  | The Black album, AKA Metallica, is a decisive album. It is the great discussion point. Selling out, versus experimentation, death of a legend, or birthing moment of a giant. Metallica the brand took off at this point, even if some of the followers did too. I was awaiting this match up, so were a bunch of people. This would challenge our notions of open mindedness, much like our Endgame vs Death Magnetic battle before. At this point, I must confess. Back in ye olde days, I got Black and was ready for AJFA Metallica, not The Brand Metallica. Without Cliff (RIP) around to help it be James' band, it became Lars band. This was the dawning of a new age, one where Metallica would take over the world. But Megadeth, Dave's little band that could, there was evolution as well. But Dave's more conservative nature, instead of jumping from AJFA to Black, it took him another 2 albums and 7 years before Risk. That evolution produced two amazing albums (after the MBC Bad Jimmy gave me his Youthansia CD, another triumph by Dave), and Dave figured things out. So the session on these two Titans of the metal genre was pretty straight forwards. The Kid loved Black, and it was his first true metal purchase. He wore out his CD and there was nothing that could displace it from being his vote. Dave's voice gets to The Kid, so it's understandable he would go this way. But everyone else thought Countdown was the better album. Comments like "tighter writing", "still metal and not hard rock", "you can hear the bass", "lyrically it's a hot mess", "Dave's masterpiece" were thrown out. Making the vote not even close. It was something like 7 to 2. Meaning Megadeth had won the first two rounds. With only one round to go, something was clear. So we talked about it. And cancelled round 3. We already had a champion, Megadeth, and a quick discussion of the last pair (Peace Sells vs Master of Puppets) wasn't even a close one. (9 to 0 for Master). So we called it. Best Album: Master of Puppets. Truly a work for the ages. Better METAL band? Megadeth. That was our conclusion, now it's your chance to discuss! |
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We jumped into the middle of the fray by picking the 2008/2009 pairing. Last full album from Lars and the gang, while MegaDave and the Dethboys have made a couple since. I'll tell you like I saw it, (that is to say I seen it) and chime in with some observations. Death Magnetic was completely ruined by the Loudness wars. No not the cool Akira one, but the let's make everything go to 11 one. RUINED IT. We were able to acquire the "remix" version, and frankly that is a superior product. You can hear the subtle tones of Kirk's solos, and the upper band is all there without any clipping. Do what I did and get the real album and then find the edited version. But hey, let's not cheese off Lars, so buy the real thing first. Music won't get made unless the artists get paid. DM is a good album, a nice return towards their early days, where I fell in love with their tunes.
FLASHBACK!!! My big bro had Ride the Lightning, I listened and had not yet converted to Thrash Metal. I was still into Night Ranger and Dokken, REALLY into Dokken. It was 1988, and the Monsters of Rock tour (Kingdom Clone, Dokken, Metallica, Scorpions and Van Hagar) was in the nearby city of Seattle. ROADTRIP!! Listening to Operation Mindcrime during the ride in, I was going to see Dokken. And VH sort of (I was in the DLR camp at the time). Scorps was a bonus, wasn't sure about Metallica and the less said about Kingdom the better. I figured I could use the Metallica set to get close to the stage for Dokken and I was unprepared for the amount of awesome that overloaded my brain that struggle to the front. Metallica was tuning up for their own AFJA tour and they sounded AMAZING. Am I Evil, Battery, For Whom the Bell Tolls, the whole set was just so killer, so another level from Dokken. I turned to Dave (and Dave's not here man) and said "These guys are going to go pretty far". I had no idea. We moshed it up for Dokken (Heaven Sent, Sleepless Night, Hunter, It's Not Love) and then were spent. We made our way to the Kingdom seats for Scorps (I remember that they cut their set early, rumor was Claus was hit by a bottle) and after a bit of VH our ride decided to bail. But the damage had been done. I was a Metallica Fan. I rushed home and got Garage Day Re-Revisited. And Breadfan, and The Prince and then ...And Justice For All came out and it was set. Until the dark times. Until the Black-ness. Ripple dissolve back to today I felt bad not having listened to DM before now. Some of it was okay, Judas Kiss, etc, but some was really interesting stuff. The Day That Never Comes, Unforgiven III, All Nightmare Long, those are epic tunes. "How can I be lost, If I've got no place to go" is DEEP lyric, and Nightmares energy is very AFJA to me. The outro of Never Comes (After the "This I swear part") is a great harmony and simple power. Kirk really earns his paycheck, and James' roll as a rhythm guitarist is greatly overlooked. The rest of the album I scored a solid "Meh" but those three, those are 5 star keepers. I hadn't heard Endgame, but I knew the drill. Dave was in his wash rinse repeat mode. It wasn't System Has Failed, it was more United Abominations, more Thirteen, more (forgive me Dave) cookie cutter. But by Godfrey it was METAL. (I haven't listened to Risk yet, so go easy on me) I felt Dave had a formula and that formula made good metal. But not GREAT metal. I dug the songs, admired the playing, (Megadeth musicianship is among the best in the world) but the songs lacked a spark, a fire, that Failed or Countdown extra hit of the hot sauce that made you sit up in your seat and made it stick. Lots of 3 and 4 star songs, but no 5 stars for me. So I voted for DM (Remix). But I was nearly alone, with only the Kid joining my side. C-Note ROASTED DM (But no Warlocks), Bad Jimmy and CP both preferred Endgame, as did a sick Scotty2Hotty. Connor was a no show, but it didn't matter; it was a clear 4-2 vote already. This round went to Megadeth. I was surprised. I had wanted to hate DM. Mostly because of those that made Lightning, AFJA had made Black, Load and Shudder Lulu. But trying to be true to the MBC credo, I listened with open ears, and actually listened to it. And loved it. Next up, Black vs Countdown to Extinction with Master of Puppets and Peace Sells waiting in the wings. Here's a list of some of the albums we've done before:
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The Reviews
This is the upcoming albums under review and what happened at the last meeting of my MBC. Archives
April 2015
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