S&M - Metallica > Reviews > A Truly Unique Experience

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	see review
Disadvantages:	see review

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Somewhere back in the late 90s two of the world's most powerful forms of music were to collide live on stage in front of an audience of thousands. Metallica's uncompromising style of thrash metal was to meet with the San Fransisco Orchestra, in a 2 hour set which would feature some of Metallica's greatest tracks given a new lease of life in a monster of a jam session. S&M is the result of that meeting - and a damn fine album it is too.

~~The Tracks~~

~~Disc 2~~

(reviewed first because it is infinitely better than Disc 1)

~Nothing Else Matters(Metallica)~

Whoever told Metallica that they should create a ballad should have been shot at dawn...without the blindfold option. Nothing Else Matters is Metallica’s first ballad, from the ‘Black’ album, and whilst not being the worst song in the world is also not exactly their finest either. James Hetfield is NOT a ‘singer’ in the traditional sense...Metallica are NOT a pop-rock band and never have been. Yes they may have mellowed since the early days, but not far enough to be able to carry a ballad as yet. Live, this track goes down well though, and the addition of strings from the Philadelphia orchestra here on this live collaboration add an even deeper dimension to it, but Hetfield’s rasping vocals and insistence on snarling and spitting out the last syllable of each line mean that this track could never be considered ‘beautiful’ in the sense you feel it tries to pervey.

~Until It Sleeps(Load)~

This is a great track, proving that Metallica still have some of the old magic. An enormously catchy song, with superb lyrics and a killer riff in the chorus, makes you want to sing along and maybe even break out the old air guitar which has been hiding somewhere in the dark recesses of your teenage years since Master Of Puppets...Here the orchestra add some ‘fatness’ to the track,, but are generally missable. Until it sleeps is a superb track which is already somewhat musically busy without enhancement and perhaps the recognition of this is the reason for their somewhat backseat role in the proceedings.

~For Whom The Bell Tolls(Ride The Lightning)~

The only track here from Ride The Lightning. For Whom The Bell Tolls is superb and could not have been handled better in my opinion. The track is left open for orchestral accompaniment, and there is loads of it throughout. It sounds more like the San Fransisco Orchestra featuring Metallica rather than vice versa. The verses are left pretty much unadulterated, but the chorus and intro exhibit a huge amount of collaboration, guitars and string section playing ‘follow my leader’ between chorus and verse, and the orchestra filling in the gaps left by a young Metallica on only their second album. As an album track this track was good, but felt somewhat musically empty in parts, there simply wasn’t the fat, gutsy sound that Metallica produced on Master Of Puppets and continued from then onwards. Live, this is another crowd pleaser, but here it has added depth as well. It sounds superb!

-Human(Previously Unreleased)~

“You’ve gotta breath man, breathe...coming up for...aieaieairrrr”...A previously unreleased track which is seriously good. Why have you been hiding this one!?! A pompous orchestral intro filled with creeping insidious malice leads into a crunching, head nodding riff before switching tempo as Hetfield snarls out the first line. This is a really slow, grinding track reminiscent of Harvester Of Sorrow from Master Of Puppets, Hetfield singing the verse before lowering his tone to deliver a deeper more menacing growl for the chorus. The orchestra has a prominent part in this track, offering strength and depth to the verse, which otherwise may have been rather shallow had they not been there.

~Wherever I May Roam(Metallica)~

This track on this album is superb! Wherever I May Roam was one of my favourites from the ‘Black’ album but here it just got better. Metallica’s mystical, middle-eastern sounding percussionless intro is heavily enhanced by some mysterious extras from the San Fransisco Orchestra’s string section, which is truly haunting and build to a crescendo before the Ulrich drums kick in leading to the ‘big’ pompous intro, which is again heavily orchestrially enhanced. This section of the song alone is vastly better in this collaboration, the pompous intro is even more pompous and the sound ‘huge’, dark and mysterious.

~Outlaw Torn(Load)~

I didn’t like the ‘Load’ album very much, as it sounded a little too much like a band trying to cash in on the success of past glories. Where the Black album was a superb album, packed with excellent more ‘pop-py’ tracks and had massive worldwide and genre crossing appeal, this smacked of trying too hard to follow in the same lines. Outlaw Torn was one of the better tracks from this album, but even so, was little on the dull side. Metallica are NOT a pop-rock band and the sooner they realise this and Hetfield stops trying to ‘sing’ and gets back to growling and snarling, then the sooner we can have some more of the kind of music which made them the mega-stars they are now. Outlaw torn is very much a plodder, bass led verse, followed by power corded chorus and some relatively unimpressive guitar play. A huge instrumental section fills the middle of the track with guitar and orchestral accompaniment blending together well.

~Sad But True(Metallica)~

This is one of the tracks which I feel simply doesn’t work here. Sad But True, is one of Metallica’s big, pompous tracks. Live, its time for a sing-song, the riff heavy and over-emphasised, Ulrich pounding the drums into submission, you - fist pumping, head banging, chanting along to the chorus. The accompaniment of the orchestra takes something away from the clean chugging riff, which makes his song the crowd favourite it is. They feel completely unecessary and superfluous and I found myself unconsciously blotting them out rather than enjoying their accompaniment.

~One(...And Justice For All)~

This is one of my favourite Metallica tracks. An intense anti-war song, One is both one on the most beautiful pieces of music you will ever hear as well as being one of the most intense. This track has an absolutely stunning intro, a collaboration between the string section again and Metallica’s own melodic guitars. I get chills evert time I hear it and this version is even better.

~Enter Sandman(Metallica)~

Just when you thought this track couldn’t get any better, it just has. Enter Sandman is probably the track that even non-Metallica fans associates with them. It received masses of airplay on MTV and was a worldwide smash on its single release, many stating that it is the best metal track ever commited to vinyl.

~Battery(Master Of Puppets)~

A strange ‘plucked’ string beginning leads into a full display of the capabilities of the San Fransisco Orchestra’s prowess. A rather odd track to single out for this approach as the melodic classical intro, leads into one of Metallica’s thrashiest numbers. Battery, from Master Of Puppets, is a real peice of fast, crunching, powerhouse thrash, but this isn’t the best delivery I have heard. Hetfield seems to have lost some of the venom from his voice and can not deliver the track the way it was meant to sound anymore, which can be heard when Jason Newstead joins in the chorus snarling pure venom over Hetfield’s strangely willowy vocals here.

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~~Disc 1~~

~The Ectasy Of Gold~

The album opens with Ennio Moriconne’s classic orchestral piece from the Western ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’, accompanied by the San Fransisco Orchestra. Not a Metallica track obviously but somehow the perfect introdution to this album and Metallica concerts in general - as well as being a superb piece of music in itself.

~The Call Of The Ktulu(Ride The Lightning)~

The call of the Ktulu is an excellent instrumental track from the Ride The Lightning album. This is the perfect start to an album which sees the seemless integration of two of the most powerful forms of music colliding in a cachophony of sound which manages to be both melodic and beautiful whilst losing none of the aggression and power which is the typical Metallica sound. The Call Of The Ktulu could never be described as the best Metallica track out there but here, on this album, in conjunction with the SF orchestra it is given a new dimension and goes up a couple of notches in terms of my favourite tracks.

~Master Of Puppets(Master Of Puppets)~

The orchestra seem to stay firmly in the background on this track, perhas because there was little they could add to a track so fine, or because this track just doesn’t lend itself to an orchestral backing. Either way, it sounds little different to that track already found on the Master Of Puppets album, with the orchestra adding little more than a wall of noise in the background. This is one of the few collaboratins which doesn’t work on this album and its a shame that it was both included in the set and so early on in the play list - it put me off the first time I listened as I thought the rest of the album was going to be pretty hit and miss - thankfuly I was wrong. Its not awful, but its not that great either.

~Of Wolf And Man(Metallica)~

WOW! Of Wolf and Man, was always a pretty powerful track. Coming off the ‘Black’ album it investigates man’s closeness to nature - or lupine nature anyway but always seemed to be missing a little something to me. Here it finds that something, with the San Fransisco Orchestra adding an 'Edgar Allen Poe' feel to the track, an insidious, creeping malice which makes the hackles rise - just as the song always intended. Awooooooohhhh!!!!!!

~The Thing That Should Not Be(Master Of Puppets)~

And if you thought the last track was menacing then you find that you hadn’t heard anything yet. The Thing That Should Not Be, is a dark, slimy, pitdwelling beast of a track. An underlying sense of brooding evil which slithered out of your speakers from the Master Of Puppets album is given new strength and power by the orchestral strings. A deep dark treacly sense of foreboding and dark brooding evil is created by the superb collaboration. One of the best tracks on S&M - absolutely superb.

~Fuel(Reload)~

A high-octane track is given an extra injection of adrenaline in the collaboration seen here. Pacey strings, accompanies Metallica’s own thrashy guitars and rasping vocals to throw Fuel on the fire

~The Memory Remains(ReLoad)~

It strikes me when writing this review, just how weak the first CD in this double album actually is. The Memory Remains is yet another off of the ReLoad album and is again one of the weaker Metallica tracks. Perhaps its just me, but Metallica just didn't sound up to much on either Load or Reload and although the orchestral backing helps this track it is still quite weak. Its worth the listen just to feel the atmosphere created, but its not great. There are loads of tracks from the older albums which Metallica could have played instead of opting for the commercial success again and going with the newer ones - the least popular ones to push a few albums.

~No Leaf Clover(New Track)~

Complex and Powerful, No Leaf Clover is great track and one of the better of the more recent offering. The orchestral backing adds new depth and a greater dimension of impending death seeking you out.

~Hero Of The Day(Load)~

Hetfield 'singing' again? Yep, and again its not worth a light. Both Load and Reload were rather weak albums and its a real shame to see so many of the tracks from these on this album. Hero Of The Day, is quite frankly boring, completely un-Metallica-like and worthy only of the 'skip' button. The orchestral backing does a little to aid its case - but not enough.

~Devils Dance(Reload)~

Just superb! Strangely 'funky' for a Metallica track, Devils Dance is easily one of the best tracks I have heard from them and its miles better on here.

~Bleeding Me(Load)~

This is one of my least favourite Metallica tracks in the first place, and here it is little better. Bleeding Me, is another where Hetfield attempts 'singing' and sounds rather silly. Its a slow churner, and really difficult to say anothing positive about...but there's always the skip button.

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~~Verdict~~

S&M is a historic album, probably never to be repeated. The mixture of the two musical style is absolutely amazing, making you wonder why it has never been done before(although it probably has and I missed it). The live recording is good and you can feel the crowd anticipation and the energy of Metallica's live show throughout even though you are not there. I can not recommend this highly enough to Metallica fans and non-fans alike. If you are not sure whether its going to be to your taste or not, then check out a few tracks from napster first - you will be blown away!