Metallica - St. Anger

My ears have heard some pretty awful music over the course of my 23 long years, but never in my life did I think that Metallica would ever be one of those things. I mean, I grew up on Metallica, much like I'm assuming a lot of you did. If you were around 12 in 1992 and you didn't own Master Of Puppets then something was probably seriously lacking in your musical tastes. But, as so many music critics and snobs like myself have said, Metallica, one of the best bands ever, have slowly spiraled down since their inception. Metallica have simply lost their originality. My theory on Metallica's decline as a good band is as follows: after the Black album, Metallica's scene was somewhat taken over by bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and other alternative acts. After gaining all of that mainstream exposure, they lost it all to a bunch of bands that seemingly crawled out of the woodwork - none of which had put nearly as much time into their craft. So, Metallica puts out not one but two records at the tailend of the grunge movement attempting to rope in that dying audience. I'm referring to Load and Reload, of course. They were just cheap metal/grunge knock-off albums with no substance. Then they do the Garage Days thing, and the S & M thing - both horribly bland and uninspired. And it was around that time that nü-metal began taking over. Jump back to present day, and now, to me, it just makes sense for Metallica to put out a really bad album that tries to cling to the current dying musical genre that's breathing its last breath. To perfectly describe this new CD, I would say that Metallica is trying to be like those nü-metal bands that are slowly withering away. All of the guitars are in drop-D tuning to make it seem "heavier". The drums sound like cardboard boxes. There are no guitar solos found on this record at all. The lyrics are contrived and boring. Everything that was ever good about Metallica is now absolutely gone. After hearing Hetfield growling "Fran - tick, tock, tick, tock" on the opening track, I can't believe this is the same band. "Invisible Kid" sounds like some spoiled, moody, only-child wrote the lyrics. It's just extremely disheartening. I only wish they would realize they can't recapture what's been lost. People complain that Aerosmith, Kiss, The Eagles or even the Rolling Stones should stop now that they're old. But, after hearing this new album, I think Metallica should be added to that list pronto. [www.metallica.com]