S&M

The first three songs, as a unit, is one of the most brilliant fusions of rock and orchestra ever made. The rest of it is good, sometime captivating, but it all is diminishing returns after a magnificent beginning. Still, it is all worth listening to and appreciating.

I still hate live albums AND it's instrumental?? How awful.

The album is good, but I bet this was amazing to see live.

Not only is it Metallica, it's also a live album. This shit deserves negative stars.

It's good, but I don't think it adds anything to pure Metallica experience.

O, nee. 1 ster voor de eerste minuut waarin het orkest, zonder Metallica, "The Ecstasy of Gold" van Ennio Morricone speelt.

Sinfoniaa. Pelkät soittimet. Oikeastaan aika huonot sovitukset paikoin mitä alkuperäisiin tulee.

Das Livealbum S&M wurde im April 1999 in der Berkeley Community Theatre in Kalifornien aufgenommen. Die Produktion erfolgte in Zusammenarbeit mit dem San Francisco Symphony Orchestra unter der Leitung von Michael Kamen. Metallica, eine US-amerikanische Band, stammt aus Kalifornien und zählt zu den bekanntesten Vertretern des Thrash Metal. Das Album kombiniert orchestrale Arrangements mit bekannten Stücken aus dem bisherigen Repertoire der Band. Zu den hervorgehobenen Titeln gehören „Nothing Else Matters“, „Master of Puppets“ und „Enter Sandman“. Ergänzt wird die Setlist durch zwei speziell für das Projekt geschriebene Stücke: „No Leaf Clover“ und „-Human“. Das Genre bewegt sich zwischen Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal und orchestraler Rockmusik. Die Umsetzung hebt sich durch die orchestrale Untermalung vom sonstigen Werk der Band ab, bleibt aber inhaltlich eng an den Originalkompositionen orientiert. Insgesamt stellt S&M eine experimentelle Erweiterung des bisherigen Stils von Metallica dar. Die Kombination mit einem Sinfonieorchester bringt neue Klangfacetten, ohne den Charakter der ursprünglichen Songs grundlegend zu verändern.

Solid singles album, filler sounds the same. Drums are a bit naff

Genuinely impressed by the atomic mass of this album - just doesn't resonate with me super strong.

6:30AM on a Sunday morning is entirely too early for this nonsense, but I bet it would have been pretty epic to see live.

det är ju bombastiskt och ganska fett emellanåt men för det första så är jag ingen stor fan av metallica och för det andra så är det 2 timmar långt.

The most over indulgent live album since Houmous & Chutneys controversial 2nd studio album in 1959 ‘Houmous & Chutney: Live & Over Indulgent’. An album where they used 14 philharmonic orchestras to create a sound so massive that it actually inspired Phil Spector to create his wall of sound! 2.1

An interesting idea let down by James fucking around too much with the audience

☀︎bro c’est 2h j’écoute pas ça au complet ☀︎j’ai pas écouté ça au complet

I’m sorry Metallica heads. Bringing in a symphony was a good try, but I just don’t enjoy this

FUCK YEA ROCK ON DUDE GO HORNS RAAAAAA

I like the idea of symphonic metal; however, I usually find the execution lacking. I think metal is perfectly capable of creating huge-sounding, epic songs on its own, so adding orchestral arrangements tries to fix a problem the genre doesn't have. I also feel like Metallica’s strong suit is energy and groove and not epicness. The problem with this album is that it’s just Metallica songs with a layer of orchestral music added without much thought, when the songs were not originally intended to give off the vibe it adds. They do have some epic song like The Call of Ktulu or Master of Puppets, and they sound great on this album, but the original versions are already phenomenal, in my opinion, so I have a hard time calling this recording better. I still like this, though. Outside of the gimmick, this is still Metallica’s early music, of which I am a huge fan, but I don’t think the orchestra adds much to it, to be honest. It’s also too long. The novelty of the gimmick wears off pretty quickly, and the fact that it’s 2 hours long just drags the experience down. 7/10

These guys are so overrated.

??

I sense this album made the list as a reasonably-accessible example of the intersection of classical and metal. I'm glad the list editors chose to highlight this symbiosis. The production is excellent overall, great sounding mix. That said, Metallica is just too digested for my taste. I'd put Dimmu Borgir – Forces Of The Northern Night or Devin Townsend Project – Ocean Machine (Plovdiv) on the list instead. Much bigger fan of Michael Kamen as a composer/orchestrator/conductor than Metallica. The symphony carries this performance. 5/10, rounded up -> 3/5. Didn't love it, didn't hate it.

Way too much Metallica on this list.

Nah. DNF

21 tracks and 2 hours — this will surely influence my year-end wrapped.

This is everything that I dislike about Metallica distilled into a live album that is waaay too long. I really just don’t enjoy this combination of symphonies with thrash metal songs that clearly were not written with anything like this in mind. It makes my brain feel like I’m listening to two different songs playing at the same time, and honestly I find it kind of overwhelming. I’ll continue to enjoy “Kill ‘em All” and “Ride the Lightning” while ignoring pretty much everything else Metallica has done. 2*

When I saw the premise of this album, I thought it was a bit gimmicky and felt that it’s not the kind of album that really belongs on this list. I’m still not entirely convinced a live album that’s almost like a greatest hits compilation is what I feel should be on this list, but I’m glad I listened to it. I also think it could be an album that appeals to those who don’t generally like metal, which maybe is a good reason to include it. I don’t know why I try to reason with this list anymore though. Anyway, I think Metallica’s songwriting lends itself really well to collaboration with a symphony orchestra and it feels like a thoughtful and well-done project. I think a lot of things like this are kinda half-baked, but this seems a bit more mindful. The choice of songs makes a lot of sense. Yeah. If you like Metallica, you will probably like this album. If you don’t especially like Metallica you still might like this album. I think it’s very pretty and enjoyed it a lot. It’s pretty straightforward and does what it says on the tin.

Did not like this AT ALL reminded me a tiny bit of Trans Siberian RR - no thanks

I listened to the live album and got into it. It’s a metal opera. Yeah!

No. Just no. Highlights everything wrong with Metallica while simultaneously dulling the positives. Give me Pretzel Logic over this any day. There I said it.

Hell fucking yeah! This is THE album I didn't know I needed. I've always been a passive Metallica listener, never really given them much time nor thought, though wouldn't ever skip a track or turn them off. Even saw them at a festival once, and didn't realise they were this damn good. I wasn't sure at first. The intro had me questioning if I'd put the right album on. It gave 'geeky' vibes. I realised I was digging it before the end of the second track. By the end, I felt like my mind had been blown. Why haven't I given Metallica my time or thought? I listen to most of my albums in the car. Today, it felt like I was driving into battle rather than work. Really set me up for the day. \m/

It feels unnecessary to include this live album. Metallica wasn't the first band to combine metal with an orchestra and S&M wasn't even released during a time when many consider the "classic" period for the group. Not that this is a bad album, but it is the same thing as putting peanut butter on a graham cracker. Separately, they are both delicious and so it's not necessary to combine the two, as it is not necessary to include this album on this list as the other Metallica albums should suffice. I feel much the same way about this album as I did the Bob Dylan live album. Some of these songs, especially One, sounds great with an orchestration behind it. It's well done and I enjoyed it overall. If I'm going to want someone to hear Metallica, then this is not the album I would go for.

pretty music. the symphony orchestra is very grand. If this isn't 2 hours of BS though. I made it halfway through which is about the length of a real album, so good enough to get a vibe I think.

The orchestra doesn’t fix what’s shit about Metallica. James is a terrible singer and he’s not improved by a live recording. This experiment is way more interesting in theory than reality and two hours of it is just too damn much.

Metallica plus a symphony sounded epic in theory. In practice, it’s just good songs getting mugged by a French horn while drunk fans scream over it. Live albums: where great music goes to get interrupted.

blud? idk its not really worth all that time. Guitar and orchestra is pretty cool and unique for a bit but gets quite boring. Not really becoming a Metallica fan after this one, but this probably isn't meant to be the first thing you listen to. Favourite songs: the call of ktulu, master of puppets, hero of the day, nothing else matters, for whom the bell tolls, human, one. Overall around 5/10

ok i am absolutely not listening to all of that. it’s nominally more bearable than the other metallica shite because of the orchestral elements and lack of vocals* but it still sounds so boring and cheesy to me. it sounds like the score of a really stupid action movie. obviously the orchestra involves skill but it’s just STUPIDDDDDDDDD. *nope i just got to the third song and the vocals kicked in so that killed any of my remaining enthusiasm. his voice does sound better here than on the studio albums though.

i love orchestral music but instead of the orchestra improving the sound of metallica, the sound of metallica ruined the orchestra for me. i don’t know how they managed to make a full orchestra sound cheap and basic to me. NO MORE METALLICA!

Не

This is alright for a while, the combination of symphony and heavy metal is cool and the orchestra does create a new element to the songs. I'm not enough of a Metallica fan to still be enjoying this after 2+ hours though. It sounds a bit samey after a while and I was resolutely bored after about 13-14 tracks Kind of a weird inclusion for the book, considering the critic reviews weren't even that great, and they could've easily added another studio album from the band instead. Anyway I won't listen again

Cool use of the orchestra!

very cool, i enjoyed it a lot

very fun

Metallica for the mainstream. Maybe they needed the money.

Not a big metal guy. But I thought the symphony added a great element to this album. I surprised myself and actually enjoyed this. As opposed to most Metallica albums I could listen to this one with out wanting to ram the car in front of me that is only going 5 mph over the speed limit.

Never really been into Metallica. Never been against them either. This album did not change my mind one way or the other.

Looks good on paper, doesnt really follow through when you see it executed...I dont think the symphony added anything here.

Must admit that I’m a bit of a sucker for rock and classical mash ups. To my mind there are three categories in this type of genre. Interpretations of classical music by rock bands such as that done by The Nice and ELP. Music composed by rock musicians which are rooted in the classics. Good example of this would be Deep Purple in Rock which was the album which really got me into this genre of music. Thirdly and this album is an example, rock songs with an orchestral accompaniment. This third category is perhaps the most popular type of rock/classical crossover and there are hundreds of other examples. I like Metallica and enjoy listening to their most popular tracks but I am not familiar with a lot of their back catalogue. So the majority of tracks on this album are not well known to me. I like a good guitar riff and Metallica are the masters of these but after a while every track begins to sound a bit the same. The orchestration relieves this and because Michael Kamen is responsible for the scoring it is very accomplished. I can’t help thinking that the orchestration compliments the rock instruments rather than the other way around. So maybe a rock band who were born out of thrash metal should not be looking to orchestra’s to enhance or put a different slant on their music. That said as an experiment which I gather Metallica have repeated since, this is a very interesting album to listen to and a worthy addition to this list for its uniqueness. 4/5 16/4/25

I was really excited to hear a side of Metallica I never have. My god, what a confusing mess. This might prove that it is possible to have too much instrumentation in music.

My god... The instrumentation... The lyricism... The musicality... It's all so indescribably awful. Please never make me listen to it again.

Really enjoyable album, although was let down in places by being a live album and not quite having the mix set right, however, on the whole it was a good listen.

My wife likes peanuts with candy corn, and although its not my favorite combination, I do like peanuts and candy corn separately, so why not? I feel like that about this album. I like Metallica (peanuts) and orchestras are cool, especially when they are going wildly symphonic and bombastic. Combined? Sure, I'm into it, but maybe I'd like them more separately?

I kind of like Metallica okay in small doses, but this was way too long.

This is a collection of mostly great songs, but outside Of wolf and man and No leaf Clover, this album is non the ideal way to listen to them, I didn't like James Hetfield's performance.

that's a little too much metallica maybe

don’t listen to it often , nice to be reminded how good it is 4

Sound good live. Like the songs better without the orchestra, but a co concept.

It was aight

# Album Name: S&M # Artist: Metallica # Rating: 2/5 # Comments: Honestly, i like metallica but this was not a good album. It felt like an infusion of two complete opposites - which is kinda what it is. However, its not done well. The orchestra pieces doesnt go well with the majority of songs. It just doesnt fit. When i think of great symphony/rock pieces i think of songs from Paul McCartney or Guns n Roses. Metallica also have examples of this in their back catalogue. And it works for the odd song here and there. I get what theyve done and tried to push the boundary. But it just didnt work for me. Overall a poor album. # Top Tunes: None # Would I listen to it again? No

this was super cool can’t even lie. would it have been better as an 80 minute album as opposed to a 135 minute? most definitely. but they’re some good players overall and anything like this with full orchestra is just amazing

5/5 Pari kappaletta oli huonommat kuin alkuperäiset, mutta muuten mukavan mahtipontista menoa.

Temarracos

This goes hard wtf

Solid concept album the orchestra added some nice elements

I mean, it's interesting and maybe belongs on the list because of that but the originals are better. 3.28

Metallica plus an orchestra is way cooler than I thought it would be. Is it 2+ hours of cool? nah. Outside the hits its still worth hearing the orchestral accompaniments though.

I have an ex who was obsessed with this album and used to play it in her car all the time. It’s waaaay too long but pretty fun at times. The crowd just screaming “Obey your master” during Master of Puppets is pretty hype

not listening

Liked it when it first came out but now just think it took awesome rockers and made them less awesome

It was a very long album to listen to with more than 2 hours. This kind of symphonic metal music is not my cup of tea, it's just too bloated, too much. It wasn't completely unlistenable, but I didn't like it either and I won't listen to it again.

Fun album and very good integration of the orchestra.

None of these versions are better than the original. The instrumentals and slower songs like No Leaf Clover and Bleeding Me works, because there are spaces to fill for the orchestra.

Im sure this is great for Metallica fans, or not ,im sure. Whatever.

Words cannot describe how agonizing it was to listen to this. Truly, this is capitalism’s impact on music personified - a fake conversation between the music industry and Metallica to convey my thoughts: MI: “Holy crap, boys, you sell a lot of records!!” M: “(Spits into spittune) Hell yeah.” MI: “Like, even the albums your fans hate, they still buy because you’re you!” M: “(Throws rocks at schoolbus) Hell yeah” MI: “How about this - we put out a triple live album, but unimaginatively change it up by getting an orchestra to play along with you! Don’t change your live show at all - pretend they’re not there, and we’ll get those Berkeley nerds to throw in a little this, a little that. Sound good?” M: “(Overcharging an old lady for a laundry machine repair) Hell yeah.” (5 years goes by, money is made) MI: “Dang boys, I can’t believe that worked! Tons more money, critics haaaaated it, and now it’s on the 1001 albums list. This is awesome! Everything always works out for Metallica, doesn’t it?!?” M: (Killing ants with EPA unapproved chemicals) Hell yeah.”

Orkesteri saa kyllä uusia ulottuvuuksia Metallicaan. Ja mikä alku levyllä, alkaa heti maailman hienoimmalla elokuvamusiikkipätkällä! Livetaltioinnin kehno äänenlaatu ei vaan harmillisesti ihan anna oikeutta musiikille.

Megadethin jälkeen Metallica, aikamoinen sattuma. Metallican Master of puppets ja Ride the lightning ovat legendaarisia. Sinfoniaorkesterin kanssa parhaiten oikeuksiinsa pääsevät aikoinaan paljon parjausta saaneiden Loadin ja Reloadin kappaleet. Jotkin kappaleet eivät toimi mielestäni lainkaan tässä kokonaisuudessa. Human, ihan oikeasti?

Tää tulis varmaan kuunnella jostain muualta kun autohifistä. Ihan en aina näitä ymmärrä tuieeko jotain lisää hienoihin biiseihin sinfonian kanssa. Purple sen aikoinaan aloitti ja kohta varmaan Stig jatkaa

En jaksanut kuin 2 biisiä. Levyllä toi sinfonia ei toimi

Kyllä tämäkin Metallicaa on. Parempia levyjä odotellessa. 👌🏼

Hieno albumi! Sinfoniaorkesteri nostaa kyllä mitä tahansa musiikkia ja toi Metallicastakin esille aivan uusia ulottuvuuksia. Levyllä oli hyvä balanssi orkestraatiota ja alkuperäistä. Ilman orkesteria olisi pari tuntinen levy jäänyt varmasti puolitiehen.

How was Lars able to keep time with actual musicians? I would hate to have been the conductor with his shitty drumming. Falco did the symphony album infinitely better than this and I doubt he shows up on this list. Utter and complete crap.

Dope songs made better with the San Francisco Symphony included. My biggest drawback is with the runtime for this.

Un directe no és un àlbum.

I like it... adding the orchestra to Metallica songs is a nice touch.

Two hours of Metallica. Half-hearted yaaay. I was hoping I would at least get a metal/classical cover of Ennio Morricone's magical opener here but no, it was obviously just for the band to walk out to. I enjoy orchestra/ rock crossovers and generally find them interesting. I generally find Metallica mostly uninteresting. I am unfamiliar with at least half of these tracks. Inauspicious. Fair play, the Cthulhu instrumental is pretty good, and doesn't feel overlong. The same can definitely not be said for Master of Puppets, which is everything I dislike about Metallica - woo look how well I can play this instrument, who cares about the tune - and I think is still going on now, whenever you are reading this. Much of the rest just blurred into one long bludgeoning. It's often hard to properly make out the orchestra which is a shame and sort of defeats the object. I hope it was a better mix for the fans in the room at the time. Tracks that did actually stand out - Fuel, Bleeding Me, Wherever I May Roam Not really clear why this is here given the band are already well represented. If you want to include an orchestra/band crossover then why not John Grant and the BBC Philharmonic, that was absolutely majestic. Can totally understand how some Metallica fans would be all over this. Will I ever listen again? Almost certainly not.

On paper, S&M should have been something special—Metallica’s thunderous riffs combined with the grandeur of the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Michael Kamen. But in reality, this is an absolute mess, a complete trainwreck of clashing sounds and baffling choices that somehow makes Metallica’s greatest songs sound worse. It all starts out promising enough with Ecstasy of Gold, but let’s be honest—that’s a cover, and frankly, the orchestral version without Metallica is better. Then comes The Call of Ktulu, a solid instrumental that actually benefits from the symphonic backing, followed by Master of Puppets, which is still decent. But then, as if the universe decided things were going too smoothly, the entire album falls off a cliff. What follows is nearly two hours of an orchestra and a metal band fighting each other, neither willing to give way, resulting in a sonic disaster where everything drowns in an overcooked, muddy cacophony. The biggest issue is that instead of the orchestra enhancing the music, it just gets layered on top of Metallica’s already dense sound, making everything bloated, overstuffed, and painfully overwhelming. Metallica’s music is already loud, busy, and aggressive—adding a full orchestra doesn’t add weight, it just turns the whole thing into a confusing, cluttered mess. And to make matters worse, Lars Ulrich completely ignores the conductor and plays at his own tempo, dragging the symphony along like a car trying to outrun a landslide. But that’s not even the worst part—because for some inexplicable reason, they used autotune. And not just any autotune—1999 autotune, the kind that sounds like someone is singing through a malfunctioning Speak & Spell. James Hetfield’s voice, once rough but powerful, is smoothed out into a warbling, robotic disaster that makes every song feel lifeless and synthetic. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the song choices are awful. Sure, there are a few classics, but then they load the setlist with tracks from Load and Reload, albums that were already divisive, and they somehow make them even worse. For Whom the Bell Tolls—my favorite Metallica song—gets absolutely butchered, Enter Sandman is a travesty, and Battery sounds like a Metallica cover band got trapped in an elevator with a malfunctioning orchestra. It’s bloated, directionless, and utterly joyless. S&M isn’t a grand fusion of metal and classical music—it’s an overproduced, ego-driven nightmare that drowns in its own excess. If you ever wondered what happens when no one in the room says no to Metallica, this is it.

Still think they are overrated and the drummer stinks

It's a best-of combined with the orchestral depth. Was an amazing concept and perfectly executed.

The Black Album roasted all these guys' brains.

The closest you'll get to the sound of a Dad who's put The Incredibles (2004) on for his kids so he can go drink in the garage for 2 hours at 10 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon. I understand the desired reception to putting an orchestra over rock/metal is "this is EPIC", but I'm yet to see an instance in history this has ever happened. What a way to start this fucking list...

Because this is (unfortunately) an album consisting of an entire live performance, I am going to avoid rating this harshly based on it being "too long", though this was an absolute struggle to finish, I won't lie. This thing honestly got off to a good start, until I heard violins trying to replicate the Master of Puppets intro is when it all started going downhill. The song selection here was good (though I don't think 2.25hrs was a very nice thing to do), and for once (thank God), Lars' drumming was actually not too bad considering how terrible he is usually. Unfortunately Hetfield sounds like he smoked a carton of Chinese Double Happiness cigarettes before singing on here. Horrendous voice. My main gripe here is the symphony. Don't get me wrong, I love a good symphony/rock band mesh - go listen to Alter Bridge @ Royal Albert Hall Man if you want to hear it done right, because the symphonic arrangements on this record were actually dogshit. Nothing meshed at all. It's like they took the SFSO and got them to play a completely different arrangement in a completely different key to the band. It doesn't help that most of the members of Metallica are generally talentless so working with them would have been near impossible, but come on man, Jesus Christ. There are, I will admit, a few songs where there are exceptions to the above like The Thing That Should Not Be, where the orchestra and the rock actually mesh well, but those are few and far between. I genuinely think this would have been better off if the symphony wasn't there and they just stuck to a long ass live album. I would have enjoyed it a lot better, and I LIKE orchestras playing with rock bands, but this is just terrible. PLEASE STOP INCLUDING LIVE ALBUMS ON HERE THEY ARE SHIT AND BORING (except for u sam cooke love u) tldr; too long, orchestra is shithouse and doesn't mesh at all, hetfield singing is bad, this thing sounds like watching lawn bowls at a rugby game 2 hours of this has genuinely rotted my brain

Pretty painful listen I won’t lie. The steep hurdle of a runtime would not be a problem if it wasn’t for the fact the whole performance feels like it loses all of its energy about 30 minutes in. They definitely thought this was going to be way more ‘epic’ than it turned out. Whenever the orchestra’s sound isn’t being overwhelmed by the band (Hetfields vocals are especially at odds) it always feels like a tacky inclusion to whatever song is currently playing, if we lived in some alternate universe where Pierce Brosnan got a 5th James Bond movie, I could see the studios getting inspired by Limp Bizkits involvement in Mission Impossible II and shitting out something like this for its soundtrack. (Tragically, Michael Kamen, who had the unfortunate task of conducting the orchestra half of this birth defect of a concert, was actually responsible for one of my favourite James Bond soundtracks)

I could not finish it. If I wanted to hear alcoholics screaming over orchestral music I’d go for a walk in the park near QPAC.

If you want a mixed orchestral live album just go listen to unpeeled by Cage the Elephant. No joke its way better, this just feels like the lamest guy you knows idea of "cool". It's not and neither is your Dragon Ball figurine, maybe if someone else owned it, but not you. 3/10

I find it ironic that Metallica walks out to The Ecstasy of Gold at concerts in the same way I found that Pink Floyd's The Wall inspired a group of real-life Neo-Nazis. A bunch of greedy pieces of shit walking out to a song about a greedy scumbag? Do you think the old timers in the SFSO felt shame? Why is this album on here? It's like someone made a 'foods you must eat before you die' list and included gum and nuts from the Simpsons. It's the musical equivalent of when Homer designs a car, who the fuck is this for? If you wanted symphonic metal, go listen to another band. Very few songs on here are improved by the presence of an orchestra. The second half of the first disc is bloated with dogshit from Load and Reload, sprinkled in with No Leaf Clover which is an original composition for this album (and is good). The second disc of the album is what you came here for, the reason you sat through (or skipped) everything after Master of Puppets on the first disc. I have such conflicting feelings about this album after listening to the GOOD parts of this album. Metallica songs don't work well in a symphonic metal style, they are a thrash band with a thrash vocalist, a shitty drummer, a guitarist addicted to pedals and a bassist who gets 'lost in the mix' (fucked over by the former 3 pieces of shit). I absolutely dreaded listening to this, I feel a great sense of personal shame that my existing love for Metallica has tided me over here. This dogshit half-baked idea unfortunately still has good Metallica songs on it Hetfield's voice is ass, the orchestra still doesn't fit in with the sound, Ulrich is a shit drummer, this idea was totally fucking half-baked and whatever I still liked it. If this were just disc 2 it would be a 3 or a 4, but it's both discs; it's overly-long and full of post-Black Album shit. This album is entirely carried by the songs I put in the highlights section, and I feel a deep sense of personal shame that I enjoyed this dogshit. I think the band itself had a deep sense of shame, 'oh our dead bassist that we love, unlike our new shity bassist, LOVED classical music and ummm uhhh he would probably think this is cool?' They couldn't just admit the truth? Lars Ulrich probably saw the ticket price for an orchestral performance and had his eyes roll up dollar signs. Probably the same reason that tickets for the Australian leg of their 2025 tour start at $500 AUD. Despite the songs I enjoyed on here, I won't be listening to this Tuxedo T-shirt of an album anytime soon. Highlights: Call of Ktulu, No Leaf Clover, Nothing Else Matters, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Wherever I May Roam, One, Enter Sandman, Battery

1 stern

Thoughts before listening: This feels like it probably shouldn't be on this list. I mean any of Metallica's first 5 albums absolutely should be on here, but their live set with an orchestra? Nah. Not that this is bad or anything, but it just feels like I don't HAVE to listen to this. Review: Look, I like Metallica quite a bit. Any of those first five albums gets a 4 or 5-star rating in my opinion, and I enjoy hearing those songs on here. However, this is over 2 hours of unnecessary orchestral flourishes and James Hatfield being a cheeseball (maniacal laughing, f-bombs that aren't in the original song, growls, over exaggerated yeahs, etc). Plus due to the era in which this was released, it also includes songs from the Load and Re-Load albums that are clearly not as strong as the classics (although these live versions may improve on the studio versions i.e. "The Memory Remains"). This is a lesser album than their original run so this gets 3-stars.

Combining an orchestra with Metallica is like putting perfume on a turd and telling me it's a candy bar. There's no way I was going to try and endure this album.

2.5

2.5

(6.33) ★★★

The orchestra is more enjoyable than Metallica. The arrangements are hit and miss, but not the worst thing ever. 2.5 stars

3.5/5

I think the orchestra concept is interesting and works well in songs with quieter parts, but once the band gets into their heavier chugga-chugga stuff, the orchestra might as well not even be playing. Songs like "Master of Puppets" and "Battery" do not need orchestral parts, and you can barely hear them anyway. I think the softer stuff works pretty well -- "The Call of Ktulu" and "Hero of the Day" stood out as working well. I probably could've gone higher if the album was shorter, tighter, and arranged so it played to the strengths of the orchestra more. Light 3 stars.

Solid but ultimately very long and kinda boring live set of late 90s Metallica plus orchestra. A bit like Fleetwood Mac’s The Dance there’s a twinge of autotune and vocal processing to James Hetfield which definitely sours, stales and scrumples up the live proceedings a little bit.

Interesting, cool, and bizarre, neatly rolled into one. I would imagine for some folks, this hit their musical apex, a better than sex moment. I’m not in that bed. Enjoyed it, but I’ve had better.

I love metallica until the end of time but this was a bit too much for me

Kanske tillförde något till ljudet att ha en symfoni med sig, men jag står inte ut med sången.

I liked the idea of this and it was cool. I honestly think it made me like these songs even more, it gave their music more substance, depth and eeriness that I think they lack as a regular band. The orchestra was really amazing, and to make the arrangements for all of these songs and so flawlessly fit into these songs was amazing. With that said, I could have just done with the highlights, I didn't need the full two hour concert. Give me the 10 best songs of the night and release on a short album and I would have enjoyed it just as much (if not more) as getting the full two hour concert.

Cool. I did not know that Metallica did this. I like their music a little better with orchestra. It gives it another layer and adds more interest. But it did start to get pretty samesy half way through. Fun to hear the hits dressed up for a formal evening. It felt like video game music at times or maybe "Metallica the Ride" (in i-max). It could certainly be worse. At least they didn't write a Broadway musical to go with all of this. Metallica usually falls at about a 3 for me and with the orchestra I would go 3.5 but the fact that it's also a LIVE album... *sigh* okay Metallica take my 4!

This live album differs from most others in that it uses a symphony to accompany a certain well known thrash metal band into realms I couldn’t have ever imagined for them. I’ve made it clear I’m not a fan of live albums as a means to get into a band, but this one takes the original music and glows it way the heck up. Granted, I’m already well aware of Metallica’s music, but not a huge fan. Respected up to this point, and now moreso.

Seeing that this was performed with the SFSO, it seemed like it could be pretty damn cool. And it was! I loved all the rich epic sounds the symphony added. It made the thrash metal way more pleasing to my ears. This feels like it needs to be big and loud to appreciate, so I was glad to WFH today so I could immerse myself in it. Always love to hear the crowd singing on a live album too. The length was kind of a lot, but can't really fault that on a live album. Good stuff, Metallica!

Ohhhhhhh yeeeaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Uhhhhh. Maybe the last Metallica album I care about. Afterwards I only get roused slightly by the insane Lou Reed collab, but this was the last light before Metallica stopped mattering to me. Could’ve been amazing, and I admire them a lot for doing it, but unfortunately this is over 2 hours and more than half of it is re/load sooo solid 2.5/5

I’ve never understood Metallica. Generic metal with a guy who sounds like he is yodelling on vocals. The addition of a fawning crowd woooing at every chord change is unnecessary. The only saving grace of this album is the orchestra, which stops us from being a pile of shite that steams for two whole hours.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>The Beatles Don't need to relisten by will. I own this on multiple formats including vinyl. This album means so much to me and was probably the biggest shift in my music taste growing up. I was lucky enough to go to S&M² in SF. Incredible. All the music snobs and Beatles fans who don't like this can shove it. Give me this album a thousand times over any Beatles album.

Good union between the symphonic and the distorsions of metal, a nice experiment.

No! More! Live! Albums!

very rarely do i not listen to an album in full, but i’m six songs in, and i can tell this is going to be one that i don’t finish. i just don’t care. if you’re a metallica fan, i’m sure this is great fun. otherwise i’m not sure why it’s on the list.

No. 2 stars

Ik weet dat autotune al jarenlang standaard altijd wordt gebruikt. Bij elke artiest, op elk album en zelfs tijdens live optredens. Goede autotune is als een goede goochelaar: Uiteindelijk weet je dat je gefopt wordt, maar het trucje is zo leuk dat je dat kunt parkeren. Het opschorten van je ongeloof. Jullie zullen het geraden hebben, het grootste nadeel van dit album vind ik dat ze James' stem te vaak hoorbaar geautotuned hebben. In de hogere regionen (met name bij de stukjes waar de zang enigszins clean is) hoor je de autotune hard werken, hoor je de correcties en daardoor klinkt de zang regelmatig als High School Musical, moderne country of Suno AI. Je ziet de goochelaar het muntje uit z'n zak halen voor het zogenaamd uit je oor komt. Weg illusie. Ik verwacht helemaal niet dat die lamlul al die noten perfect raakt. Als we dat willen gaan we wel naar Adele om ons daar te laten teleurstellen. Het enige wat we willen is een beetje passie en echtheid. Ik wil eigenlijk geen 5 geven vanwege die autotune en vanwege het feit dat het min of meer een greatest hits is, waarbij ik één van de originele albums al een 5 heb gegeven, maar m'n zwak voor liveorkesten gecombineerd met moderne muziek duwt me toch over het randje. 2 uur en 13 minuten is eigenlijk ook veel te lang, maar het mag niet al teveel uitmaken. Skip gerust een keer een nummertje.

I loved this, I'm not the biggest Metallica fan, but damn do they have a lot of hits. I was a little turned off by the length and planned to just get through the first set, but went all the way through. It may have been a little more enjoyable because I watched this whole thing on YouTube- seemed like an awesome show to be at. The Orchestra fits in perfect and makes some of these songs sound even larger. I'd also like to think songs ended up a little more "jammy" because they needed to give the Orchestra more to do. Lars has such a punchable face but he's a good drummer. Hammet & Hetfield have great distinct guitar tones and are probably underrated players. They both shred and both have some really great riffs. All the hits were great, the stuff in didn't recognize was good enough, the Orchestra felt like a flex. They leaned quite a bit on the crowd early on, but thankfully toned it back as the show went on.

Come on people, somebody ordered the London Symphony Orchestra. Possibly while high? Cypress Hill, I'm looking in your direction. Love me some Metallica, and by that I mean: Kill Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets, and …And Justice For All. S&M is the rare “newer” album by them I do enjoy. The orchestra melded nicely with the band, but some of the song choices leave room to be desired. Could have trimmed down that run time a bit if there weren’t 6 songs from Load & Reload included 😒…but I suppose if you go to the trouble of getting a whole ass orchestra you’re gonna use it. And to be fair, I guess I do have a soft spot for Hero Of The Day. Just an exceptionally lame song. Who would have thought Metallica would have a song that makes mention of an easy chair 🤷🏻‍♂️

113 minutes....I listened to this straight through. May have benefited from a set break, but who knows? It all just really feels unnecessary. The orchestra is doing their thing, but I don't see it adding a whole lot of value. People ARE singing along on the call and response thing, so I'm guessing this wasn't a totally hoity toity affair. But how many Metallica heads HAD to have this?

I'm not listening to this for 2 hrs. Interesting songs, but not something I'll listen again

I think the conception and delivery of this is well done. This is the type of thing nobody can repeat without being compared to Metallica. As I can only barely tolerate metal, that’s where my admiration ended. I did enjoy “Nothing Else Matters” because that’s the only Metallica song I like. Good album, just overwhelmingly not my thing, and took a while to work up the patience to listen to this.

A symphony makes everything better, so this Metallica album got boosted to a 3.

If you're a Metallica fan, S&M is an absolute masterpiece — a perfect fusion of metal and orchestral grandeur that showcases the band at their most ambitious and, frankly, James at his vocal peak. His delivery throughout this live performance is powerful, controlled, and emotionally charged in a way that elevates the entire experience. I still get chills listening to the opening with “Ecstasy of Gold” — it’s the perfect way to get pumped for any Metallica show. That buildup, that energy — it never gets old. It sets the stage like no other, and by the time the band kicks in with the orchestra behind them, it’s full-body goosebumps. And then there’s “No Leaf Clover.” Hands down their best deep cut for a live show — and it’s not even close. The dynamic shift between clean verses and the explosive chorus, all layered with that cinematic orchestration, makes it one of the most unique and powerful tracks in their catalog. It’s a crime it doesn’t show up more in regular setlists. I tried to go to S&M2 six years ago and couldn’t get tickets, and listening to this only deepens that regret. S&M isn’t just a live album — it’s a statement of how far metal can go when it’s pushed beyond its boundaries. Favorite song: No Leaf Clover

A one-trick pony that lasts over 2 hours. When it works it's pretty cool. When it doesn't it all sounds like an extended riff on Live or Let Die. Too much Load and Reload.

Come on man

I regret to inform that this is the first album I did not listen to through cover to cover :( it was 2 hours and I did not have the mental capacity for that much Metallica. This was the entire live performance of them with an orchestra - cool idea but also a strange vibe mash. I’ll give it a 3 for default and the songs I did listen to were good.

Känni in und usswändig. Spannend, wie s Orcheschter um Metallica umespillt. Master of Puppets -die ganz alte Stuck sind halt scho huere guet. De Kirk isch än Ikone. Logisch, d Original sind nachli besser, ämmel was bis und mit em Black Album usechoo isch. Nur scho, well mir i de Chile zu Metallica ghürtet händ (zu de richtige, ohne Synphonieorcheschter) giz 4💫

freu mi gar nöd. wenigstens fönds mit morricone aah. aah ktulu time. es passt scho irgendwie zeme ebe. so orchester im filmmusig-stil und metal. ha eig no e gueti ziit. aber da isch etz lang gange da lied. meister der puppen. de lars spielt huuere guet do? sicher nöd eifach mit orchester und dirigent. ich ha am james sini stimm scho nöd soo gern. waldhorn uf master of puppets isch seeeehr geil. fuel isch etz recht langwilig gsi und the memory remains au ehner. wemmer gnau anelost macht s orchester immmer cools züg aber s isch schochli es mues. nothing else matters nervt mi hert. er tönt noch autotune??? outlaw torn isch etz no nice. aber najaaaaa. juan isch no e cools riff. ich mag nüme. one isch en coole song. enter sandman isch ihren beste. oh mein gott ich hass wiener YEAAH seit am schluss.

also vill isch nanig passiert ussert chli schön symphonie finds gad recht überfordernd, es passiert sehr vill huuuYEAAAAAAH HAHAHAHAHAH muss sege master of puppets tönt chli komisch eso? iwie tünd sich die herte gitarre und d striiche rnöd so komplimentiere, ahh okee ide tüfe laage ener! jöö wied lüt mitsinged!!! ohh d bridge vo master of puppets isch gad seeehr schön mitem orchester! suscht findi bis jz, dass es eifach nöd so recht zemmepasst leider, aber das liit je nach dem au draa, dass ich s original (jz bi master) "z guet kenne" sooo vill YEAH's jöö de hetfield wiener lacht währendem singe! nachdem mer sich draa gwöhnt, tönt de hetfield gar nöd so schlecht wenner chli probiert, klarer z singe weiss iwie nöd, was ich vo nothing else matters sött halte, ufem papier sött daa ja s orchester megaaa passe, aber iwie hetsmer nöd so pässled poaaah s introriff vo human isch naaaaaaasty oke das ich jz scho ahstrengend gsi. d idee selber isch eig na cool aber mega funktioniert het sie nöd findi, zumindest zum ufeme album lose, live ischs sicher es cools erlebnis iwenn isches aber au sehr zur hindergrundmusig mutiert. schwanke zwüscheme 2 undeme 3 2 will ich d daasiisberechtigung uf dere liste ahzwifle und s eifach nöd soo guet isch? 3 für human und für mis metalherz hahahah

Poor abused orchestra:)

Look, I love Metallica. But this just ain't it man. A couple of songs in and I was loving this. Thrash metal with orchestral arrangements too? Hell yeah. However, already by virtue of the fact that it's metal, it's not something I want to listen to for 2 straight hours. And as cool as the orchestral aspect sounds at first, it quickly becomes very annoying and overly theatrical while not actually being all that interesting after just a handful of songs. There was potential here, but the combination of the insane length, lack of light and shade, and the orchestral arrangements quickly becoming annoying really hold this album back a lot.

nyt pistettiin korvat hörölle. nyt kuunneltiin tarkkaan. san francisco orkesteri vähän hippiorkesteri mutta silti kiinnostava ihan kiinnostava konsepti vaikka tosiaan molemmat bändi+orkesteri on molemmat oman lajinsa jälkeenjääneitä. jotkut biisit tosiaan toimivat HUOMATTAVASTi paremmin kuin muut. varsinkin silloin kun tuotanoin pahemmin edes kuulee mitään jousia pikku ininää siellä takana niin vähän mietityttää että jooh areena-metalli rummutus raiskaa korvat kivajuttu ja joku siellä lauleskelee ilman alkuperäistä intensiteettiä.. haluan antaa viisi mutta sojottaako tarpeeksi hmm... dvils dance

No siis tässähän on vain Metallican hittejä rivissä. Orkesteri tuo vähän mutta ei paljon. Saisi enemmän tähtiä, mutten ymmärrä, miksi tämä on mukana listalla.

Listan turhin levy: Metallica kierrättää hitit livenä, ja taustalla kuuluu jonkinlainen orkesterikokoonpano (kesto 2h 13min). Hetfieldiäkin kyllästyttää, minkä vuoksi hän iloittelee varioimalla laulumelodioita omaan, maskuliiniseen tyyliinsä. Huonontaa lopputulosta.

Meh paar mooie nummers. En live album stiekem toch niet zo boffen

A naff gimmick by a band, who after their four album deal with the devil expired just could not escape naff-ness

This sounds really muddy and busy to me. Of the songs I like, I like the originals better, and the whole thing just stinks of them sniffing their own farts

Love me some Metallica from time to time - especially did when I was younger. This must surely be their most controversial record, but you've got to give them some credit for trying something different out. I am not sure I'm the camp that thinks it's great, though. When listening to the record I realize that I just prefer the original songs. Listening to this album sure gives me some anime- or Japanese-grand-fight vibes. Like fighting against One-Winged Angel in Final Fantasy VII for example. I don't think that's how I want to feel when listening to Metallica. And to be completely honest, I prefer 'One-Winged Angel' to many of these songs.

During the 00s I feel like every metal band ever did a live album with a full orchestra. Maybe it was driven by making classical music "cool" or metal more "high brow". Maybe this was one of the albums that started the trend? As mentioned, I've heard my share of live-full-orchestra-metal-albums so I wasn't expecting much which was maybe a good thing. I was super impressed by the orchestral arrangement, clearly somebody pulled in a lot of time to the arrangement and it totally shows. The strings add nice melodic lines and their on twist on the songs instead of just playing the same lines and riffs as the guitars. The selection of songs for the the album is also good while slightly on the long side (did it really need to be 2 hours?). As a Metallica-fan I enjoyed it, the vocals are not always on points and I could do without the obligatory "Hey, Hey, Hey" chants. The mixing is great though which really lets the orchestra shine. Will this convert any fans to Metallica? Probably not. Are the original versions better? I would argue so. Is it a fun album? Absolutely. If nothing else it's worth a listen to hear what an orchestra can actually bring if done correctly. Weak 4.

I love Metallica and really like the symphony orchestra addition to this recording.

I listened to this in two parts. The first, hungover, grudging, trudging to the shop to get a paper, was truly abominable. The second, running through the streets the following day feeling fresh and sprightly, only quite bad. The album begins with about 15 minutes of instrumental. As it's live and with a large string section, that's not totally unpleasant. Soon, the shouting starts though. Cheer up mate, it might never happen. The band are really tight, and the strings do actually add something to proceedings, but it is so, so, so long and every song follows an identikit format. The best known songs probably fare best here, because, regardless of my own distaste for it, it's always nice to hear a crowd going absolutely beside themselves with joy.

Not a fan of metal unfortunately

Arrgghh. Not another 2 hours of Metallica.

I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would after reading the wiki.

Metallica - ‘nuff said.

Greatest metal band on Earth. No other band can do something like this at this scale. Twice.

Metallica were the band that got me into metal back in high school, I don't listen to them as much anymore, but this has a lot of their biggest hits so it's good. I think one of the biggest problems with this is the mixing. The quiet parts sound really good, but the distorted guitars just seem mixed too low and the orchestra seems to be mixed too loud (poor Jason). Low 4 (rounding up from a 3.5).

No, thanks. These songs are better without the orchestra.

Did not think symfony + Metallica would work that well but I'll be damned if this wasn't an amazing album from start to finish!

I mean, at the end of the day it's a greatest hits album. The live orchestra gimmick is cool but ultimately underutilized. I was actually really excited when the album started with the symphony playing "The Ecstacy of Gold", but by a couple of songs in it was pretty clear that the symphony was just filler and not actually necessary.

Metallica is a great studio band for a reason. This is also a great illustration of why I've never gone to see them live - this album feels unfinished and not fully ready.

2.8 I've always disliked this album but it was good to revisit and put a finger on why. I think ultimately it's because the orchestral pieces more often than not just don't work side by side with thrash metal. The songs weren't written with the inclusion of a symphonic orchestra in mind and it's plainly obvious. Master of Puppets right at the start is an early example. What have we gained from the additional of brass and string? If anything it greatly detracts from the band's output. The only songs it does seem to work well on are the lesser known ones, which they havent played 1000x and therefore aren't trying to shoehorn additional music into a well trodden path. Still a relatively high score given the underlying music is class, but surely there's more Metallica albums that could be in here. I think I've only had 2 of the first 4 so far.

The fact that this pairing 'works' doesn't foment in me a new appreciation for a band I don't know particularly well, or a genre of which I'm honestly suspicious. If anything, the orchestral potentialities of Metallica fortify my aversion to a music I already find to be wearyingly epic and conceptually overwrought. Lyrically, it smacks of a bad interpretation of a verse play by Goethe: 'Drain you off your sanity / Face the thing that should not be.' The instrumentation is 'big,' and I guess therefore symphonic, but Wagner gone electric (or is it the other way around?) is not my jam. For fans of the band, this is most likely a treat, and I don't know their music well enough to really judge the collaboration. As an idea - as a project - it certainly succeeds. It doesn't, however, satisfy or convert. With that, I'll go w/ middling.

This is a cool idea, but I found I grew kind of tired of this album around the half-way mark. There's some interesting moments here and there, but these are definitely not my favorite versions of any of these songs.

Loved Metallica as a kid but became disillusioned after Reload, so I never listened to this. I didn't hate it, but I'm not really regretting that decision. It's just mid. The orchestra didn't seem well-integrated into the music, and I'm not sure if that's just the mix or what. Anyways, it's still Metallica songs, and those tend to be pretty good (at that time). 3/5

Heavy sinfónico? Metallica con una orquesta completa? Un disco doble de grandes éxitos en directo? Todos los clichés y adjetivos que le queramos poner... pero es un disco que tengo y de los que más escucho de Metallica, aunque no es ni de lejos de los mejores de su discografía (Master of Puppets, Ride The Lightning y …And Justice for All o el álbum negro). No parece que conjunten demasiado la banda y la orquesta (tampoco es que hubieran ensayado mucho), pero con ese set list hasta la tuna podría tener éxito. Venían de años un poco dispersos, con el pie cambiado: Load, Reload y Garaje Inc. Al mando Kamen, que no era precisamente un novato en el rock (Comfortably Numb, Who Wants to live Forever?, y trabajos con Aerosmith, Bowie o los propios Metallica). Lamentablemente falleció muy poco después de publicarse el disco (ya había sido diagnosticado de Esclerosis Mútiple años atrás). Tuvo una estupenda segunda parte, tanto o más recomendable: S&M2

Ik moet toegeven: niet helemaal afgeluisterd. Maar de introductie is echt super gaaf, waarbij het orkest de gitaren mooi complimenteert.

who had this brilliant idea

This is the ultimate example of how shit the list is. The orchestrations don’t fit at all. I have a friend who’s a huge Metallica fan and he said the album is amazing if you use the option to turn off the orchestra on the live dvd. Pointless shite

I’m still not sure how I feel about live albums being in this list. Maybe ‘best of’ albums should also be included Overall not the worst listen but equally didn’t feel like it set the world alight.

Another odd choice for the list! I am not a fan of live albums, especially double live albums that go on for 2 hours! An interesting concept of combining heavy rock with orchestral music, and it kind of works in some places and misses the mark in others. Much rather listen to a Metallica studio album.

This album is like when you fancy a burger, but you buy one that’s totally pimped up; say with a portabello mushroom, onion ring, 3 types of cheese (one of them most likely Monterrey Jack, which literally no one has ever eaten solo outside of a burger, wtf does it actually look/taste like? I digress) some kimchi and a bit of bacon. It’s kind of alright but it’s messy feels overindulgent, and the burger which is supposed to be the star of the dish was a bit lost in the whole thing.

I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it wasn’t live

Overall great but I find love album crowd reactions distracting. Ecstasy of gold was a fun surprise.

This was so intensely silly and boring at the same time. I needed WAY less Hetfield and WAY more symphony orchestra. At least the first few songs had long stretches where it was clear Kirk Hammett was having fun, and that helped to redeem it a little. 1.5

This is fun if not overly cheesy. They really hammed up the metal slobs invading the proper arts bit. It would be so much better if they had let me make the set list because I would not have put seven fucking songs from load and reload on it. More of Cliff Burton’s classical music-inspired writing would have fit better than the heavily blues inspired sludge groove stuff, but they had records to sell

I think this is the first album where I agree why it's necessary to have a live album. Symphony parts were cool and it was cool to hear them in comparison to the studio versions, but idk, I'm not the biggest Metallica fan. 2.5

I like symphonic metal, and I like Metallica, but I'm not really sure why I didn't like this accordingly. It felt like it took me four hours to get through. I do think I'd enjoy seeing this live, but it was kind of like watching sports on TV - things I enjoy when the energy is there but not in my living room.

I think I’m a Metallica fan? Master of puppets is fireee and the call of ktulu. Top tierrr

Epic and so dated. The symphony backing rock gods. Cool. Couldn’t get through the whole thing.

Conceptually, it makes sense. Metallica were always the band of the grand statement. But it does jump the shark, doesn't it?

Loved so much of this.

UGH. Flat vocals. Sounds like cover versions by some bullshit Emo band. I understand that its an interesting idea to combine the 2 styles. I just feel it falls flat.

Pretty fantastic.

It’s a neat experiment but not one I’m going to be returning to

It was a good idea but it just feels so bloated and thin. It comes across more of a novelty than a cool fusion.

4.5/5 S&M begins with the beautiful, serene intro of The Ecstasy Of Gold, followed by the The Call Of Ktulu. The build up with orchestration is fantastic, and when the guitar and drums come an amazing sound is produced. I love how the track develops and changes. Master Of Puppets is a more straightforward rocker, but I like how the audience energy is felt in the track. Also, the change up in the middle is brilliant. Of Wold And Man is an exceptional song, and the orchestration really does lift it. The theatrical, dark The Thing That Should Not Be was made for this concept, and it transitions beautifully into the straight banger Fuel. The Memory Remains is amazing, and then No Lead Clover is just a masterpiece. Just so satisfying, and such an achievement to stand up to the surrounding classic tracks. Two exceptional untypical Metallica tracks in a row, after Hero Of The Day, which is an elegant ballad lifted by the strings. Devil's Dance recognises the number of bangers we've just received, so starts slower, but is itself an amazing track. Then we reach the end of the first half with Bleeding Me, which is just an epic number, and the big horns are magnificent. Nothing Else Matters confirms that the show is still going strong, a beautiful melodic song. Until It Sleeps is exceptionally good, For Whom The Bell Tolls sounds massive, while - Human's quirky intro and strange organ are just small parts of an great song. Wherever I May Roam is orchestrated especially well, Outlaw Torn is an emotional journey, and Sad But True is a catchy banger. I enjoyed One much more within this album, before the incomparable Enter Sandman begins. The energy it has is so brilliant. Finally, Battery returns us to more straightforward, but still banging metal. Overall, this is a truly amazing live album, with an awesome concept which is fully fleshed out and pays off throughout. I love how meticulously it is planned and how delicately it flows between some songs. James Hetfield sounds fantastic. The Ecstasy Of Gold 3.5/5 (LEAST FAV) The Call Of Ktulu 4.5/5 Master Of Puppets 4.5/5 Of Wolf And Man 5/5 The Thing That Should Not Be 5/5 Fuel 5/5 The Memory Remains 5/5 No Leaf Clover 5/5 Hero Of The Day 5/5 (FAV) Devil's Dance 4.5/5 Bleeding Me 5/5 Nothing Else Matters 5/5 Until It Sleeps 5/5 For Whom The Bell Tolls 4.5/5 - Human 4.5/5 Wherever I May Roam 4.5/5 Outlaw Torn 4.5/5 Sad But True 5/5 One 3.5/5 Enter Sandman 5/5 Battery 4.5/5

Can't believe I spent 2 hours listening to Metallica and actively enjoyed it. My life sucks

I'll start with the fact that I've never been a huge fan of live albums. Parts of this are Metallica at their best. Fast, well played guitar. Great song writing and composition. The orchestra was often a great add-on to them musically, and I've always felt a lot of modern metal is similar to classical music in the technical requirements of the piece. It's also Metallica at their worst. This album proves that Lars is just not a good enough drummer to play with the SF Symphony Orchestra. James' voice is not great. Too many of their songs are just too long, and 2 hours of Metallica is more than anyone should be forced to listen to in a go.

The symphony was cool, but I really get listener fatigue whenever I have to listen to Metallica for more than 2 songs. I couldn't wait for this album to end so that I could listen to something else, but this album just carries on forever. I think they could have taken advantage of the symphony a bit more by playing their slower songs more. Or at least space those out better because the front half of this album really dragged on. The fatigue faded a bit when Nothing Else Matter came on, and I thought it was a really nice song to have with the symphony. I appreciate the ambition to add a symphony to Trash Metal, and for the most part I thought it worked. But like I said at the beginning, I just can't listen to so much Metallica in one sitting.

I'm a huge fan of MetallicA so I was pleased to get this. It's not my favourite of theirs, the orchestra for me doesn't always light up their songs it just seems a little over thought. It works well for Nothing Else Matters and for some others, just not every one of them. It's a spectacular listen nonetheless. The live recording really is special - the guitars are heavy, James is singing well, the crowd really join in at the moments they need to. Love it, wish I could have been there.

It's been a while since I heard a Metallica album after getting Master of Puppets as album 33 on my journey. I expected to get either ...And Justice for All or The Black Album next. Instead, we got a real treat today. The idea of this live album S&M was a long time coming. Their original bassist Cliff Burton was classically trained, as such he and the rest of the group incorporated more melodic compositions into their style for those early thrash metal albums, and that fusion carried into their experimentation into more conventional heavy metal and hard rock throughout the 90s. Composer Michael Kamen, who arranged and conducted the strings in the background of "Nothing Else Matters", approached the band at the 1992 Grammy Awards with the suggestion to have them perform with an orchestra. Seven years later, that idea was fully realized when the band performed live with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Now, the idea of a rock or metal artist performing with a symphony orchestra had been kicking around for decades by the time Metallica decided to do it. Hell, one of the band's influences Deep Purple performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1969. Also, this was the tail-end of the 1990s, where over in Europe the symphonic metal subgenre was kicking into high gear with acts like Nightwish, Within Temptation, and Rhapsody of Fire having put out their debuts. The idea of Metallica performing with a symphony orchestra is not a revolutionary concept. Rather, it is a celebration of the past two decades of their music, given more gravitas with the orchestration. Every song on here is elevated with the San Francisco Symphony, adding new lines and motifs where you wouldn't have anticipated them from their original studio recordings. To highlight some of my favorite renditions, we start with a live rendition of the band's opening theme of Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" from The Good, The Bad & the Ugly film before transitioning into the sweeping majesty of "The Call of Ktulu" where the swell of the strings and horns made for a grandeur statement akin to "In the Hall of the Mountain King". "Of Wolf and Man" becomes more intense and heightens the primal nature of the lyrical theming of being one with the wolf pack. The light string accompaniment on "Bleeding Me" that builds into the guitar solo complemented the internal struggle James portrayed, an arrangement that I distinctly remember my Mom calling angelic despite not usually listening to metal music. Concert staple "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is more bombastic as the strings and horns mirror James and Kirk's guitar riffs for an increased depth in the sound. "The Outlaw Torn" is the kind of song made for an orchestral accompaniment, as it's a ten-minute atmospheric song that neatly crescendoes at the end. Finally, as the encore, the intro to "Battery" is beautifully recreated with string and wind instruments before everyone kicks into high gear. I'm still finding new details to this day that I can appreciate, like how they end "Enter Sandman" in the same manner as "No Remorse". Also adding to the experience, two original tracks were written and performed with Michael Kamen's orchestral arrangement already in mind. While "No Leaf Clover" is the popular one that still gets played live on occasion, I am more partial towards "- Human" which continues down the rabbit hole of brooding, D-tuned stompers with the likes of "Sad But True" and "Devil's Dance" to great effect. Throughout the runtime, the band themselves maintain the sense of drive and commitment that they've brought to their live performances, with particular praise towards James's commanding vocal presence that stays as close to the intent of each track as possible, and Jason Newsted's ability to amp up the crowd such as his callout on "Of Wolf and Man". The crowd felt alive throughout the performance, committed to sing-along moments on tracks like "The Memory Remains" and "Master of Puppets". I know the runtime can seem intimidating, but this is a Metallica concert. Two hours of performing live is not unheard of for most rock and metal acts, especially for these guys with such an extensive catalog. Also from watching the accompanying live video, I can tell they cut out a lot of live performance banter between songs from James which helped the replay value. I loved revisiting S&M for this list. It was a full-on celebration of Metallica before they entered dark times in the early 2000s. I know they would try to recreate the magic with S&M2 over twenty years later, but the first time they did it was truly astounding.

Very surprised to see this on the list. I remember when it came out and not listening to it very often. And now I remember why. It’s just not good at all. Watered down overproduced directionless. I get why you try but this gimmick didn’t work. Just so random. Took away all the intensity of the music. I love Metallica. This was a swing and a miss. I’ll stil give it 3 stars and I appreciate them pushing boundaries blah blah blah.

++: The Ecstasy of Gold, The Call of Ktulu, Master of Puppets, Hero of the Day, Devil's Dance, For Whom the Bells Toss, Sad but True, Enter Sandman +: Of Wolf and Man, The Thing That Should Not Be, Fuel, The Memory Remains, Bleeding Me, Until It Sleeps, Wherever I May Roam, Outlaw Torn, One, Battery +-: No Leaf Clover, – Human 7,3/10

This must have been an amazing experience LIVE. Its a lot of fun, but gets a bit tedious. Very long. Over 2 hours.

Oh fuck off. Wait, no, it's 2 hours and 13 minutes long. FUCK RIGHT OFF. Actually, not wanting to miss my streak, I gave this a chance and listened to the whole thing and you know what? It was significantly better than I thought it would be. I thought it would be the worst album I'd ever heard and, in reality it was only in the top ten.

Credit where it's due: this is 1,000,000x better than I expected. Ordinarily, rock band + orchestra collabs are a big turnoff for me (and the ladies, too - fellas, take note) - not saying it's impossible to pull off but maybe the musical equivalent of a 4.8 degree of difficulty dive - and I almost skipped it entirely but I feel guilty about blowing off a few daily selections recently (sorry, Coldplay!). It's a bit soundtrack-ish, which they seem to be aware of, with the Ennio Morricone intro and all. No vox was a very wise choice. I do wish there was more guitar shredding. It feels like a fail to put on a Metallica album and not feel a bit shredded by the end. Instead I feel like I just sat down to an audio-only rendition of a David Copperfield magic show or possibly a laser show in a second tier planetarium. That sounds harsher than I mean but I won't take it back.

I'm not entirely sure how the editors of this project decided that this wasn't in one of the excluded categories of albums, but it certainly *feels* like an album out of place here. An interesting concept in principle, I suppose, but about 4 times too long for my taste. And while I appreciate the is-it-a-cover-if-the-band-is-involved puzzle, it feels too much like a kind of sad (and decidedly heavier) version of Trans Siberian Orchestra, minus the awesome Christmas music, of course. On the other hand, there's a certain poetry to having one of Metallica's four albums in this collection be an extended and loving homage to Deep Purple, who have only three albums in the collection. This is one of the very few albums that I just couldn't handle listening to without judicious amounts of skipping and fast-forwarding (and WHY was "Fade to Black" not included????). I'm not sure who exactly thought this was a good idea to inflict on anyone but the most die-hard Metallica fans, especially since it just exposes how incredibly *long* and rambling many of their songs were (although the audience chanting back the choruses *is* very impressive, albeit in a sort of Seig Heil way). I've begrudgingly respected Metallica over the years, and it was kind of fun to get some classics from their early years, but this album in particular has me wondering if my respect was ever deserved. (I'm reminded of my brother complaining that "Alien: Prometheus" was so painful for him that it made him rethink whether the first two "Alien" movies were actually as good as he remembered. No! But maybe "yes" in Metallica's case...)

I bet this was a great performance to experience live, and I especially loved the Morricone start but as an album, it probably appeals more to the diehard Metallica fans than the dabbler like myself (e.g. goes on about a half hour too long).

Cheesy orchestra meets cheesy metal. What's to love?

Refused to listen.

I think i prefer no orchestra. 2/5

It’s not bad, but it’s not necessary either.

S&M is interesting enough, it's Metallica with an orchestra, so it gets a high floor, but beyond that it's not impressive as an album. Hetfield doesn't have a strong enough voice to hold up live, the orchestra adds something but not enough to be truly compelling, and so you get a disappointing version of otherwise really good songs. This live concert would've been an experience to be at, but below par to listen to after the fact. 3/5.

I really, really enjoyed this for a while - I'm a bit soft for a full-on Metallica album, and this balances it out really nicely - but it got a bit wearing getting through it all. It must've been amazing to see it live, but I'm not sure we needed all 2 hours 13 minutes of it on the record. There's a few tracks where it sounds like a slightly duff recording rather than a live performance, you need a bit more of the crowd (because they are clearly absolutely loving it) and it adds a lot. 3/5, could easily have been a 4 if they'd trimmed it a bit. 

I don't really like Metallica all that much, or metal music in general, but this was pretty cool. Sounded really good considering it is a live album. Combination worked really well. Probably won't revisit but very solid.

Interesting

4 out of 5. My favorite live metal album.

I understand part of the appeal of this album, is that it's a crazy spectacle. Massive metal band, joining up with a major symphony. But this album felt kind of over indulgent. Just takes it outta me.

Not a big metal fan, but something about a rock band and a symphony orchestra playing together just gets my juices flowing. Will I ever listen to this in its entirety again? Probably not, but I’ll definitely return to the Metallica songs I like quite often for this one.

I’m not even gonna lie to ya dawg, I’m not listening to all that

Wretched. I hope that the sell-outs at the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra lost money on this.

I don't like live albums. I like some of the orchestral stuff but the metal sucks like normal.

Not getting this unfortunately, wanted this to be great...but I think I prefer my Metallica without Symphony, and my Symphony without Metallica.

Probably wouldn’t have liked it if I weren’t already a fan, but it was a fun concept. Just a little too heavy on the Load/Reload albums.

dudes will listen to this and be like hell yeah

Wow this is a great album. You have such a strong rock element with all of metallica's best hits, (enter sandman for example) but made all the more epic with orchestra pieces that do nothing to detract from music and only add to it to make it all the more exuberant. It is long (at two hours) so it is hard to stay fully focused at all times, which may be its only detractor.

I expected this to be a lot better than it was. The idea was great, but they didn’t adjust any of their songs to tastefully fit the orchestra. It just sounded like an orchestra trying to play in the same room as Metallica. Also, Lars just blows. He sucks so bad

if you rated this more than 3 you're an ass

First listen. Ok I guess.

hm...3 estrelas tá bom

10/10 Love

I had gotten bored of Metallica a very long time ago, so did not go intro this expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. This was very good

Rating: 6/10 The orchestra enhances none of the songs. No Leaf Clover is fantastic and Hero of the Day and Devil's Dance sound cool with the orchestra but overall it severely detracts from most of the songs, especially the thrashier ones.

I was expecting more from this album than I got during the experience of listening to it. Sure, It's Metallica, one of my favourite bands, and it's awesome, but somehow not as awesome as I anticipated. Nevertheless, I'll give it five stars and add it to my Tidal library, but I think I prefer my Metallica fix without the orchestral accoutrement.

I was admittedly surprised by all the comments noting how the symphony with Metallica was a bad combo. And that they symphony didn't add much to music. I completely disagree. I thought the symphony absolutely added another layer/dimension to the songs that I highly enjoyed. My only problem is that I personally enjoy Metallica in relatively short doses. 2+ hours of Metallica is too much for me to listen to in a single sitting.

Enjoyed this. Thought it was a great collaboration but way too long to really sit and digest.

Sounded like a really cool concert.

Not a huge fan of Metallica, but they sure know how to put on a good show.

I love symphony orchestra pairings, and this doesn’t disappoint.

I'm sure this would be fun if I at all liked Metallica

1. gold - 1 2. ktulu - 1.5 3. puppetz - 3 4. uuolf - 1 5. thing - 1 6. fuel - 2 7. memory - 1 8. clover - 1 9. hero - 1 10. dance - 1 11. bleeding - 1 12. matterz - 2 13. zleepz - 1 14. bell - 1 15. human - 1 16. roam - 1 17. outlauu - 0 18. true - 1.5 19. one - 1 20. zandman - 3 21. battery - 2.5

A best of with an orchestra on the side. 3.5

100/10. What a splendid way to kick off this December!!! I'm a huge fan of Metallica. They are my third-favourite band after TOOL, and Dream Theater. They got me into metal music!!! :) I'm on day 184 in this album generator. Metallica appears four times in this generator. I've been anxiously waiting for a Metallica album to appear in this generator. Today, it FINALLY happened!!! Who needs folksy 1960's duds (not all folksy 1960's albums are duds, FYI) when you have METALLICA??? :) Listening to this album is an exhilarating experience. Symphony can add some gorgeous embellishments to the already amazing nature of Metallica's music. This is also a live album. I love the feeling of being at a concert!!! :) This album was released eight years before I was born, so I wasn't able to be at the actual concert, which is a shame. Whatever, I get to comfortably enjoy it now!!!!! :) I'd also like to talk about S&M2. The orchestra for the album was directed by Edwin Outwater, who used to be the conductor at my local symphony orchestra, who I saw perform live on a weekly basis. I may have even met him at some point. I remember being so proud of him after hearing his name called out at the end of the song "The Day That Never Comes". :) Anyway, LONG LIVE METALLICAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

Metallica and a symphony orchestra go surprisingly well together

The concept of this - mixing a classical symphony orchestra with heavy metal - was intriguing and I think it worked a lot better than I thought it would. Still, I could only get through about an hour of this before I found it too repetitive.

It's an interesting exercise and Metallica 's music allows for this kind of experiment, however it should have remained a live exercise.

What a 2 hour plus load of pretentious bullshit.

In a straight up, completely unbiased way, this is a great album. But that is not reality. Yup, very very professional, interesting, unique... Well, unique-ish. See, I used to watch Italian slasher films and Dario Argento, one of the more well known directors, used to use a band called Goblin to do his soundtracks. Goblin was doing the symphony/ rock combo in the 70's so my mind said "oh, this reminds me of Goblin." And then you think "well, it is an interesting combo..." but after a while I got the creeping sense that it would be more interesting if you are a Metallica super fan or "know" their songs otherwise. I am, alas, not really much of a Metallica fan. I get that they are canon in their genre, I get and feel that they are amazing musicians and extremely passionate and professional and it shows in their work, it is just not my go to genre and by proxy, band.

Great live album. Having the symphony play with them was a nice touch

Never knew I actually like Metallica this way

J'aime beaucoup Metallica et je me demandais si j'étais fermée d'esprit de moins apprécier ces arrangements. Mais je trouve que ça enlève de la force d'impact aux pièces. De plus, comme c'est un enregistrement live, le groupe joue pour le public présent, et c'est bien correct. Sauf que, sur un album, ça donne un peu l'impression d'être à l'écart, ou encore de coït interrompu (quand on laisse la foule chanter plutôt que les musiciens). Bref, une écoute mitigée.

I've always been a fan of Metallica. Even though they can come across as a little juvenile to me now in my 40s. Still, this album is absolutely amazing. Was groundbreaking for his time and still feels fresh and interesting. This is one I will listen to again.

like S&M this is painful, Nothing Else Matters saves this from being a 1 star

S&M is that rare Metallica album you can play with your parents—and yes, I once convinced my dad to sit through the full two hours on a road trip (He kept asking if we were listening to "Kashmir"). But to the band's die-hard fans and thrash purists, this album is likely the ultimate sacrilege: an intentional departure from the band’s raw, aggressive roots, softened with lush orchestral backing that almost feels like a bid for a broader audience. They’re not entirely wrong. With a tracklist leaning heavily on Load and Reload, it’s fair to say no one needed six songs from those albums. Yet somehow, despite the contrived concept, S&M works. The orchestration isn’t just window dressing; Michael Kamen’s arrangements deepen each track, transforming them into something more ambitious. There are undeniable highlights: in "Master of Puppets," the orchestra’s surges add epic scale, while the strings in "Nothing Else Matters" heighten its melancholy. "One" gains a dramatic tension that makes its climactic riff hit with massive intensity, and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" becomes an absolute powerhouse, with brass and percussion amplifying its ominous weight. No Leaf Clover, one of two original tracks, showcases the potential of this collaboration, with brooding orchestration and heavy riffing blending seamlessly into a live staple for the band. I’ve long maintained that live albums don’t necessarily belong on “best of” lists. Too often they’re excessively overdubbed or too rough around the edges, leaving you with something that doesn’t truly represent the live experience. This doesn’t apply to S&M, which succeeds in presenting familiar material in a new light—you can feel the audience’s excitement each time a new section unfolds. And yet, with a runtime exceeding two hours, there is a considerable amount of fat that could have been trimmed—if not during the performance, then at least for the album release. Like much of what the band has done since the mid-’90s when S&M succeeds, the tracks soar to unexpected heights, but too often it sounds dialled in, more like an afterthought than a fully realized vision. Did/Do I own this release? On CD. Does this release belong on the list? The band has other albums more indicative of their sound. Would this release make my personal list? I hadn’t thought of this album much until it popped up on the list, but I'd always pick The Black Album over this. Will I be listening to it again? Never say never.

I like Metallica a lot, but man this keeps going and going and going with a very similar sound

I didn't know this was missing from my life until I heard it.

🔥

I’ve never been the biggest Metallica fan. I definitely don’t mind some of their music, and would go as far as saying there are a handful that I enjoy, but I wouldn’t exactly rush to see them. This led to moderately low expectations for this album. However, maybe the problem was that they were missing an orchestra! Every song that I recognised here sounded significantly better with the added instrumentation behind it. I got goosebumps many times listening to this. Metallica definitely won me over with this one.

The live experience brought straight to me! I cycled past a screaming child (on the beat!) at the climax of Outlaw Torn and felt very musically fitting. Usually roll my eyes at having to listen to recorded live shows, but maybe I shouldn't be too hasty. Some incredible moments and reworked well - now, where can I get into the Metallica orchestra?

Kinda cool they tried this but I think I prefer Metallica on their own. The review that said this sounds like a James Bond soundtrack nailed it

I love the idea of this - an orchestra joining forces with popular music is always a good time. I wish it wasn't a Live album though, since I get annoyed by the clapping and singalongs. Overall, enjoyed it but I dont think I'd listen to it again.

With a length of 2 hours and 13 minutes, this fits well into the catalogue of Metallica: namely big and bombastic but also overblown and goes on for too long. I always thought they worked best in small doses and this albums proves that thesis.

Oh dear.

Really good album. And it wasn’t as heavy as i thought. It was very good - the guitar and vocals. Would liste again

Iconic group.

Look I get it, millions of people think Metallica is a great band and most of those people probably agree that this live record from 1999 is an album you must hear before you take your final breath. I simply am not one of those people.

Ughhh

I never really listened to Metallica much growing up so honestly the first full album listen being a live concert kinda sucked, I wish I was able to hear them actually recorded & then the live version. They were good but I didn’t know any of them, so it being live held no value to me. Pretty cool but just not it for me.

I liked parts of it. A full symphony backing a metal band is a cool idea, but for a lot of the songs, the orchestra is drowned out, which loses a lot of the value it could have. The orchestra also doesn't sound "full" so much as "muddy" quite often, and Metallica seems to have an even narrower dynamic range than usual. This adds up to an unrelenting wave of... noise. Just noise. It also has all the usual live album problems of crowd bleed, boring layout, awkward timing, and inconsistent sound. I was very curious about this album going in, and it at least has a good argument to be a live album, as it's a project that is not suited for a studio. Still, it did little to mitigate my bias against both thrash metal and live albums.

Fucking fantastic. Overblown, overkill and why the fuck not. The orchestration is beautiful. I wish it might have been a little more leading than accompanying but beggars can't be choosers

Masterpiece vibes, man.

Some of my favorite classics were featured in this amazing work.

Like jazz, looks/sounds more fun to play than to listen to. Turgid rock music with icing sugar classical topping. It's all just a bit obvious.

I can imagine the meeting where this concert is suggested probably at a time when the band is wondering what to do next and is just about all out of ideas. ‘Why don’t we get a fucking orchestra!’ Someone shouts in desperation. ‘Yeah, that could work’ is the unexpected reply. Does it work? At times it’s so insane it’s incredible. I had the DVD if this once upon a time and it’s pretty epic in its scale and audacity. However, I find that in the course of a single song the orchestra can go from adding incredible depth and drama to sounding like they’re playing a completely different song and there is no or very little symphony between them and the band at all. Master of Puppet and One are where I felt this the most. The orchestra worked best, perhaps unsurprisingly given the change in musical direction they took, in their more recent songs. Until it Sleeps and Human are not Metallica songs that I would turn to but if I did I would listen to the versions from S&M over the studio recordings. It was enjoyable, even at two hours plus, and been great to revisit. It’s a bit of self indulgent fun from the worlds biggest heavy metal band.

To me the orchestra doesn’t add anything, the arrangements feel more like a film soundtrack

The impact this album had on me as a teenager is substantial, hours spent playing along to it and analysing the DVD footage. I therefore feel conflicted about its rating, as it's incredibly hard to disassociate my formative experience from listening to it today; for example, Of Wolf and Man was a firm favourite as a 15 year old, but I'm a bit indifferent to it now. Nevertheless, the overlaying orchestral music is excellent, with Metallica at the height of their powers before they fell prey to the post-St. Anger period. The Call of Kthulu, Master of Puppets, Fuel and Battery are simply awesome. What a way for Jason Newsted to bow out.

I'd never heard it and was pretty impressed. I like the soundtrack vibes from the orchestral arrangement. I thought it would be a gimick but it adds a lot. Hetfield's voice really stands up in the bigger fuller sound of the orchestra, which i was impressed by. However, sometimes the precision of the orchestra does make the musicianship in Metallica sound not so tight.

The most palatable Metallica has ever been

They’re obviously good at what they do, it sounds very formulaic!

Love this album, just kind of exciting to hear existing music I already like presented in a new way. Orchestra sounds great, the songs are powerful, and one of the few live albums that deserves a place with the studio albums. Neat to listen to for something different.

Lemppari: Nothing else matters Vähiten lemppari: -Human-

I laughed when I saw this come up and I feel like I am piling in with the other negative reviews, but come on! This is a grandiose and overblown novelty album, but at TWO AND A QUARTER HOURS it is overstaying its welcome. I felt like I had heard everything it had going for it three-and-a-bit tracks in; more precisely, three minutes into a NINE MINUTE version of Master of Puppets. And actually, now that I think of it, the first track was just Ecstasy of Gold by the orchestra alone. The rest of the metal / orchestra mix is less than the sum of its parts, it feels like both are trying to play loud enough to be heard over the other. I think this is the first album which I have heard that is so-bad-it's-good. Still bad though, one star.

really cool live album, probably one of best metal performances with an orchestra

God this is long!! Interesting concept to add a string orchestra to this band and songs. I liked it. It added a layer to the music I had not experienced before. Favourite song: Master of puppets is a great song, but does it need to be 9 minutes!! I also enjoyed no leaf clover. Least favourite: The rest of the album became much of a muchness. Album artwork: Love the cover

Chili und Vanillepudding gehören einfach nicht zusammen.

Although I respect Metallica as musicians and the great stuff they’ve put out, I’m neither a fan of live recordings or hour-plus long albums, both of which this is. The moment to moment music is great, but it’s so long that it ruins how listenable it is as a whole package.

Metallica is an icon of metal. Always enjoyed their music

It must have been so fun for all the musicians on stage and the live audience, but, with a couple exceptions, the orchestral arrangements don't feel like they add anything. Other Metallica albums seem more impactful and important than this one.

Always a great one, loved this album growing up cause i thought it was so cool to combine two things that shouldn't go together.

Never really been a Metallica fan and, unfortunately, the addition of a symphony did little to change that. I didn't feel a synergy from the two playing together. I still enjoyed the same singles I already like and the rest of the album was...fine. Fav Track: Master of Puppets

Could be better. Metallica, great and all, to easy for me

This is so fucking cool on paper, and when the band and the orchestra hit they hit HARD. The problem is this is Metallica and James Hetfield fucking sucks as a lead singer and there’s so many of his little vocal inflections that ruin everything. If his vocals were replaced with a string or a wind or a brass section, then this would rule, but like. His dumb voice takes it out. There was this time an orchestra played live while Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantel wrestled. This is the auditory version of that. Except the difference is Jeff Jarrett didn’t sing like an asshole. There’s an album the Royal Philharmonic did of Elvis songs, and if fucking Elvis is outshining your vocals then Jesus.

I’m not a Metallica fan so this felt waaaay too long for me. Also they made me wait until the end for “Enter Sandman”. 2.5/5

Pretty noisy, definitely not for me.

Gah this is so cool. A history of Metallica would be incomplete without this. This is not just a live album. This is the biggest heavy metal / hard rock band in the world at the time, the best they'd ever sounded live in their careers to date, working with their hometown symphony orchestra to adapt two hours of their biggest hits for an arena to be played live together with said orchestra, based on an idea from their original bassist, who had died tragically in a bus accident on tour 13 years earlier. He was the one who introduced music theory and more complicated composition to the group and still influences their work to this day. This performance even includes the only recordings of two new songs, one of which became a radio hit itself. In my opinion, Master of Puppets made them the biggest band in heavy metal, 1991's Black Album made them radio staples, and S&M made them legendary. They could do whatever they wanted after this. And they did, writing the lead single for Mission: Impossible 2 the next year, releasing a garage metal album in 2003 that has aged far better than I expected it to, collaborating with Lou Reed in a double album in his final work before his death, and returning to thrash for 3 Metallica albums, this time with radio polish. Metallica even revisited the S&M concept 20 years after the original as the first event to open the new Golden State Warriors arena in San Francisco and I got to see that on one of its two nights in theaters before getting a copy on Blu-ray. I love this album and it's really obvious how it ended up on this list.

Metallica is so awesome. I just cannot tell you how much I do not like a live album. Lol.

One of the best live albums I've heard, I enjoyed all 2h of this. The orchestra complemented Metallica so well, amazing compilation. Stand-out: No Leaf Clover

October 2: not today, Metallica October 5, 2024 Pro: It's Metallica with the S.F.O. Con: they were still promoting Load/Reload :/ Pro: Pretty much all those cuts sound gud with orchestra Con: realizing the song "Hero of the Day" was not even halfway through the whole concert Pro: reading that "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "One" are yet to come in the 2nd disc :) Con: "One" is not as good as the studio version Pro: "Bell" is pretty fantastic I think my enjoyment of this album needs context. For one, I've never been a real heavy metal fan, with Metallica's albums generally wearing me out before they're actually over. The orchestra, while ofttimes ridiculous & over-the-top, also made me forget I'm listening to a 2-hour heavy metal album. The other thing is that the rest of the Metallica on this list were all generated quite a while ago (last one was October 2022), so it's a bit nostalgic at this point, hearing these revamped versions of "Nothing Else Matters" and "Battery". Like no time has passed at all ;) HL: "Master of Puppets", "Fuel", "Wherever I May Roam", "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

This is an interesting novelty, and probably would have been a really cool show to see live, but I can’t imagine intentionally listening to this again. I’d much rather dig into Kill ‘em All. This is also from the post “Black Album” period, and as such has a bunch of songs off of that. That whole album was so overplayed on the radio that if I never hear another song off of it - in any format - I will be just fine. Also, in preparation for that album, James took voice lessons. Personally, I much prefer the guttural, gravelly voice he had on their first four albums. Good on him for wanting to improve and be a better musician, but I feel smooth vocals take away from the overall feel and experience of Metallica’s music. It’s (originally) hard and heavy and angry. A clean voice does not add to that. Even if there’s a symphony accompanying it.

S&M is Metallica's live, double album recorded with the San Francisco Symphony. This is a greatest hits collection, with only three original tracks among twenty-one. This is an odd album - in this case, the result is somehow less than the sum of the parts. There is an incredible collection of talented musicians involved, and the orchestrations do work with the band's material. However, the result sounds like movie soundtrack material: complicated and well performed, but over-produced and somehow "sanitized." For example, the lyric "Nothing else Matters" seems at odds with a strictly timed performance, accompanied by a soaring string section.

Liked it more than I though I would. The orchestra collaboration is probably the reason.

AAAAAHHHHHHHH

Mind blowing collab

Oh for fuck sake. Two hours? Absolutely not. I can't stand this band.

i guess its interesting but its also not very good. i mean, why bother?

The music is a 5, but James' vocals are too polished

This is a SFSO album first and a Metallica album second.

The greatest album i have ever heard. Unbelivable.

Sorry why is this over two hours long. go away okay Call of Ktulu is banging I'm enjoying this more than I thought I would But it's very long. Flagging just near the end of disc 1. Want to have a break but worried I won't go back to it! Starting disc 2. not in the mood unfortunately actually it's fine. mostly just feeling like background noise I listened to the whole thing and god, I hope I don't get another long album for a while 2.5/5, rounded down to 2. it's my ratings system I can do what I want

Ovaj album sam dosta puta preslušao kao klinac tak da mi nije novo. Al s ovim odraslim ušima, isse, dalo bi se svašta reć :D Uglavnom, na pola sam i sumnjam da će mi se komentar promijeniti. Pjesme Metallice, ok, to su šta su, meni to više nije zanimljivo. Pustim si ih jednom u 2 god za nostalgiju. Svakako je značajan taj format orkestra i metal benda. Iako ideja nije bila revolucionarna, obilježilo je žanr kao moment in history i to definitivno mislim da zaslužuje respect. AAAALI... KOLIČINA JEBENOG AUTOTUNE-a na vokalima (nije auto, nego vjerojatno studijski speglano, sejm shit)... meni je ovo jedva slušljivo. Pogotovo jer je metal bend i pogotovo jer se ne može baš reć da Hetfield ne zna pjevat. Jednostavno nemrem to peglanje slušat :D Ima svoje mjesto, naravno, al mislim da mu tu nikako nije. Kladim se da se lik mogao bolje uvježbat pa ne bi bilo potrebno. Ili su ga producenti sprčili. Nisam očekivao da ću posrat aranžman orkestra, ali često zvuče kao da samo trkeljaju i ne uklapaju se u pjesmu. 3.5/10 - fora trenutak u povijesti metala, ali izvedba i aranžman su mi očajni

Hahahahah! Oooo Boga ti ljubim! Ne znam koliko će mi se ovo u detalje ići raditi, ali ajde. Tekstovima se sigurno neću baviti, a ni tražiti smisao u ovom dvosatnom koncertu. Baš nas voza ovaj generator albuma... Bruno i ja smo S&M brijem preslušali 7493 kao klinci (osnovnoškolci rekao bih), smiješno je, ali ovaj album ima posebno mjesto u mom srcu. Nisam ga pustio valjda 20 godina. Album snimljen u Berkeley Community Theatreu sa Sinfoniskim orkestrom San Francisca: ********** S & M ********* 1. The Ecstasy - Ajme meni, zaboravio sam da se otvara sa Ennio Morriconeovom "Dobar, Loš, Zao" temom... već me strah... 2. The Call of Ktulu - Ja nemam pojma kaj da pišem, meni ovo sve budi sjećanja iz djetinjstva i vrištim od smijeha... 3. Master of Puppets - Orkestar roka i jebene su partiture... Lars nemre da ne sjebe (svovremenski klasik), djuskam si... Isuse nemrem se prestat smijati, ali to neće trajati još sat i četrdesetipet minuta.. 4. Of Wolf and Man - Već mi je dosta, mislim da ovaj album didn't age well... tek je četvrta stvar... bezveze pjesma 5. The Thing That Should Not Be - Super mi je kak su ovdje teški rifovi, a violine sviraju ko da je disko, niđe veze... Mislim da bi mi bilo draže slušati njihov neki studijski album... po mogućnosti St. Anger da mogu sav svoj bijes ispoljiti.. Počinjem kuhati krumpir.. 6. Fuel - Ma tooooooo bato!!! Zali, pali!!! Sad bi otvorio bocu rakije!!! Ovdje me užasno smeta jebeni orkestar... ali užasno... toliko je nepotrebno da je to strašno... a ovaj Michael Kamen koji je pisao partiture, jebote, ko da je htio uništiti Metallicu, toliko je pretjerao sa svime... nemam pojma kaj da slušam u cijelom tom kaosu... Cliff Burton jebo ti Isus mater i tebi i ko je obistinio tu tvoju ideju u djelo... 7. The Memory Remains - Okej, ovo nije thrash metal nego trash metal... ovo je Sena M. metala, Barbie girl tresha... čujem publiku kako urliće i pjeva "na na na", brijem da je tamo bilo jebeno... u kuhinji baš i nije 8. No Leaf Clover - Zašto se pobogu, zašto sjećam skoro svih pjesama... da bar toliko i uživam... kak je ovaj album na ovom popisu? Kad pogledaš ocjene kritičara, to je sve 1/5, 2/5, i 3/5... pa kaj nema na svijetu neki album koji može zamjeniti ovo? Nit je ovo njihovo najbolje, nit mislim da može nadmašiti neke albume koji se nisu našli na ovom popisu... jebi se generator... izvadio i meso za ispeć.. 9. Hero Of The Day - To sam ja jer jebeno moram proći kroz ovu muku isusovu... a ova pjesma je divan laksativ uz kavicu i moje crno govno od sinoćnjih ruskih imperialnih tamnih piva koje tako nježno cure uz mučan Hetfieldov glas koji se trudi romantično pjevati, ali i zvuči ko dečko koji kad odraste želi biti ličanin... 10. Devil's Dance - Kad cujem da Lars broji uvod na čajni, uvijek se pitam tko će od benda prvi i zadnji krenuti, imam osjećaj da je sposoban i na istoj snimci svaki put drugačije uletiti.. tek je 10. pjesma... prošli tjedna bi već bio gotov sa slušanjem... Beethoven i Schubert si kucaju grob do groba i mole boga da ovo bude izgubljeno u ropotarnici povijesti... 11. Bleeding me - Ovo sam prespavao fala kurcu, taman je krumpir gotov za restani... mislim da moram ponovno srat od uzbuđenja i stimulansa kojeg ovaj album tako altruistički raširenih ruku radosno pruža .. 12. Nothing Else Matters - Serem... i to sa potpunim zadovoljstvom i trudim se stisnuti, točnije, opustiti šupčić toliko suptilno da proljevčić kaplje u ritmu slušajući ravnomjerno rasparčena govanca kako padaju u već osmeđenu vodicu kroz cijelu pjesmu. Poseban naglasak stavljam na gušt viška zraka koji borbenom silinom izlazi tokom solaže. 13. Until it Sleeps - Dragi moj, svi mi već spavamo... jedino što me drži budim je vruće ulje koje me šprica po rukama dok pečem meso. 14. For Whom the Bell Tolls - Za mene... zovu me na Mirogoj... I ova pjesma je tako pretjerana sa svime.. nemrem... a tek je pola... 15. Human - Beethovenu I Schubertu pridružuje se Bach, kad je čuo da je zapravo on bio inspiracajia cijele ove sranjostrofe, te jebu mater svakom zrnu pepela kremiranog Cliffa Burtona.. salatu sam napravio 16. Wherever I May Roam - Jel može postati dosadnije... kak' sam ja ovo mogo slušati... evo iskreno kako... 17. Outlaw Torn - Ova pjesma zaslužuje proljev epskim razmjera, proljevna epopeja u hexametru.. Odiseju usliši moj vapaj i pomogni da svrši ovo neopjevjevano govno! Nika nije htjela izaći iz sobe dok ovaj festival fekalija ne završi, ručao sam sâm... 18. Sad but True - To sam si rekao kad sam shvatio da još nije kraj albuma, ovo jednostano ne staje... još tri pjesme, ajde, možeš ti to ... 19. One - Nije nego devetnaest mamu ti jebem... devetnaest pjesma, devetnaest... dižem si spomenik.. A tek kako su ovo raskasapili sinfoničari... Ma ono... ne!.. ne!.. i ne!!! 20. Enter Sandman - Šteta što nije došao ranije da me uspava.. ovo je već odbrojavanje, još jedna, samo još jedna... Ovi hitovi su uništeni do nepopravljivosti, ovo je JNA tenkom pregaženi osječki crveni fićo.. želudac ponovno krulji, nije dobro... 21. Battery - Za kraj nešto življa stvar koja ponovno pokreće moj gastrointestinalni trakt. U brzini hard core ritma trčim, skidam svoje već dobro izasrane gaće... restani izlazi u gotovo svom originalnom stanju sa primjesom pirea i prožvakanom svinjetinom... umoran sam, znojan... ********** THE END ********** Izmoren, iscjeđen, iscrpljen... Album je gotov, a moj bi dan trebao početi, kako... Izlazim na balkon, puštam da me Borisova kiša očisti, da ispere ovu dvosatnu inkontinencijsku paradu... Gledam u nebo mokrog lica i zahvaljujem se Bachu, Beethovenu I Schubertu što su izdržali ovo samnom... Ulazim natrag u stan, pljunem u pepeljaru punu pepela... Moje srce sada ima novo slobodno mjesto, a moje djetinstvo novi ožiljak... 2/10 (ja sam stvarno "Hero of the Day")

"Ajde slušala si ovaj album prije skoro 20 godina, koliko može biti loše" rekoh sama sebi. Mislim, počinje kul (*edit nakon slušanja* kad sam išla pročitati malo ima smisla da mi se sviđa kako počinje). Ima taj Batmanovski/ holivudski simfonijski uvod i to mi dobro zvuči, mistično, dramatično, u stilu tog doba skroz... Dok ovaj ne lupi po tim bubnjevima. Ali rekla sam si da neću uopće srati po njemu u ovom reviewu jer nije ni potrebno komentirati - mislim da se cijeli svijet (glazbeno uki i neuki) slaže oko toga. Orkestar mi je i dalje kul naravno, vjerujem da je zbog toga ovaj album stavljen na ovu listu (*edit nakon slušanja* pogotovo kad sam pročitala detaljnije o Kamenu), ali jednostavno mi zvuči jako treš s cijelim bendom (da ne izdvojim jedan instrument posebno lol). Preživjela dvije pjesme i razmišljam si jbt pa kao klinki mi je ovo bilo sve, šta ne mogu biti sretna s ovim i sad? Nakon stosedamnaestog "Yeeeeaaaaah" i bezbroj cringe trenutaka razmišljam hoću li uspjeti odslušati do kraja. *Nekoliko stoljeća poslije* Tu i tamo mi se javi malo appreciation kad čujem ludilo u publici. Realno da sam bila tamo i roknula se prije nečim, bilo bi mi vrh 😂 Wherever I May Roam mi je donekle amusing, vjerojatno zato što zbog svega što se događa ne čujem stvari koje mi najviše smetaju, odnosno orkestar je tu baš odradio posao. To bih eventualno izdvojila kao nešto ugodno, a pogotovo mogu zamisliti da je to lajv doživljaj. Općenito mi druga strana bolje leži, ne znam je li mi se uho naviknulo ili je jednostavno bolja. Fun (kako kome vjerojatno) note: "One" stvar me uvijek sjeti na obradu od Korna. Taj lajv će mi uvijek ostati urezan, bila sam toliko eksajted da je to strašno (to je bila 2003.🥲). *Još par stoljeća kasnije* Preživjela. Znaš šta, sve kritike na stranu, ovaj album me malo vratio u prvo desetljeće i pol života, tinejdžersku/dječju naivnost i puno jednostavnije stanje sluha. Nekad pomislim da bi bilo baš lijepo istim ušima slušati to sve danas (ili barem ne čuti nešto). S druge strane, realno ovaj album ću si idući put pustiti u 70-ima kad budem patila od konstipacije, a ocjena će sad biti 3 (ili 5), čisto zbog 1. Orkestra, 2. zato što ne mogu dati isto ili manje kao Marliju, 3. a bome ne mogu ni dati više nego Talking Headsima. Bila sam izuzetno uzbuđena nakon Beatlesa, sad se već pitam koliko daleko ova 1001 lista može otići. *slightly worried, much curious* Ajmo sad nešto za četvorku ili peticu, priti pliz.

8/10 Jebemliti ponedjeljak sveti kad me dočeka Lars Ulrich s albumom od dva sata. Em pada kisa vani, em sam na dijeti pa sam nervozan, em ne pušim vise, em ne zelim da mi ovo ujebe spotify algoritam pa slušam preko jutuba gdje je kvaliteta kao da slusam preko kartofela, jos ce mi ovaj kreten lupati po glavi 2 sata. No dobro, ajmo probati, barem su krenuli s Morikonijem i nema puno metalike za sad. da ostane ovako do kraja bila bi cista petica, 10/10 brate dragi. [..] a mislim, odrastao sam na metaliki, nije ovo toliko lose koliko mi Lars ide na jetru. Puno je bolje kad samo slušam nego kad ih gledam. Bolje mi sjeda nego Marli, da ga jebes. [..] 15 minutes in, prilicno je jasno da cu poslušati cijeli album [..] jbg, idem na spotify [..] evo me na kraju prve strane, nisam prebacio jos niti jednu pjesmu, ne obraćam paznju na onog degenerika na bubnju i nekako mi dosta dobro lezi ovaj simfonijski orkestar uz metal'ku [..] prvi komentar tek na na "For Whom The Bell Tools" - a ono, kad sam imao 16 godina i prvi bend ovo je bila pjesma koju smo skidali, tako da mi je nekako Metal'ka u srcu. S godina sam razvio bas prijezir prema Lars U. tako da mi teško sjeda, ali sad kad im "dam šansu", nije mi problem ovo slušati. Neću si ovo pustit nikada, ako mi se sluša tvrda glazba radije si pustim tvrde albume King Gizzarda, ali mi je svejedno drago da cu preslušati ovaj album do kraja. S punim pravom zaslužuje biti na ovoj listi. Gledao sam neki dokumentarac o njima, mislim da je možda bio o albumu St.Anger, jebote to je bas full teško za gledat. Lars kad otvori usta, ono, najradije bi mu cipelu ubacio unutra. On i gitarist nisu jednu lijepu riječ razmijenili tokom cijelog dokumentarca. Jako teško za gledati, mislim da sam odustao na pola. [..] dolazim do predzadnje pjesme, a to mi je ogromno iznenađenje. Znaci, ovo je bilo pozitivno iskustvo! Kad sam vidio sta nam je na repertoaru danas sam malo popizdio i pomislio da nema boga da dođem do kraja Evo hed bengam na ONE i mislim si deri ga Larse, deri ga Ulriče Larse (i dalje mislim da je zadnja seljačina, prijezir s početka komentara nije nestao) Jebemti život, stvarno sam mislio da cu hejtat ovo [..] Al' kad mi opletu ovaj treš na kraju, baterija me vraća u jako rane dane u sibinju. Bio sam premlad da bi skužio ploče od starog, interneta nije bilo, a jedina glazba koju smo imali je jedan CD koji je netko spržio s onak 45 najglupljih pjesama na svijetu i to smo svi slušali. I onda, iskopam od bratića dvije kazete, Kill 'em All i Master of Puppets. Stvarno ne znam kako nisam dobio tinitus od ta dva albuma negdje kad sam počeo slušati pink floyd sam prestao slušati metaliku i mislim da sam zadnji put ovo slušao s tipa 17 godina. 17 godina kasnije tu hedbengam na iste stvari, godamnit 4 od 5, super iskustvo i za kraj samo jedan komentar Puši ga Ulriče, puši ga Larse Ulriče.

6/10 Valjda opca kultura svakog metalca ako volis Metallicu, a vecina koja uziva u zanru ima barem neku dozu rispekta prema njima (ili se mozda varam, I dunno, Cap ce bolje znat). Devedesetih su jos jako dobro rokali, prije St. Anger nizbrdice, a ovo bi bio kao jedan od njihovih najcijenjenijih liveova. Sve je to krasno ali nakon dva sata i 13 ili koliko vec minuta Hetfielda i ekipe u ove kasne sate (trijezan) sam si pozelio skuhat caj i slusat kisu kako pada vani. Moram priznat da sam stoicki odslusao cijeli u komadu ali zadnja cetvrtina me dosta ugnjavila. Neke pive bi svakako pomogle da ovo prodje bezbolnije, pa mozda i da bude jebeno ali ajd, necu na ponedjeljak opet. Publika je sastavni dio nekih kljucnih stvari gdje sve dize na jos visi level uz gromoglasno pjevanje skupa s orkestrom, zbilja gust za cuti a cak sam naletio i na dvije stvari koje su mi dobro sjele - Hero Of The Day i Bleeding Me. Definitivno najduzi session slusanja Metallice ikada, ajd pa i to mogu prekriziti. Nego... ...Pusti Maidene! \m/

Meh