon guys, let's send!
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Jul 14, 2024 2:42:08 GMT -5
Hey y'all, know it's been a while since an update happened but been a bit tied up with things in life. I've gotten busier but also have had setbacks mentally and physically. I appreciate those who sent in the last two weeks. But as a break for myself to get recharged, delaying this by two weeks, for myself and just so we can also get more lists in, there are still people I'm waiting on.
I hope y'all are patient with me, I'll try and reveal by the time August starts.
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Jul 25, 2024 2:56:53 GMT -5
|
|
razorshark
2x Platinum Member
Joined: August 2020
Posts: 2,798
|
Post by razorshark on Jul 27, 2024 13:12:07 GMT -5
I almost decided to skip this but decided I could reevaluate the album since I haven't revisited it in a few years. I definitely confirmed my opinion of my favorite songs on the album, they are head and shoulders above the rest of the album for sure.
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Jul 28, 2024 3:41:37 GMT -5
24 HOURS LEFT! Last call for lists!
|
|
macattack
3x Platinum Member
Joined: April 2019
Posts: 3,863
|
Post by macattack on Jul 29, 2024 22:18:37 GMT -5
I’ll drop mine in late tonight after I’m done at work. I pretty much have my ranking for The Black Album memorized.
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 22:25:13 GMT -5
AND NOW TO END THIS RD SERIES
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 22:30:26 GMT -5
#12 Preview
SD: 1.5776 Average: 10.6 (highest average)
Participants:
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 22:35:26 GMT -5
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 22:40:24 GMT -5
#11 Preview
SD: 2.3094 Average: 9
Participants:
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 22:45:07 GMT -5
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 22:50:23 GMT -5
#10 Preview
SD: 3.496 Average: 9
Participants:
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 22:55:11 GMT -5
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 23:02:31 GMT -5
#9 Preview
SD: 2.6352 Average: 8.5
Participants:
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 23:05:38 GMT -5
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 23:10:27 GMT -5
#8 Preview
SD: 2.2236 Average: 7.5
Participants:
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 23:15:10 GMT -5
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 23:20:22 GMT -5
#7 Preview SD: 2.6667 Average: 7
Participants:
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 12, 2024 23:25:25 GMT -5
|
|
willapted33
9x Platinum Member
blonded
Joined: February 2017
Posts: 9,486
Pronouns: he/him
|
Post by willapted33 on Aug 13, 2024 2:33:04 GMT -5
i prefer the singles to album tracks on this album so not too surprised to see my top 5 still in
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 17, 2024 7:30:20 GMT -5
#6 Preview SD: 1.7764 Average: 6.6
Participants:
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 17, 2024 7:35:05 GMT -5
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 17, 2024 7:41:00 GMT -5
#5. Preview SD: 3.3682 Average: 5.3
Participants:
|
|
dremolus - solarpunk
Diamond Member
Best In This Chaotic Hell with the best taste
Joined: August 2019
Posts: 13,219
My Reviews
Pronouns: (he/him/they)
|
Post by dremolus - solarpunk on Aug 17, 2024 7:45:54 GMT -5
|
|