- the thing that lots of her imitators miss is restraint. it’s the orchestration that’s going nuts, she just sits back and knows that every note is getting hit.
- speaking of which, most influential singer on modern pop/indie? lots of people rn are just attempting to emulate a billie holiday tone. that girl off TikTok who does the bananys thing, Max demarco boys, everyone, etc.
- incredible room reverb on backing vox (I get along v well with out u). beautiful bit where the trumpet solo comes in. lovely song
- middle section is perhaps too much of one tempo and rhythm at once??? all v pretty, you’ve changed has more interesting stuff going on with the orchestral flourishes in the arrangement
- glad to be unhappy feels weirdly urgent. love that it feels as if it’s about to burst apart up until that final string run
- back third of the record is stunning. a lot of people get trapped, especially in the sort of sadboy/girl thing, by assuming ballads need to be purely miserable. this is playful, wistful, sweet - there’s a whole lot of life in it
Banger. Will always be a banger. Wanna make some session musicians cry so bad.
Probably skipped over this one in the past cos while the cover art goes hard, it’s not comparable to ride the lightning or master of puppets.
Some incredibly lars drumming going on. So lars.
Secretly math rock? Is math rock not a thing?? Idk
What are Hetfield’s political beliefs????? Huge question I will not be seeking answers to as this bangs. Why get into it?!
One was always confusing to me but it works really well in album context. Ooooh long clean intro oooh lovely.
Just found out Hetfield’s current political views are “divorced.”
Love Harvester of Sorrow chant at the end.
Frayed ends of sanity is goofy. V goofy!
Fade from acoustic intro to half time riffing on to live is to die rocks. Best solo on the record? That or One idk
Really glad they go out on thrash note, slow sad ballad would be odd at this point. That said, this album is a bit one note? Isn’t all Metallica? I have a tummy ache rn. If the scoring system allowed half stars this would be at 3.5 x
Probably one of the best production jobs ever. AOR gold, etc. No original thoughts about this one I guess.
Huge album for young people from NN who spend too much time in CEX.
He is an incredible hook writer and singer I guess.
Rain when I die slaps!! They do have a tendency to over extended hooks/refrains tho.
Sickman has the circus rock vibe that’s put me off in the past. Early 90s huge time for the white guy with dreads thing.
Junkhead is crazy! People used to write songs where the whole bit was “I like taking drugs” and it would be massive.
Godsmack vocal effects 🧐🧐🧐
It’s v hard to detach yourself from a modern lens when revisiting these things, but idk if you just submit on a SICK RIFFS level this is great. I weirdly think most modern rock bands would sooner aim for a purist version of the 80s heavy metal vibe than going for the revisionist take on here, but it’s fun! Why can’t BOTH be fun???
Hate to Feel intro rules. Hate to Feel rules.
No more classic rock pleeeeeeaae. Sandy Denny good. All good, just unable to really provide much more than thumbs up and yes over album length.
Yaaaaawn dual guitar solos cool. Grooves are cool. My god there is so much music like this.
Punk needed to happen to free us from the scourge of blues rock, not prog.
Ugh bass solo.
Had no idea that smoke on the water was about being one of the biggest nerds at a party.
More needles noodling!!!!
Space truckin is fun n silly.
They probably had really cool record collections. It’s one of those things where the sum of its parts adds up to a whole that makes me feel nothing.
What a banger. Love all the later Björk, too, but this is euphoric, fun, sexy, silly, everything, etc. So great.
