Metallica - S&M 2 review
| Band: | Metallica |
| Album: | S&M 2 |
| Style: | Heavy metal |
| Release date: | August 28, 2020 |
| A review by: | musclassia |
Disc I
01. The Ecstacy Of Gold [Ennio Morricone cover]
02. The Call Of Ktulu
03. For Whom The Bell Tolls
04. The Day That Never Comes
05. The Memory Remains
06. Confusion
07. Moth Into Flame
08. The Outlaw Torn
09. No Leaf Clover
10. Halo Of Fire
Disc II
01. Intro To "Scythian Suite"
02. Scythian Suite, Opus 20: The Enemy God And The Dance Of The Dark Spirits
03. Intro To "The Iron Foundry"
04. The Iron Foundry, Opus 19
05. The Unforgiven III
06. All Within My Hands
07. (Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth
08. Wherever I May Roam
09. One
10. Master Of Puppets
11. Nothing Else Matters
12. Enter Sandman
At the end of S&M, Lars tells the audience "same time, next year". Ultimately, it took Metallica 20 years to collaborate with the San Francisco Symphony orchestra again; how does the fusion stand up second time around?
Chances are, if you're into metal enough to be on this forum, you've heard the predecessor to this album. In terms of widespread renown, S&M pretty much only has Live After Death, and perhaps Alive In Athens, for company as far as live metal albums go. However, whilst the other two records are considered classic performances from widely loved bands at their peak, S&M saw one of metal's more divisive bands taking a major creative risk at the height of their most controversial musical period. Many songs from that period found their way into the setlist for the 1999 performance in Berkeley, and even those who were fans of their Load/ReLoad material may not have been convinced by the attempted fusion of classical with Metallica; if that was the case for you, you can stop reading now, as S&M 2 is a firm continuation of that performance. Personally, as someone who doesn't really listen to live albums at home (I'd rather listen to the studio versions), S&M is pretty much the only one that I ever occasionally revisit due to the unique dynamic the orchestra provided, so I was rather intrigued to hear how S&M 2 would end up sounding. Having said that, now that I've heard it, I can't see myself returning to it in the future.
Those familiar with S&M will recognize a lot of songs from that performance also featuring on S&M 2; these include permanent live staples such as "Enter Sandman", "One", "Master Of Puppets" and "Nothing Else Matters", as well as some of the more successful fusions on the previous record, including "The Call Of Ktulu" (once again opening the set), "The Memory Remains" and "Wherever I May Roam". There's also space for "No Leaf Clover", written for and premiered at the original S&M performance, and as a pleasant surprise, "The Outlaw Torn", the only one of four Load tracks from S&M to feature here, and one song of theirs that deserves to be played more often in my opinion.
Now that there's two symphonic versions of all of these tracks on record, the questions arises as to whether there's enough difference between them to make the inclusion of both in any digital library worthwhile. There's certainly some variation in the orchestral arrangements of the tracks, but I would say on the whole they're broadly similar, and in a lot of places are the same; most notable to me was the identical brass arrangement at the beginning of the iconic machine-gun riffing in "One". As far as the Metallica side of the bargain goes, there's a few things I noticed. In terms of song arrangements, the band really go hard on the call-and-response gang shouts on "The Memory Remains" in a way I've not heard before, which was the most notable novelty for me. Concerning band performance, there's been speculation about how much autotune or other polish was applied to Hetfield's vocals on S&M, and at times when listening to it I can see where such hypotheses are coming from; on S&M 2, it wasn't something that ever particularly occurred to me. I may potentially be in a minority on this forum in thinking so, but I think Hetfield's voice has matured really nicely over the decades, and I enjoy listening to him here. Hammett a tad less so; the extended solo section in "The Call Of Ktulu" is not his finest rendition.
After discussing the older songs, I can move onto the new tracks appearing here. There are two orchestral pieces, one performed exclusively by the symphony orchestra ("Scythian Suite") and one performed in collaboration with Metallica ("Iron Foundry"), both 20th century pieces of Russian origin. I won't comment on the pieces themselves, but Metallica's attempt at joining in on "Iron Foundry", whilst intriguing, wasn't wholly successful in my book. Additionally, Metallica delve into their pre-S&M library on one occasion; in one of the most notable parts of the setlist, San Francisco Symphony upright bassist Scott Pingel performs a remarkable rendition of "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)" in tribute to Cliff Burton, pulling off the tone of Cliff's original performance strikingly well, particularly via the use of pedals.
That leaves us with the Metallica songs released after the last S&M performance, and I would say most of them work reasonably well. Metallica took steps to maximize the fusion of the orchestra with the band, particularly on the Death Magnetic cuts; a section of "The Day That Never Comes" is handed over for the orchestra to play by themselves, whilst "The Unforgiven III" is entirely symphonic, bar Lars' drums. There's a few cuts from Hardwired? To Self-Destruct, the most natural-sounding of which is probably "Halo On Fire", which is nicely elevated at times by soaring strings. The last track worth mentioning is the sole feature from St. Anger, "All Within My Hands". I've always felt that the studio version of this track is one of the low points in the band's career, particularly due to the sloppy chaos that ensues when James starts yelling the song title. Perhaps wisely, Metallica opt for a clean tone throughout this track, with the result sounding a lot more competent. It's a stark improvement on the original, but arguably a bit of a waste of a spot on the setlist.
So 20 years on, is Symphony and Metallica still a fruitful combination? To be honest, I imagine it depends a lot on how you felt about it first time around. If you didn't enjoy or were ambivalent towards S&M, the chances of this converting you are pretty minimal. If you liked the first record, you'll probably find something to enjoy here; however, you might find it somewhat redundant unless you've been dying to hear Death Magnetic or Hardwired material with an orchestra. For me, I don't regret the time I put into listening to this, but I don't see myself coming back to it for long time, if ever.
Comments
Comments: 26
Visited by: 285 users
| Aries Rising Posts: 571  |
I really wish they didn't retread songs that were on the first S&M. There are so many songs on their 90s albums that would have been interesting choices to blend with a symphony.
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| ScreamingSteelUS Editor-in-Chief Admin Posts: 6081  |
I'd put No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith, Unleashed In The East, and KISS Alive II up there in terms of influential live albums, but yeah, the "important metal live albums" are a rarefied bunch, and I'd doubt any of them sold as well as S&M. I'm a little curious about the Death Magnetic tracks and, thinking about it, there's still a lot of the first S&M that I've left unplayed, though that's because the concept just doesn't interest me that much. It's very rare that the metal band + orchestra concept yields as much as it promises, and Metallica is not one of those bands that immediately strikes me as a good fit; a lot of bands seem to do it just because it's now a thing that bands do. Given that there's already one S&M out there and I'm kind of sick of the endless avalanches of live material that Metallica has been putting out, I'll probably make it my business to forget about this as soon as I leave here. Thanks for going into such detail; it makes me very confident in that decision.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7805  |
Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 29.08.2020 at 08:08 I'm definitely not an expert on live albums, you're probably right about all of those (although the only one I have any particular awareness of is No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith). I think the Metallica + orchestra thing as it was initially done was quite gimmicky, but I think they also showed a solid level of conviction in trying to pull it off, even though it sounded fairly awkward on their big songs (it was more the second tier tracks that it seemed more synergistic with). However, I certainly wouldn't consider it a high point in the attempted fusion of the styles, and I would say that your decision is very sensible.
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| John_Doe Posts: 5209  |
I don't know if I'll listen to this, probably a pass from me. 
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| John_Doe Posts: 5209 |
Written by Hyamendacil1450 on 29.08.2020 at 14:45 Corpohoetallica? They don't have a contract with a big label anymore, they have plenty of money to create their own.  While their music has not been as interesting and inspired as their 80s work, there are still, for me at least, enjoyable songs on their post '88 albums, well except for St Anger. 
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| John_Doe Posts: 5209 |
Written by Hyamendacil1450 on 29.08.2020 at 17:23 I don't see how they are corprorate when they have their own label, they're independent. So they have their own business. Pointless material?! Just because you don't like it, it does not mean it's pointless. Sure, I find their 90s and Death Magnetic uneven albums and St Anger is unlistenable, but I was pleasantly surprised by Hardwired... And they have to go on tour, it's how they earn their money, nothing wrong with that, as long as there is a demand for them. I've seen them live long ago, on their Garage Inc tour and I loved it. Oh well...
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| brimarsh Posts: 73  |
I didn't care much for the original S&M and agree with a previously made point about it sounding slightly disjointed. It has been years since I've listened because I fell into that "heard it once; don't need to hear it again" category, but I'm not sure if my mind would be changed with another revisitation... I will have to give this second around at least a fair shot considering Metallica is the band that catapulted me into metal when I was a young kid. To dismiss the Black Album as "pointless" feels almost criminal and should not be lumped into their post-1991 shitshow of inconsistent and insipid drivel. With the exceptions of Reload and St. Anger, I'm not sure I find anything in their primary discography that I'd label pointless.
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7805 |
Written by brimarsh on 29.08.2020 at 20:06 Even ReLoad has a couple of tracks I dig (Fuel, Memory Remains, Fixxxer), even if it's a bloated inconsistent mess as a whole. St Anger was a disaster, and Lulu a trainwreck, but the other guy's being somewhat excessive about their post-80s material. There's no harm in giving this one a go, but I would be prepared to feel the same as you felt about the first one
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| brimarsh Posts: 73 |
Written by musclassia on 29.08.2020 at 20:36 I really, really tried with Reload. Fuel is a fun "1am, at the bar, 10 shots in" jukebox song, The Unforgiven II was I guess passable... but it all really felt like a Load bonus disc that wore out its welcome heavily. St. Anger was kind of enjoyable as a meme album. It's a fun listen, but not for the right reasons.
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| John_Doe Posts: 5209 |
Written by Hyamendacil1450 on 29.08.2020 at 19:44 how is Metallica a corporate entity?  I disagree with some of the things you say here. "Bon Jovi of thrash" made me giggle. I rate Death magnetic a 6/10. I can't say i like the production, few songs could have been shorter. But the album was a great success, so what do I know. I enjoyed the last one, but that's me. I'm gonna listen to it a bit tomorrow. I understand people's disappointment with post AJFA albums, but I do enjoy some of the stuff they did afterwards. To each their own... 
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| UPDIRNS Posts: 369 |
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| tintinb Posts: 2109 |
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| John_Doe Posts: 5209 |
Written by Hyamendacil1450 on 30.08.2020 at 12:39 wow, I feel like I opened a can of worms or something. Don't you think you're exaggerating a little bit? I'm gonna quietly walk away...
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
Written by John_Doe on 30.08.2020 at 12:48 This is the consequence of making it big in any area in life -- the more exposure you get, the more people will develop a hatred for you, to balance the adoration. Two opposing extremes while everyone else in the middle is capable of having a rational discussion about such things without resorting to hyperbolic comparisons to terrorist groups, for instance. Also a word to the wise: tread carefully in this thread, you may get cuts and scrapes from all the edge
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Hyamendacil1450 on 30.08.2020 at 12:39 And yet your keyboard frothing has only gone to show how deserving you are of each other. It almost begs asking for you to show everyone on the doll where Metallica touched you if not for your commitment to the shtick. Like we get it, you don't like Bon Jovi 👍
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| brimarsh Posts: 73 |
I'm having a hard time discerning whether he hates post-1988 Metallica more as a band or as people. If you can look at everything they made post-AJFA objectively rather than comparatively, I think there's a sizable handful of material with merit. Just because it's bad for a Metallica album doesn't inherently make it a bad album and I find it egregiously unfair to try and hold everything they create next to their first four albums, which are four of the greatest albums in metal... five, if you include the Black Album. That was the start of their downfall, yes, but to say the only worthy track is Sad But True is Sad And False.
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| Mad Mike Posts: 163  |
Man, this hypamedicine1450 dude or whatever has almost won Metallica Hater Bingo! All he's gotta do now is mention Mustaine writing all their riffs and Jason being screwed over on Justice and he'll win a prize!
---- Did you ever notice that the people who tell you to get a life are normally people who should be dead in the first place?
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| theFIST Posts: 1075  |
Written by tintinb on 30.08.2020 at 07:53 no, at least compared to what they created in the 90s i"d rate it much higher
---- http://metalstormmusicianscorner.bandcamp.com Written by Warman on 07.11.2007 at 22:39
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| omne metallum Contributor Posts: 515  |
When you consider the depth of the band's catalogue, the reuse of songs that were on the original album seems like a cop out; add to that none of them better their prior iterations then it makes for a poor listen. Personally I feel that if the album stood on it's own merits rather than being shielded by the Metallica brand it would have gotten a far worse reception.
---- Just because I'm not listening doesn't mean I don't care
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| FYA Destroyer Posts: 827  |
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| 4look4rd The Sasquatch Posts: 842  |
Can Metallica ever please anyone? It's a solid album. Good mix between old and new, IMO not as good as the original S&M, but still very good. I feel like Metallica has reached such high that no matter how good their releases are it will always be benched market with their golden era. It's an unfairly high standard. S&M 2 is one of the best live albums to come out in 2020.
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| ozzy87 Posts: 6  |
Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 29.08.2020 at 08:08 Are You Serious right now? I accept not enjoying This Live record (Personally I find it much less entertaining that original S&M) but jumping on "Metallica sellout" bandwagon is just plain clickbait from your side. As far as I'm concerned Metallica didn't release official live albums besides S&Ms which are unique especially the first one what is underlined in the review. Everything is bootlegs you may or may not order if you wish. Even ?Live Shit Binge & Purge". Same as eg. Pearl Jam. Nobody finds Iron Maiden gold diggers who release two official Live albums & best of every time new original material sees light of the day...🙄
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| ScreamingSteelUS Editor-in-Chief Admin Posts: 6081 |
Written by ozzy87 on 19.09.2020 at 03:57 I said nothing whatsoever about Metallica "selling out." Nothing about my comment is "clickbait," either. If I had commented with the phrase "7 Ways Metallica Totally Sold Out on This Album (#3 Will Make You Write Unnecessary Comments About Jason Newsted!!)" and then followed it with a link to my personal blog where I detailed all seven of those ways, then yes, that would have been clickbait. I gain nothing from you reading my comment on this website except another headache. Whether or not you consider Metallica's other live releases "official" is irrelevant, because they have released a smorgasbord of live material for your paid consumption, and the second S&M at the very least is anything but unique, some of the reasons for which you'll find outlined in musclassia's review. Maybe there's a better case to be made for the first one, but nowadays, recording with a symphony is almost a cliché; plenty of bands do it, and Metallica is even less special for having done it a second time. I cannot begin to imagine how Pearl Jam factors into this conversation, unless we're talking about bands that never should have lasted beyond the '90s. As for the Iron Maiden comparison, first of all, going by our archives, they've had 6 live releases this century compared to Metallica's 22 (counting different formats of the same release as one). That's a pretty big difference right off the bat, and that's just a cursory look at live material. More to the point, Maiden is a metal band. Metallica are rock stars. Perception is key, and there are plenty of people out there who are sick of Metallica's drama but have no personal quarrel with Maiden. That's a conversation for another forum, however.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7805 |
Written by ozzy87 on 19.09.2020 at 03:57 It must take a lot of effort to read so much into a comment that isn't there; SSUS casually mentioned that there's a lot of live material available from Metallica, so he doesn't feel a need to listen to more, nothing there about selling out or clickbait (what is he even saying to click on??) I think the following non-exhaustive list indicates that there have been a lot of Metallica live performances released in the last decade or so: -2009: Metallica - Francais Pour Une Nuit - Live DVD from Metallica -2009: Metallica - Orgullo, Pasión Y Gloria - Tres Noches En La Ciudad De México - Live DVD and album from Metallica -2010: The Big Four: Live From Sofia, Bulgaria - Live DVD/album featuring Metallica -2012: Metallica - Atlantic City - Live DVD -2012: Metallica - Quebec Magnetic - Live DVD (the first released on Metallica's own record label) -2013: Metallica - Through The Never - CD of the live performance that was filmed for the movie -2016: Metallica - Live Metallica: San Juan, Puerto Rico - Live album -2016: Metallica - Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, Metallica! - Live DVD released as a fundraiser for Bataclan victims -2016: Metallica - Live Metallica: Minneapolis, MN - Live album -2016: Metallica - Live Metallica: Webster Hall In New York, NY - Live album -2016: Metallica - Live Metallica: House Of Vans In London, United Kingdom - Live album -2017: Metallica - Live Metallica: Seoul, South Korea - January 11, 2017 - Live album -2017: Metallica - Live Metallica: Shanghai, China - January 15, 2017 - Live album (the above 5 releases are all from the same tour, and are all available for purchase on the band's website) -2019: Metallica - Helping Hands... Live And Acoustic At The Masonic - Limited edition release for charity purposes -2019: Metallica - May 3, 2019 Madrid, Spain. Valdebebas - Live album Yes a couple of them are (or at least initially were) region-specific, but that's a lot of different ways to watch them play Enter Sandman live, the vast majority of which are listed on the band's website, many of them currently in stock, so claiming that what people think are a lot of live Metallica releases are actually just a lot of bootlegs is blatantly untrue. A bootleg is "an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority"; these releases are being released and distributed by the band on their official website, so they're clearly not bootlegs. I think the length of the above list makes an innocuous comment such as "I'm kind of sick of the endless avalanches of live material that Metallica has been putting out, I'll probably make it my business to forget about this" entirely justified, and your response misdirected and unnecessary. And no, he didn't mention Iron Maiden, but they are possibly the only metal band that can compete with Metallica on this front.
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| musclassia Staff Posts: 7805 |
Written by 4look4rd on 19.09.2020 at 02:22 I doubt many people with more than a passing interest in metal have seen Metallica's output in the last 20 years and considered them to have set an unattainbly high standard of quality to be judged by. If you like the album, that's fine, I thought it was okay, but it was hardly a flawless performance that's being unfairly non-praised for not reaching some godlike level. As far as live albums released in 2020 go, S&M 2 is the only one that I've heard, so it's both the best and worst 2020 live album that I've encountered. We have about 70-odd live albums from this year currently in our database - given the stature of bands putting out most of them, S&M 2 is certainly going to be by far the most polished-sounding, but I wouldn't be surprised if the actual performances on at least a dozen of those albums outshone Metallica's on here.
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| Oh yeah Posts: 1 |
Written by musclassia on 19.09.2020 at 12:06 The only ones of these that were actual album releases are Francias/Orgullo, Big 4, Quebec Magnetic, and Through the Never (the last one, which was 7 years ago). The rest that you listed are not live albums, they are (for the most part) recordings of live performances (and usually unproduced) that were released independently on Metallica's website. In the early 2000s, Metallica starting doing this with EVERY live performance, making them available for purchase through LiveMetallica.com. It is really meant for diehard fans only (some have only been made available to fan club members) and/or as a memento for attending a show (the attendees would often get a free live recording of the show they attended). But implying that these are "live albums" is simply incorrect. Live albums are produced/mixed, and receive mass international distribution through a record label. Metallica's record label is Blackened Records, and the last live album they distributed internationally was Through the Never. And the dude comparing Load and Re-Load to Bon Jovi... Hahaha, seriously, what a joke. Everything you're saying is hot air, spoken like a a true consumer of haterade. Napster? Bon Jovi? Death Magnetic? ISIS? Really? You know, just because you don't like or agree with something, doesn't mean you can treat your opinion as fact; it's not. Take me for example: I completely disagree with literally everything you said, and could very easily present a counter argument to every point you made. So what? It's just an interpretation. But mine being different than yours just goes to show you that yours ain't fact. S&M 2 is awesome by the way. 
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