S&M

This would have been really neat as a studio album but the live aspects of it make it terrible. It probably would have been really neat to see this in person, but the recording doesn't do it for me.

Not my music type

I deeply, deeply hate this album

Who decided we needed 2+ hours of Metallica? The hubris. I will say they had a point about Napster but ugh Metallica

I just hate Metallica

Couldn't care less bruv

Couldn't finish it. Not for classical music lovers, and I suspect not for Metallica lovers either

Live album - 0/5

Absolute garbage from a once great band. FU Lars, FU Bob Rock.

Why

Quite frankly, I don't believe compilation and live albums should belong on this list

ChuggachuggachuggaBOOMBOOMBOOMcrashwhoooooooooooshWEEEARRRGHHHHHHHboomcrashARghBoomBoomChuggachuggathudthuddidudidudiduddleyeeehawwwooftdudududududududtcrashboomcrashboomwaerjabkasdkc.... No.

It's basically Metallica with an orchestra. Doesn't blend too well and is insanely long, tiresome even

It's like Atom Heart Mother fucked Metal Gear Solid fucked Guilty Gear xx fucked ... Metallica. Is Hetfield autotuned on this? Did not finish. 1.5 stars.

I quite like Metallica, but this is some tacky, melodramatic stuff.

live album.

Interesting concept. For my ears it doesn't work. I can think of three Metallica albums that properly belong on this list. This ain't one. At first I thought it was because the mix was "upside down"; the strings are prominent over the guitars giving this musac-metallica feel. But when I suggested it, my wife said, "or it just doesn't work." I think she's right.

I don't really understand why this is on a best album list? It's a greatest hits with an orchestra? If I wanted that I would have listened to an apocalypica album. That being said I've never listened to this on principle but it's well done... Greatest hits album.

Dull, rock by numbers.

What is this crap

Metallica, but James Hetfield’s singing is worse, there’s a random orchestra that doesn’t really do anything yet still manages to make the songs have less bite, and for some unknown reason, the line ‘how I’m killing you’ in Master Of Puppets is changed to ‘how I’m fucking you’. The song is about drugs - you should know that considering you wrote it. -1 star for length, too, as the album Master Of Puppets itself was a little on the long side, but I liked that album, and I don’t like this one.

Merle Haggard has an album that covers 100 songs. Do we need to make it a live album recorded with a symphony? I don't think so.

I decided to listen to Linda Ronstadt's Simple Dreams (not included on this list) instead.

I couldn't listen to much of this. Got about three tracks in before abandoning. The Ennio Morricone opener got me hopeful, but once Metallica joined in it went downhill. I can't imagine listening to all 2+ hours of this.

How did this make the list?

outrageously boring i hate the vocalist and orchestral arrangements of these songs

This album is so cheesy, it’s hilarious! But i don’t think the band realizes how ironically ridiculous it is that they traded their metal cred for some 70s Live-and-Let-Die symphonic arrangements. If they were in on the joke, I might give them an extra star or two for their cleverness. As it is, it’s just a mess of styles and self-importance.

Cuando era más chico, los que escuchaban este disco eran re cancheros. Yo decía que lo había escuchado, pero en realidad no lo había escuchado. Ahora lo escuché y me parece una poronga.

Nice idea but Lars is not the best drummer in Metallica and is clearly struggling in this live performance

Unh unh can’t make me do it. Couldn’t get through the whole thing. But, just feels like a very long vanity project. A big James Bond vibe for me though.

I don't like the sound. I don't like the songwriting. I don't like the production overall. Awful album from one of my favorite bands. Far as I'm concerned, ...and Justice For All is where Metallica ended.

A *two hour* album? I personally don't get really get much out of live albums. That said, I did like the combination here of classic Metallica jams, combined with an orchestra. That was really interesting, but not something I'd really listen to again

Not for me

Shit

Symphonies of strung out boredom. Enter Sandman was just ok. Why mess with perfection? This genre crossover experiment is strictly for fans. Personally, I would have gone for Baroque period instruments and gotten a bit more floral, or then tied in Ravel & Tchaikovsky influences.... Or at least Danny Elfman, might have made it fun actually! Whereas, thing might have been entertaining - this is about as attention grabbing as a Hans Zimmer 90s soundtrack (he did better with Dune & Blade runner 2049, so he's not all bad a digress. ) Stick with electric strings.

Imagine taking yourself this seriously. Dimery, mate come on, enough already with the Metallica.

The orchestra was terrific.

Oh my god, Metallica manage to out-pomp themselves. This bloated, two hour long slog through Metallica's back catalogue embellished with Michael Kamen's admittedly cinematic orchestrations deliver the biggest, most bloated, most loudest, most bombastic, most EVERYTHING metal album of all time. Only Metallica could pull off something like this. It does suggest that they could potentially deliver a passable James Bond theme. I could absolutely live without the crowd cheering and sing-alongs, though. But listening through this album felt like marching on Moscow with winter approaching. It was just tolerable at the outset, but then the days shorten and the ice winds blow in. By the end, I am huddled in the endless snow, eating the boiled boots of my fallen comrades to avoid starvation. I am a 2000 mile march from home and hearth, and surely will die here, never to return, buried in an unmarked grave at roadside. Tell my wife and children I love them...

Right off the bat it has two strikes against it from me, simply for being a live compilation album, and for being way too long. It is also comprised of a fair amount of their more forgettable material. Being a live album you have to listen to all of James Hetfield's ad libs throughout, which completely pull you out of the moment each time "Thank You Baby! Yeah!" And did they really have to mic the fucking audience? Check out those professional reviews listed on Wikipedia. This was NOT critically acclaimed in any way. Everyone knew this was a self indulgent stunt made as an entertaining stop gap during a creative nadir. It's a novelty, not something for the ages. The success of that novelty is certainly subjective, but to my ear it just makes them sound laughably melodramatic. And feast your eyes on that album cover. It looks like they paid $30 to someone on Fiverr for the design.

This hilarious record is like a hungry anus looking for a black rubber fist dildo to fuck it into the year 3000. A moronic attempt at something different, which fails so spectacularly, that I'm currently fisting my granddad as he pleas for mercy and pisses his linen trousers. The nurses do not look happy.

I can think of few things worse than having to listen to this. "Metallers like classical" shock! I blame Jon Lord...

This is a slog. No way am I making it through all 2 hours. I'm a Metallica fan and fan of the symphony but combined it's just not working.

What a mess. The good ones sound like Bond themes. The bad ones sound like South park movie songs.

What? The? Fuck? I made it four songs into this 2h 13m disaster and had to switch over to Kill 'Em All to cleanse that shit sandwich from my palette. What an abortion. You'd have to be into S&M to subject yourself to this in its entirety. It felt like some real self-congratulatory bullshit. "Look how big and famous and special we are. We can play with the SF Orchestra now." Eat a dick, Metallica. Oh and meanwhile, they were suing kids for downloading their songs from Napster. Dicks.

Please don't make me listen to stodgy stadium metal. Please don't make me listen to a stodgy stadium metal live album. Please don't make me listen to a stodgy stadium metal live album that aggrandises itself with an orchestral window dressing. OH GOD IT'S MORE THAN TWO HOURS LONG. 1*

Ok ok adding classical orchestra to heavy rock music... I've heard it before and I pretty much loathe Metallica but let's give it a shot.... .... This is kind of like - work with me here - attempting to take a very high-end waxing product, or like a Lemon Pledge maybe? Something to use where you want to buff something up and...yes - POLISH it for general viewing or consumption, that's it. A polish. Anyways think about a butler, using said polish. Wanting to improve everything around them - make things more palatable, say. And then think of them attempting to use said polish on a gruesome item, something organic and wasteful. Perhaps - as distasteful as it may be - a human feces. Yes ok - think of someone attempting to use said product on said human waste. I believe it is not possible. You would not do this. You cannot do this. But if only there were some catchy and/or crude phrase in the English vernacular for such a theoretical action. That phrase would apply here. 1/10 1 star.

Yawn.

Not a fan of Metallica, and definitely not a fan of a 2+ hour Metallica album.

För mig låter det som ett soundtrack till en Bondfilm. Filmiskt, men alltså i en snäv och tråkig mening. Ett hedersomnämnande till den som faktiskt lyssnar igenom alla 133 minuter.

This is a live album? Skip! By Metallica in the late 1990s? Double skip!

De här e de skitet dom spelar i skärselden för att klura ut om du far ti himlen eller helvete om du gillar de far du ti helvete Sä&Msta sångaren nånsin, orkestern förstör den gnutta sås som finns kvar, varför e de här på listan de känns legit som att robert bara satt de hit för att trolla I guess de får en att uppskatta annan musik mer

Before listening to this album, I was actually somewhat looking forward to hearing how the album sounded. The idea of a thrash metal band backed by a symphony orchestra seemed like an interesting concept with lots of potential for something unique to come out of it. The first thing that quelled my enthusiasm was realising that the album was 40 minutes longer than I’d previously thought. The other was hearing the music. What you might cynically suspect a collaboration such as this would sound like, this does. Overblown, with neither party adding much substance to the other. More often than not, they fit so poorly together that they honestly would both sound much better separated. A “teilkunstwerk”, if you will. The only time the fusion is successful is on the slower ballads, which are so few and far between I’d recommend you just listen to them by themselves rather than having to sit through the whole 133 minutes of runtime. One positive I can cite without hesitation is the quality of the live recording. The technical team did a fantastic job capturing each instrument of the orchestra and of Metallica. This makes for yet another thing wasted on what is ultimately a waste of creative potential and my time.

Det här känns ärligt talat som den sämsta albumupplevelse jag någonsin haft. Vissa av skivans dåliga egenskaper är ganska tydliga och lätta att sätta fingret på, som James Hetfields pinsamma röst som inte låter uppriktig, den genomsnittliga Metallica-låtens tonårings-lyrics, Lars Ulrichs hemskt dåliga trummande, hela paketets machismo och ytlighet... För att inte glömma att skivan är en och en halv timme längre än den någonsin borde vara. Det som dock är lite svårare att peka ut är vad som får musiken att låta så själlös, om det ens är rätt ord. Jag undrar vem som genuint gillar det här, och vad Metallica försökte uttrycka eller förmedla för känsla. Musiken låter mycket ren, orkestern får det hela ibland att låta som en disney-soundtrack, andra gånger som en kitschig final boss theme, andra gånger som att en orkester spelar sin grej i ett rum medan Metallica spelar sin grej i ett annat, medan du står i dörren mellan dem. Så vad är det här menat att låta som? Episk JRPG stridsmusik (en av de mest själlösa genrena nånsin) passar kanske in på några av låtarna. Men resten låter antingen som en uppmjukad version av ett metalband, utan att det någonsin är poppigt eller catchy, eller ett mediokert metalband med lite stråkar som man ibland kinda hör. Musiken rör sig just och just framåt och känns allt annat än dynamisk. Det är som en portion mat, gjord med skicklighet och dyra ingredienser, men utan salt och kryddor. Jag kan inte förstå vad tanken var då de skapade det här konceptet, så länge samarbetet med en orkester inte bara var ett cyniskt sätt att få folk att köpa metallicas skivor. Jag har aldrig varit mer intresserad av vad ett musikstyckes skapares mål varit, samtidigt som jag aldrig varit mer uttråkad och frustrerad med att lyssna på produkten av deras kreativa val, vision och verkställande.

Ugh. Adding a symphony to your music rarely elevates it. It feels like a desperate search for validation as a musician. Or just self-indulgent. I like Metallica when they sound like Metallica. This, no thank you.

This should only be for completists or hardcore fans. These versions do nothing to make the songs better. This is a very long record without much of a purpose.

I don't understand this album at all. The symphony does nothing, and even if it could, it's pushed so far back in the mix you can't hear it most of the time. Essentially you're left with a bad Metallica live album with some annoying symphony things you hear occasionally. This is not good.

Fuck Metallica

this isnt streaming?

Metallica is lame.

Adding strings to something doesn’t improve it. You can polish a turd all day long but all you’re left with is a shiny shite.

A pity that live albums are included on the list but this one is not so good anyway.

Shit album name pun; utterly pointless album. Best Tracks: Master of Puppets; Enter Sandman; Battery

I know this has been around forever, but I've never listened to it because it always sounded more like a concept that came from a committee than from an actual good idea. "What if... See if you can follow me here, Ted... What IF... we took Metallica, right? And we had them play with a symphony. You know, because they're so opposite. Who conducts a symphony? I don't know, who's a symphony guy? John Williams? Can't get him? Okay, I don't know, just get somebody. And we could call it 'S&M'. Get it? Get it? No, it stands for 'Symphony and Metallica! Because that's what it is!" It just seems to be trying too hard from the get-go. But let's see. Having listened - I expected there to be more hits? As I haven't listened to much Metallica post-Black Album, a lot of this was like listening to a band that always has an orchestra behind it. Kinda like a movie soundtrack. But not much emotion here. Then 'Master of Puppets' hits and it sounds really weighed down. It's beholden to this classical music idea. It all really sounds lethargic. I stopped listening at One. I figured that was the one that would benefit the most from this treatment, but no. Dear god, when they hit "hold my breath as I wish for death" is just bloodless. That was a real slog for me. Just took all the juice out of Metallica. Not looking to hear that again.

I kind of actively despise this. Good grief. I think you pretty much nailed it, Craig. If you went and saw Metallica play this show WITHOUT the symphony you would no doubt walk away thinking they had put together one of the worst possible set lists they had ever played in their entire existence as a band. It's like they're going out of their way to avoid playing their good songs here. And the only reason I can think that they would do that is to accommodate the symphony. Okay. Fair enough. That's the whole point of this terrible experiment, right? But then Jesus Christ the orchestrations suuuucks. Most of the time I don't even notice it because I'm too focused on whatever the hell James is doing to butcher the singing of these songs. But then when I do notice the other musicians I do not like what I hear. It's bad movie music. And you know how I know it's bad movie music? Because they open the whole fucking set with actual good movie music! It's all downhill after that. Actually, there is one thing I liked. If you listen closely, every now and then, you can hear Jason Newstead singing backups and it sounds like he is doing his damndest to add some gnarliness to the whole affair. It sounds kinda cool. Just not cool enough.

Garbage. Pure shite.

Horrendous. Awful. Terrible idea

Personally I don't like anything fusion. I hate fusion food and fusion music is the same. In many cases 1+1 equals less than 2. I do like symphonic music and I think Metallica is one of the better metal bands out there but combining these two was a pretentious marketing gimmick gone awry. There are a lot of 1 star ratings here that I agree with so I won't re-hash them, but I agree with all the harsh ratings, this is an over-bloated, over-long money-grabbing mess.

Not the biggest load of wank I’ve ever heard but it’s up there

The Thing That Should Not Be indeed

Worst performance ever. I couldn't even finish it.

Skip....I cant take it....

I can't believe some humans can endure such a level of musical saturation for more than 2 hours long. Wah-wah guitar solos supported by timpani and brass punches, while the strings get excited sprinkled with "YEAAAAHAHHH" by James. All guided by a clumsy drum. And don't get me wrong, I love Metallica and I'm a fan of their oldschool thrash metal era, but this thing is not listenable. Sorry.

Its literally one of the worst albums ever released. A conceptual nightmare

2hrs of Metallica?! SFSO was the best thing about this album.

I liked the album, but I will keep the consistency with my other ratings... Live albums and greatest hits collections should not be a part of this list...

Painful, and worse because it is live! I'll rate it a 1 for the decent work by the orchestra.

DNF

This album should not be on this list. I mean, I guess hardcore Metallica fans might find something to like from a different spin on some of their favourite tracks. I'm hard pressed to support any live album inclusion, let alone something like this, which feels like somehow the worst of both classical and metal worlds? Orchestral embellishments really can work with different genres of popular music, but the symphony and the band generally seem more like they're fighting each other than working together. Hard to get through this half-baked exercise. Certainly makes me feel like Metallica's reputation for pretentiousness is well-earned.

This gimmick feels like a money grab before Metallica had the audacity to release true dog shit (St. Anger). S&M has more Reload tracks than Ride the Lightning tracks which feels like a sick joke. These were dark days for Metallica.

I prefer one band at a time.

Not into live albums and gotta be in the right mood for Metallica

Symphony didn't work for me. Dull

Well not a big fan of live albums, or metallica.

not my style; too loud, aggressive, and obnoxious.

Cool idea in theory. In execution; sucked balls.

1* if for no other reason than to annoy Adam

Not for me. My brain would not forget that it was metallica. Just not my genre. It did not sound very orchestral, i'm sure there was a lot of electric guitar in there. Where was the woodwind and acoustic strings?

Doing a protest review: I have not listened to this. I don’t believe live albums should have ANY PART OF THIS LIST. Especially not live albums that break the TWO HOUR BARRIER. It’s too much. It’s too too much. Please, think of the children. Have mercy.

Love Metallica Hate this Album

Metallica was a good band until Lars ruined it.

Two hours of slow, boring riffs and James Hetfield strained vocals. All those songs sound the same.

Absolutely not!

Nope

Live

A decent orchestral album absolutely ruined by letting Metallica play on it. Metallica ruin everything, the big wankers.

Not great, honestly feel like the orchestra is a major distraction to the songs here and really brings down the entire show. I'm not sure I found a single moment I even thought was on par with the studio recordings of these songs. Poor decision, overly extravagant, not very metal at all.

Not a fan of Metallica anyway, and the addition of an orchestra and crowd noises only makes it more unbearable. Orchestra sounds forced and out of place. >2 hours way to long, skipped most, came back for hits at the end and guitars on 'One' sound atrocious. Surely any of their studio albums would have been a better pick?

I get it, but if I am going to listen to Metallica, this ain't it.