Review Summary: Oh boy, a new Metallica album!!!!
aaaaand it's a live performance, like we don't have enough of those.
Metallica; once the greatest band of all time, now considered a dirty word in the music community, a word associated with the term “sellout”.
2008’s “Death Magnetic” was, for some, (suicide and) redemption for the band since their (some kind of) monster “St. Anger”, then came the sad (but true) attempt at an album with Lou Reed.
But enough puns.
Metallica’s new “experience” (‘cause it’s not “just” a movie) has a soundtrack, and not a single new song on it, in fact, it’s just a live album, showing Metallica at their recent best.
The band themselves are in fine condition, sounding as good as ever, James’ vocals sound the best since the early 90’s, Kirk’s solos are searing, Lars’ drumming is….okay, and, get ready for it; Rob’s bass playing actually audible *gasp*
Yes, the songs have been mixed really well, with the bass actually being a part of the songs now, rather than being drowned out, and with this, some songs sound better than ever, such as “Master of Puppets”.
Speaking of songs, there are some strange oddities, such as “The Memory Remains” and “Wherever I May Roam”, instead of classics such as “Blackened” or “Sanatarium”, hell, it doesn’t even include “Seek and Destroy”. But it’s ok, because he have songs like “Cyanide”, yeah, I’d much rather have that than Metallica’s best stuff *eye roll*.
The inclusion of the entire of “And Justice For All” is nice, but I do wish there was a different set list to the one that we received. “Orion” also sounds like it was recorded at a sound check, so it’s almost a re-record of the song.
Overall, if you’re looking for the complete Metallica concert experience, go get the “Live Sh*t, Binge and Purge” album, but if you’re being held hostage and get the choice between this and LuLu, choose this.
