The top 10 Metallica
tracks from Load to Hardwired…
There are still many ‘Tallica fans who think that the Black Album marked the end of their golden period (come to think of it there are some who gave up on them after Ride the Lightning but that’s another story). That hasn’t stopped them seeing the band live of course, which to this day remains one of the best experiences you’re likely to have with your trousers on.
But for those who heard Load
for the first time in 1996 and then quietly put it away in a corner, never to
purchase another Metallica offering, there is much they’ve missed. Yes it’s
true that overall their output has not been as brutal as ‘Lightning, as mesmerising as ‘Puppets,
as trillion-selling as Metallica, but
one thing has remained, and that is Metallica’s stuff is rarely dull. Diverse
yes, overlong in places yes, bad production on occasion yes, but hardly ever
boring. Here we pull out ten of the best from 1996 to date (and – SPOILER ALERT
- there’s nothing from Lulu or St Anger)…
Until it Sleeps
(Load, 1996)
This was massive. Massively important that is, the first new
material anyone had heard since the Metallica
– and it proved just how brave the band were. Eschewing the safe route by not
putting out an ‘Enter Sandman’
soundalike, this was the maturing Metallica daring the fanbase to like a song
that had elements of the Black Album
but somehow sounded completely different. Its soft verses, shoegazing lyrics and strange drum pattern
was unnerving to the average fan of ‘Battery’,
but then a killer bridge/chorus kicks in and we realised that things were never
going to be quite the same again – particularly when accompanied with the
extremely ‘arty’ video.
Bleeding Me (Load,
1996)
A metaphor for the juxtaposition between the good and bad
within oneself, Bleeding Me is still
one of James Hetfield’s most personal and accessible lyrics, perfectly fitting
with the meandering nature of the music. Again this was new territory for the
band – the song’s structure starts slow and builds but with control (unlike ‘One’ for instance). It remains the high
point of Load and told the world that
from this point on the band were going to do things their way – whether we
liked it or not.
Fuel (Reload,
1997)
The Load sessions
produced a ridiculous amount of songs and Metallica decided (rightly or
wrongly, you decide) to pretty much release them all across two albums, a year
apart. Strangely the production on Reload
is very different from its predecessor and suffers as a result, but with this
riproarer of an opener all was (un)forgiven (sorry). A straight ahead rocker, ‘Fuel’ is still part of the current live
set on occasion and for good reason; sure, it’s a big dumb rock song, but when
‘Tallica do big dumb rock songs they still kick the proverbial ass.
The Memory Remains
(Reload, 1997)
As part of an opening salvo with Fuel, TMR is its polar opposite – sensitive, intelligent and
poignant. Metallica’s take on a theme previously examined brilliantly by Rush (Losing It), TMR takes us into the mind of a fading star struggling with the end
of a career, but in true ‘Tallica style they throw something unexpected into
the mix – in the shape of Marianne Faithful’s despairing backing vocals,
brilliantly conveying the subject’s pain. It’s a masterstroke.
Turn The Page
(Garage Inc., 1998)
The band have always loved a cover version and their career
is dotted throughout with tributes to their heroes, encapsulated best by the $5.98 Garage Days Revisited EP way back
when. In 1998 they expanded the concept and Garage
Inc. appeared with a whole bunch of new covers, the most popular of which
was their take on Thin Lizzy’s Whiskey in
the Jar. But it’s Bob Seger’s tale of life on the road, Turn the Page, which steals the show. It’s
a great song made greater given the Metallica treatment, and James Hetfield’s world-weary
vocal delivery seals the deal.
No
Leaf Clover (S & M, 1999)
Written specifically as one of two new songs for their
dalliance with the San Francisco Symphony, No
Leaf Clover was a highlight of another fearless move by the band. Many
bands have attempted to marry the orchestra and rock band with mixed results,
and while the S & M album was
patchy, certain songs worked brilliantly. None more so than this mid-tempo
stomper, allowing enough room for the classical musicians to really stretch
their legs to great effect.
All Nightmare Long
(Death Magnetic, 2008)
Following the turbulent St
Anger years, that documentary and
all the subsequent fallout, Metallica needed a rethink. By bringing in the
maestro himself, Rick Rubin, the band allowed themselves (unusually) to be led
by an outsider. The edict for Death
Magnetic was ‘imagine it’s 1986 all over again’ and to a large degree Rubin
delivered. Their most immediate material for years, DM revisited many of the hallmarks that got them here in the first
place, and although some of the tracks are a little too close to their
forebears, there were outstanding exceptions, including this absolute brute,
complete with a genuinely disturbing video. Metallica were back, and how.
Cyanide (Death
Magnetic, 2008)
Another DM
screamer, this impressed Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson so much he berated Lars
when interviewing him for not making it the album opener. It bears all the
hallmarks of what makes ‘Tallica great – two kick ass riffs, a groove to die
for and vicious lyrics spat at you Hetfield-style. If this doesn’t get you
nodding nothing will.
Hardwired
(Hardwired…to Self-Destruct, 2016)
Eight long years on from Death
Magnetic, Metallica finally got around to finishing a proper album. And as
most of their material over the last twenty years had been of the mid tempo,
lengthy type (sometimes they can be guilty of not self-editing), we were
expecting something similar, right? Wrong. Once again the band confounded us
with the heaviest, thrashiest (and shortest) track they’d done in god knows how
long. It’s a cracker, and rightly has opened every show on their seemingly
endless tour in support of HTSD.
Spit Out The Bone (Hardwired…to Self-Destruct, 2016)
If they wanted to kick off HTSD in style with the tasty title track, they bookended it with
another beauty. Spit Out The Bone
immediately kicks straight into a typical Lars snare attack, followed by James
& Kirk’s crushing riff; it then checks itself, building back into the verse
and just doesn’t let up for the next seven-odd minutes. A reminder if any were
needed that when they want to Metallica are peerless at this stuff.
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