Metallica - Metallica (The Black Album)
Metallica
Metallica (The Black Album)
Release Date: August 12th, 1991
Label: Elektra
Review by Jared Stossel
The beginning of the 1990s effectively meant one thing in music: the death of heavy metal and the birth of grunge. The titans of industry were no longer as mighty as they once were, with the wave of bands coming out of Seattle like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Stone Temple Pilots dominating MTV, the radio airwaves, and the shelves at record stores nationwide.
Yet despite this fact, Metallica emerged from the studio after a year of tense and grueling hard work with their self-titled effort, notably referred to as The Black Album. The band’s faded logo diagonally adorns the cover artwork, hovering above the coiled snake present on the American Gadsden flag. Not only did Metallica emerge from One on One Studios in Los Angeles with their best work yet, but with the best-selling album of their career. Today, Metallica has gone 17x platinum in the United States alone. I’m confident that it’s still on the Billboard 200 album charts as of writing this.
By 1990, the band felt that they had done the “long song” format that made up their previous albums to death. Their previous album, …And Justice For All, was their longest yet with some songs clocking in close to ten minutes. While there are still a number of songs that extend beyond the five-minute run-time, the twelve tracks that make up The Black Album, are refined, focused, and more carefully constructed than any of the albums that preceded it. The band opted to work with producer Bob Rock, due to being impressed with his work on Motley Crue’s Dr. Feelgood. Rock demanded the absolute best from Metallica, leading to their best work and a difficult recording process. From October 6th, 1990 to June 16th, 1991, the band churned away at take after take in the studio. Lyrics were constantly being rewritten. Jason Newsted worked to reinvent the bass sound, opting to make it more rhythmic in nature. A practice space was set up for Lars Ulrich in order for him to transform his playing. Rock wanted him to opt away from the grandiose Neal Peart and Jason Bonham way of drumming he was known for; by the end of the recording sessions for Metallica, Ulrich’s drum sound was similar to the Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts and AC/DC’s Phil Rudd: simplistic, in time, and the heartbeat of the band.
The creeping opening riff from “Enter Sandman”, which kicks off the album, is as synonymous with Metallica as the thrash-filled kick-off in “Master of Puppets” or “For Whom The Bell Tolls”. In fact, it might be their most recognizable song, period. It is an astounding entry in the band’s catalog, slow and chugging while still managing to be one of the most influential recordings in all of metal. James Hetfield’s voice finally hits its stride, every note annunciated with precision while receiving the proper mix treatment it’s deserved for ages.
While there are tastes of the band’s thrash metal past (the excellent “Through The Never” and “Holier Than Thou”) most of the songs find the band slowing things down, allowing everything in the mix to breathe. There isn’t as much showing off with speed and over-the-top soloing; the impact of every note lets the music on The Black Album speak for itself. It helped the band become recognized as more than just a great heavy metal band; the world began to take notice that Metallica was indeed a great rock band and one that truly had the ability to stand the test of time and reside amongst the greats, like the aforementioned Stones and AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin.
Some of the band’s best songs are found on Metallica: “Sad But True” is as epic a Metallica song as there ever was, the four-piece firing on all cylinders and sounding more powerful than ever. “The Unforgiven”, “Nothing Else Matters”, and “Wherever I May Roam” are each undisputed masterpieces, managing to hold your attention at nearly six-and-a-half minutes each; it’s like having three versions of “One”, but with better production and a sturdier backbone. The Gadsden logo comes back into play with “Don’t Tread On Me”, a political song inspired by the Patrick Henry quote “give me liberty or give me death”. It’s a sequel in spirit to the anti-establishment tracks that made up Justice, Hetfield proclaiming his love for the country rather than his disdain. There’s a broad range of subject matter on Metallica; even hunting makes an appearance (“Of Wolf and Man”).
There are some who proclaim The Black Album as the moment in which Metallica sold out; the shift to a more “commercial” sound definitely alienated some of the diehard fans that had been with them since the Kill ‘Em All days. While the songs that make up their self-titled may sound a bit more “radio-friendly” than, say, “Ride The Lightning”, I think it was a necessary jump that the band needed to make. Metallica is the only band of the “Big Four” with the ability to fill any stadium in any part of the world; there is a relatability and timelessness to their songwriting, and The Black Album further solidifies this idea. Looking back at their history, it’s clear that they had a fire under their asses to become the biggest band in the world. In order to achieve that, changing things up a bit with The Black Album was the only necessary way to break through and become rock and roll giants. Much like Master of Puppets, The Black Album is indeed another masterpiece from one of the biggest bands in history.
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