Metallica - S&M review
| Band: | Metallica |
| Album: | S&M |
| Style: | Heavy metal |
| Release date: | November 23, 1999 |
| Guest review by: | Agguran |
Disc I
01. The Ecstasy Of Gold [Ennio Morricone cover]
02. The Call Of Ktulu
03. Master Of Puppets
04. Of Wolf And Man
05. The Thing That Should Not Be
06. Fuel
07. The Memory Remains
08. No Leaf Clover
09. Hero Of The Day
10. Devil's Dance
11. Bleeding Me
Disc II
01. Nothing Else Matters
02. Until It Sleeps
03. For Whom The Bell Tolls
04. - Human
05. Wherever I May Roam
06. Outlaw Torn
07. Sad But True
08. One
09. Enter Sandman
10. Battery
Ten years after hitting their highest standards, Metallica felt that it was the time to make a change in their overall sound. "...And Justice for All" was certainly a major contribution to progressive music, but to their own opinion, not their best product. After having felt that they over-produced the Justice album, shorter songs, simpler riffs and less experimentation followed. The "radio-friendly" period, The 90's, were certainly the most successful and controversial times for the band.
"S&M" is the product of the 90's. For better or worse, this is the Soundtrack to Metallica.
It is a celebration of the relentless journey of what was best from the band to date. A very enjoyable and noteworthy live album. The band's instruments array were calibrated to enhance the orchestra's sound, and not the other way around. In my opinion, if they had put in the classic thrashy songs in the tracklist, the whole purpose of the orchestra would have been nil. I didn't quite like that they completely snubbed "Kill 'em All". Of course, we would've enjoyed more classic stuff.
This is a highly melodic performance. The best versions of some of their 90's songs are here. The live versions of "Hero of the Day", "Outlaw Torn" and "Until it Sleeps" are a must listen. Where is "Fade to Black"?, "The Unforgiven"?, "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"?. It's very well known that most of those 90's songs have a more personal note within the band, enough said.
This was the first metal album that I bought ten years ago. A huge album for a first-time listener; of course, it blew me away. My opinion has somewhat changed from that first time, as I learned from the whole band timeline (completely backwards, actually -from "S&M" to "Kill 'em All"). Something remains unscathed, however. The final product and its sound is completely overwhelming, but some might say that it falls short, specially with what they had available in their catalog, as I later found out. Not everything is perfect, though; the orchestral score of some of the classic songs (such as "One" and "Enter Sandman" could have been better.
If something could be done to uplift the mixed reviews from "Load" and "Re-Load", it was this. I'd like to say that this ended Metallica's 90's with a very high note. It's an album worth listening, and a must-have in your Metal collection.
The high notes:
*Excellent and powerful sound quality;
*It is never tiresome
*"For Whom the Bell Tolls"
*Lars Ulrich never opens his mouth and behaves pretty decently.
The low notes:
*I just plain don't like "Fuel"
*Could have been WAAAAY better!!!
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Agguran | 20.07.2009
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Guest review by
The Silent Man
The Silent Man
Rating:
6.0
6.0
|
Rating: 6.0 |
Symphony & Metallica is a strange musical experiment: Metallica meets the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. After writing the orchestration for Nothing Else Matters, conductor Michael Kamen invited The Four Horsemen to play live with an orchestra. And seven years later here's the result: some people loves it, some other hates it. I'm neutral. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 12
Visited by: 114 users
| Andresopeth Posts: 201  |
This revirew is ok, but in my opinion it is more focused in Matallica's time line than in the album itself (Production, Sound quality, Tracklist, Arrangments and those stuffs). Even though i agree with the main point, the album is good but it could have been better. I like the songs they picked for this album, i guess were the ones that fit better with the orchestra, but i guess Fade To Black is missing. And yeah, the best song on the album is For Whom The Bell Tolls so far.
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
Perfect album to me.. i had some good times listening to this album. 
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Marcus Doit Like Bernie Posts: 642  |
Lol @ the low notes: "Could have been way better"; very specific, I like it.
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| Paradox0 Unasuming Madnes Posts: 592 |
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| dunskii Posts: 17 |
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| Agguran Posts: 5 |
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| Quinaitor Posts: 51  |
Written by Andresopeth on 20.07.2009 at 16:17 I agree with the part when you say that he is focused on the timeline... to the reviewer... are you nutts?... lyrics 7???!!! is the same freaking lyrics of studio songs -,-... shit i hate when people do this kind of things -,-... poor review... isn't it?
---- Metal is flowing through my veins...
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| Andresopeth Posts: 201 |
Written by Quinaitor on 24.07.2009 at 22:00 Yeah, the big problem of this review is that is not a review
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| THE_BLACK_GOD Account deleted |
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| Agguran Posts: 5 |
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| THE_BLACK_GOD Account deleted |
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| terrorist Posts: 358  |
Great album.they've shown that they are fantastic musicians and that they can fit with orchestra it is realy impresive.I think James voice has reched it's maximum with whole orchestra behind him especialy on Nothibg Else Matters.
---- Will the ones who live after our end Worship the goddamn cross again? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnlG0h7YN_8&feature=related
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