Metal Music Blog

Lately I wrote about the very best trash metal album of 80’s which in my opinion is Metallica’s Master of Puppets. Additionally I am currently running a poll in right sidebar in which I ask you to name the best trash metal band of 80’s. I discussed about this same topic with dudes at work and I also got good comments for my article. Now I would like to extend this topic a little bit.

The year was 1987. I was a teenager hanging around with my skateboard, drinking booze and acting like an idiot. I lived in hell and I was lost. I released my hate in various ways and I was stupid. In all that shit I had one great passion, metal music. I listened to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Stone, Anthrax and especially Metallica’s Ride The Lightning album. Man, I loved that album! It was full of energy, rage and aggression. It was furious and it was fast. And I just loved it. It was my passion number one. I fell asleep by listening to it and I woke up to play it on again.

I discovered Metallica when a friend of mine, another troubled teenager, showed me his vinyl albums. I remember how Fight Fire With Fire did sound different, aggressive and furious. I fell in love. I was amazed with the beautiful melodies of Fade To Black and the epic Creeping Death. Even though I listened to Fade To Black probably too many times, the very best track in that album was The Call Of Ktulu, the awesome instrumental monument.

I grew up in northern Finland, behind the back of God. We reached American music always later than others in the world. One day my friend said, “Now I have something really staggering to show you”! We went to his home which was always empty because mother and father used to spend their days in the local bar. We sat down as I started to hear guitars from loudspeakers. After the fabulous guitar wall a fast riff started. The album was Metallica’s Master Of Puppets and I was in flames. Since that moment my most played album was Master Of Puppets. I did not listen to Battery or Master Of Puppets tracks so much because I was into The Thing That Should Not Be, Welcome Home (Sanitarium) and Disposable Heroes. May be the best lyrics in the album were in Leper Messiah, while the very best sounds were in Orion. This instrumental and almost orchestral masterpiece showed the spectacular skills and talent of Cliff Burton.

So I lived my youth with those two great albums. In year 1988 Metallica released their new album …And Justice For All. Metallica was already much more popular than few years before, so we got the album in our hands before the end of the year. I expected a lot from that album and I got more. It was a stunning album with many masterpiece tracks, brilliant metal pieces. As said in the beginning, I do not consider Black Album as Metallica’s best album, even though many people do it. In my opinion the best album is …And Justice For All. Now, the interesting point is that this album is not actually as much trash metal as the previous albums. It is much more progressive, twisted and sensitive. It was a bit different. I loved the earlier Metallica albums but I found this new album very interesting because of the lyrics and progressive sounds. As you listen to nine minutes long …And Justice For All track, you hear the difference to earlier material. May be one of the reasons why I consider the album the best is the track called One. Another reason is Damage Inc., which is definitely a real trash metal piece.

While …And Justice For All album is not as trash as earlier ones, I really like the progressive touch and lyrics of the album. Metallica fans know that the album has almost zero bass, so why on Earth I consider it the best one? Yes, there is no bass because it was mixed away. Ok, of course it is there, but bass is there only to support guitars and that’s why the album sounds like there is no bass at all. Why do I like it? As said above, I really like the progressive sounds, lyrics and the masterpieces such as Blackened, …And Justice For All, One, Harvester Of Sorrow and Damage Inc. Master Of Puppets is the very best trash album of 80’s, but …And Justice For All is the best Metallica album of all time. This is how I see it, or should I say how I hear it. This is my experience while majority of headbangers do not agree. Finally, there is just so much feelings related to that album and my life that I feel the music in that album is the best from Metallica.

So, why I do not consider Black Album as the best one? Because it sounds “produced”. There is no feeling as in previous albums and it goes too much towards pop. I just hate Enter Sandman and the rock sound in it, but I like the heavy riffs of Sad But True. The Unforgiven is played too much in radios and Nothing Else Matters buries the trash band. There is one track I like and it is My Friend Of Misery which has a great bass intro. I do not rate Black Album as best Metallica’s metal album. Black album is a heavyrock album.

You probably noticed that I did not even mention the albums after the Black Album. I am sure you know the reason.