Kerrang: METALLICA's 'St. Anger' Is Band's Finest Effort To Date

March 19, 2003

METALLICA's forthcoming effort, "St. Anger", is nothing short of "the finest thing [the band] have put their name to," according to the latest issue of Britain's Kerrang! magazine, which recently had an opportunity to preview a couple of the cuts set to appear on the CD. "The volume is intoxicating, the songs even more so," the report continues. "METALLICA haven't gone backwards, they have gone elsewhere, somewhere they haven't really gone before. Much of the speed is back — speed that recalls the days of 'Battery' and 'Dyers Eve'. But the format is remarkedly different. This isn't controlled aggression, much of it is uncontrolled violence. It's ironic that at a time when the band are so at peace with one another they should make an album that sounds like they're at war. As one track follows the another — there are only working titles like 'Monster' and 'Frantic' — the difference not only between what you expect but what has gone becomes clear. There's no space between the drums and the guitars, there are riffs everywhere, there is anger and confusion — 'Do not know the answer, I don't know what the question is' is one lyric - there is swearing and shouting and time changes and speed and fury. It is difficult on a first listen not to surmise that 'St. Anger' is the finest thing METALLICA have put their name to. All the songs I'm assured, sound like this. There are no ballads. Instead there's an assault of speed and volume and anger and intensity. This is exactly the kind of thing that made a slogan such as 'Birth, school, METALLICA, death' an apposite and appropriate summation of everything this band could muster, both in themselves and their audience."

In other news, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich has revealed in a brand new "Lars Babble" video posted to the "Jump In The Studio" section of the group's official web site that "St. Anger" will not have any kind of encryption device on it, and that the band have set April 4 as the deadline for finishing the record. They will then head to New York for approximately two days to master the album. The band do not want to pick the first single, so either management or the record company will do so. According to Lars, there is no obvious single. Finally, Lars said that Clubbers should receive info on getting tickets to the "mtvICON" event very, very soon!

(Thanks: The 4 Horsemen)

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).