S&M
Metallica

Does Metallica sound good backed by a full orchestra? Shockingly enough, after two hours of this thing, I still don't know the answer. Putting the kind of cheesy opening of 'Ecstasy of Gold' aside, I'd say more times than not, the combination comes off equally as tacky as it does epic. And that terrible word 'epic' is, unfortunately, the best way to put a majority of those moments when the orchestra sweeps in. It all feels very cinematic. I love the strings on this rendition of 'One', it's one of the moments where this orchestral rendition almost TOPS the original for me. In contrast, the following 'Enter Sandman' sounds awful and messy. I was excited to see a Metallica live album, as I've been impartial toward most of their discography, and was hoping a live take on their music would win me over. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if that's the case yet after this album alone given how gimmicky it is. Nevertheless, I applaud Metallica for doing something this ambitious and "over-the-top" - I can only imagine how much work it took to pull it off. And the crowd seemed to love it.

3