Am I REALLY the only person here who really likes St Anger??

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I mean, I haven't been as confused by the critical response to a record since the In Utero reviews started pouring in. I mean, I'm TRYING to hear the record through the ears of my friends, through you guys, through (God help me) Pitchfork ... and as a critic I KNOW the drum sound sucks and I KNOW it's all ProTools and I KNOW the lyrics are trite...but fuck if I ain't been listening to it in the car every day.

Lars, who's always been, at best, a passable drummer, sounds great. Forget the oft-criticized drum SOUND (and since when did 14 year old metalheads give a shit about production anyway??) - the playing is fantastic. James's voice, when he's trying, sounds as ferocious as ever. The songs, with few exceptions, are fucking killer. Not 'classic Metallica' killer, but "hey there's a great new band of old dudes playing this really great post-thrash" killer

Maybe I'm missing something, but I've been reviewing records for ten years, and have been a Metallica fan for about that long (tho I haven't so much as listened to a note of their music since they started making videos - not being punkrock pompous, just a coincidence, but still) - and I can't hear anything but a kickass metal record. It ain't Mastodon, or Meshuggah, or Lamb of God, but for a buncha guys pushing forty, St Anger is pretty great. And shit, if you can honestly tell me you'd rather be on a road trip listening to fucking Momus than "Frantic," you're just a big liar (or a big sissy)

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 03:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Jesus, Roger. Dud to the tenth power.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 03:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I listened to it the whole way through on a recent roadtrip, not having heard it since the week after its release.

I'm almost certain I still hate it, but maybe not as much as before.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 04:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Am I REALLY the only person here who calls it "St. Inker"?
(even tho I haven't heard it)

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 04:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I like it. The first 3 songs are fantastic. The album is unbearably long though. 74 minutes of music this aggressive is just too much for me - it starts to wear on you. If they cut it down to under 60 and did some selective editing it would have been great. Some of the criticism has been ridiculous though. So what if there's no guitar solos! Since when was that the primary reason anyone liked Metallica anyway?

― Mark M, Tuesday, 11 November 2003 04:23 (twenty-two years ago)

wow, I'm totally going to go look it up now. Though the last Metallica record I dug was ...And Justice For All.

― calstars (calstars), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 04:30 (twenty-two years ago)

St. Anger more like St. Really Terrible and Awful. Am I not incorrect, or what.

http://www.fearandloathinginsocal.com/uploader/pictars/bob2.jpg

― Famous Athlete, Tuesday, 11 November 2003 04:51 (twenty-two years ago)

About a week after it came out, I was rummaging around a Hastings, trying to find some cheap CDs for a long drive, and these 2 little teens, probably 14-15 were looking at one of the satnd-up displays for St Anger, not saying anything, just looking. Then one says to the other, "Dude", and I swear to God, he actually used the word dude, he says "Dude, what's a stanger?"

― Dave Vinson (Gaughin), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 04:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know what that is, Athlete, but I will have bad dreams baout it. Thanks a fucking lot.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 05:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Fear the gigantic carnivorous penis.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 05:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, I do.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 05:07 (twenty-two years ago)

i bet a giant carnivorous penis would make a better album than "st. anger."

― your null fame (yournullfame), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 06:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Your not alone. St.Anger was alright. I have nothing against it at all. It's fun!

It's not Metallica in it's prime or anything, but still fun to listen to while doing something like...i don't know. Making Rice.

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 07:08 (twenty-two years ago)

To my ears it sounds like seventy+ minutes of someone furiously slapping wet cardboard against a brick shed until their fingertips become pruny & wrinkly with moisture and never once is anything actually accomplished beyond it being simply not total silence.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 07:14 (twenty-two years ago)

The drum sound is ace, best idea they had in years. The sub-Machine Head riffs are intolerable, however.

― Siegbran (eofor), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 10:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Probably, yes....

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 13:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Fear the gigantic carnivorous penis.
-- Dan Perry (djperr...), November 11th, 2003

But he's eatin' potatoes, right?!

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 14:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Rotten, stinking dud.

First listen I didn't hate it. It rocked harder than anything since And Justice For All.

But then I realized how insulting it is: contrived DIY from greedy multimillionaires. No leads, because leads have no place in nu metal. Dumbing it down so you sound more like what's selling. Fuck that. Integrity is a lame way to write something off, but I can't get past it here.

― Shaun (shaun), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I love it.

I hated the last two albums and I'm totally bored with the black one.

I liked St Anger to start with, listened a few times then put it away.

Now been listening to it walking around town loads and it is fantastic. I actually like the new sound, I like the drums. They don't usually sound like that on CDs but the way drums usually sound doesn't sound like real drums.
I'm a total sound quality whore but I like it.

It is too long, trimmed to 60mins it coulda been classic.
As is it's just GREAT!!!

― mei (mei), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

the name even, how do you even get past the fucking name to listen to the album.
st.anger - i mean for the love of christ this something that a trench coat wearing high school kid would dream up.

no. no, even the loser high school kid would think it's lame.

― dyson (dyson), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the drum sound. That's all though.

Actually, from the tracks I dl'ed/heard on the radio, I don't think it's nearly as bad as people are making it out to be (or nearly as good as their old stuff), but I'm just too far past the point I where I could care.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I KNOW the drum sound sucks and I KNOW it's all ProTools

ProTools doesn't automatically mean a lot of processing. Some peoples ideas of digital recording really are in the stone age.

Metal kids, eh?

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I heard it was done using Sound Recorder which is why non of the tracks are longer than 60 seconds.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, and there's that great bit between some of the tracks where you can hear the startup noise from Windows being caught on one of the drum mics.

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh and isn't Lars new found feel for dither shapes the equal if not better of his drumming style?

(Where the fuck am I going with this?)

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:12 (twenty-two years ago)

On Track 750 ("Rotating Lemons") at 0.34s I can distinctly hear a multiband compressor, sounds like a warez'd one as well. The effect is slightly ruined by the sound of James Hetfield recieving an ICQ message being picked up on a vocal mic.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

It's amazing what those kids with computers can do nowadays. There's this amazing thing where you can like cut and paste a bit of audio and stuff and make all these wierd noises with MIDI.

DINOSAURS. YOU ARE ALL ALREADY DEAD, DEAD, DEAD IN THE COLD, COLD GROUND.

I mean, Jesus H fucking Shipman, how the bloody hell is this car crash of a species ever supposed to invent teleporters if they can't get their head around digital audio? There is an absolutely infinite sea of reality to explore out there people! (here's where. Teleportation, telepathy, time travel, dimensions as many as stars, astral projection, virtual realities, artificial realities, the God Zeus made real by a concoction of chance and magic, and here we are, HERE WE ARE in 2003 with not even a want to understand the simplicities of a ProTools M-box.

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

but.... I like guitars....

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Screw them. Near ethereal wanker-magnets. What power they hold and what terror they cause! Which evil and determined God produced such a tool that it would bring about so much festering ignorance in the soul of mankind? A doomed future weeps from the netherworld of extintion for these lost minds, thrashing out competent emo on a Fender Jazzmaster as a veritable world of mathematical possibility lay open to them like a delicious black hole, only for them to ignore it like scared children. ALL HAIL THE COMPUTER GOD! POWER TO OUR BINARY SUPERIORS! THE DAWN OF OUR UNFEELING SILICON REVOLUTION IS NIGH! SOON THE WORLD WILL BE EXACTLY AS IF THE PLOT OF "MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE" HAD BECOME REAL!

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I am now imagining how St. Anger would've sounded if Astral Projection had produced it.

― Siegbran (eofor), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Shit, what if the plot of Maximum Overdrive actually happened somewhere? That'd be awful.

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:32 (twenty-two years ago)

*taking James Lars Kirk Bob Rock et al by the shirt collars, lifting them off the ground*

"Okay pay attention you fucks - there's this little register in the sonic spectrum called BASS. I suggest you try working with that shit sometime, and maybe your next record won't sound like runny morning-after-chili turds dropping into a cardboard fucking box."

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

At least it would give Estevez some work, has he done anything of note since D3: The Mighty Ducks?

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"runny morning-after-chili turds dropping into a cardboard fucking box"

Funny, that's a Pro-Tools preset.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

ha ha

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

No, seriously. This is getting worrying. I mean, we're just not prepared in any way shape or form. What are we without technology to aid us in our ongoing quest to build a missile so huge it could destroy our sun? One of things that really bugs me about living in this age is that I'll probably never see the day that several millenia of misogyny finally come to an end when man sticks a huge ballistic rod in its sustaining star. Oh well, musn't grumble.

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Then again, looking at peoples attitudes ProTools I doubt we'd ever have the bollocks to go through with it. Face it people, there's two choices here. One, die with our hands around our throats in a sea of toxic air and concrete. Two, go out like the movie Armageddon except WE PLAY THE ASTEROID. Which sounds best to you?

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Can't we go out like the movie D3: The Mighty Ducks? Quietly and on VHS.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 16:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Seems like the album has already sank, virtually without a trace.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

How much does fucking Lars rock on this record?

― calstars (calstars), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)

1011011011

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Two's complement, three's a crowd.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 19:32 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

over a year later, and I still like it. Just put it on to get myself psyched up for the DVD release of Some Kind of Monster. It's going to be one of those records that is recognized, ten years from now, for being far better than people gave it credit for upon release.

― Overbite (Roger Fidelity), Monday, 10 January 2005 01:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I have my doubts. I am glad that Spinal Tap II: Electric Boogaloo is about out on DVD, though.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 10 January 2005 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i just know that the song on the radio sounded like shit

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 10 January 2005 02:04 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe in ten years they'll cut out all of the cut'n'pasted parts and give us the real, 15 minute version of the album. and then we'll all agree, overlooked, a lost classic, etc.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Monday, 10 January 2005 04:58 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

You guys are way off. Metallica's St. Anger is their hardest-rocking, most ground-breaking album ever. Period. If it's too loud or aggressive for you, slide on over the easy-listening section: I'm sure there's something for you there.

― Red Wolf, Sunday, 23 April 2006 22:41 (nineteen years ago)

Where you will find lars,james and kirk?

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy (Kerr), Sunday, 23 April 2006 22:51 (nineteen years ago)

Lynskey on this thread...roffle

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 23 April 2006 22:54 (nineteen years ago)

The record is Metallica trying to recapture the rebellion of their youth only they completely forgot how. It's like the Midlife Crisis album. I wish they would have just bought a Porche and banged the babysitter instead.

― Brian O'Neill (NYCNative), Monday, 24 April 2006 02:47 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 23 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Hurry up and hate me now
Kill all within my hands again

what the

― it means "EMOTIONAL"! (HI DERE), Monday, 3 May 2010 22:33 (fifteen years ago)

before Wilco became my favorite band -- which they really aren't anymore -- Metallica was my favorite band

I am trying to imagine this arc and failing.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 May 2010 22:34 (fifteen years ago)

he must have very large hands if he can fit people within them

― it means "EMOTIONAL"! (HI DERE), Monday, 3 May 2010 22:34 (fifteen years ago)

hahahahaha

― ksh, Monday, 3 May 2010 22:35 (fifteen years ago)

"YEAAARRRGH METALLICA"

*hears St. Anger*

"...I want to listen to Jeff Tweedy's whining ass."

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 May 2010 22:35 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Q3cVA8GtQ

― Roomful of Moogs (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 3 May 2010 22:37 (fifteen years ago)

Get that away from me.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 May 2010 22:38 (fifteen years ago)

before mid-2004, i mostly listened to Metallica, Staind, and whatever nu-metal, pop, and rap was on MTV & the radio. my best friend at the time was a much bigger music nerd than i was, and he got me into a lot of stuff. also, i remember reading about Wilco's A ghost is born, Bjork's Medulla and some other stuff that summer, and it was all over the place from there for me

― ksh, Monday, 3 May 2010 22:38 (fifteen years ago)

glad we're able to bring St. Anger and Wilco together in the same thread

― ksh, Monday, 3 May 2010 22:39 (fifteen years ago)

who is James Hetfield to dictate the schedule in which someone hates him

― If You Ain't Gonna Wash It, I Ain't Gonna Eat It (Cattle Grind), Monday, 3 May 2010 22:39 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcDZOaeW0sE

― ksh, Monday, 3 May 2010 22:41 (fifteen years ago)

life style/death style life style/death style life style/death style life style/death style life style/death style life style/death style life style/death style life style/death stylelife style/death style

― Roomful of Moogs (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 3 May 2010 22:45 (fifteen years ago)

Wax on, wax off...

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 May 2010 22:46 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phFgCLguSNI

― ksh, Monday, 3 May 2010 22:48 (fifteen years ago)

the cover always looks to me like it was drawn by an angry Dr. Seuss

― If You Ain't Gonna Wash It, I Ain't Gonna Eat It (Cattle Grind), Monday, 3 May 2010 22:49 (fifteen years ago)

Oh the CDs You'll Smash!

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 May 2010 22:56 (fifteen years ago)

I have a soft spot for St. Anger - not that I've ever listened to more than a track or two, nor will I - but I love the Some Kind of Monster film.

― EZ Snappin, Monday, 3 May 2010 23:00 (fifteen years ago)

irl lols @ Ned's post

i've seen Some Kind of Monster once, but remember the presence of Lars's dad being a highlight

― ksh, Monday, 3 May 2010 23:10 (fifteen years ago)

still laughing at Ned's post

― ksh, Monday, 3 May 2010 23:10 (fifteen years ago)

me too. well timed Ned!

― If You Ain't Gonna Wash It, I Ain't Gonna Eat It (Cattle Grind), Monday, 3 May 2010 23:16 (fifteen years ago)

one year passes...

\(^o^)/

― markers, Friday, 6 May 2011 18:02 (fourteen years ago)

i feel like i should bump this at least once a year, at least

so i'm listening to some of this again and i still like it -- what a classic mess

― markers, Friday, 6 May 2011 18:03 (fourteen years ago)

"can't you help me be uncrazy"

― markers, Friday, 6 May 2011 18:03 (fourteen years ago)

i've seen metallica in concert twice, BOTH TIMES post-St. Anger (2003, 2004)

― markers, Friday, 6 May 2011 18:04 (fourteen years ago)

the best Metallica album by far.

Loved the dustbin drums.

Hardcore

― Jessie Fer Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Friday, 6 May 2011 19:18 (fourteen years ago)

i've seen metallica in concert twice, BOTH TIMES post-St. Anger (2003, 2004)

― markers, Friday, May 6, 2011 2:04 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

2008 and 2011 for me! o/

― chairfuckers union (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 6 May 2011 19:22 (fourteen years ago)

I tried to go see Metallica in 1998, but the clusterfuck of a disaster trying to get into the ONE vehicle gate at the Winnebago County Fairgrounds meant we got in to the show when they were playing "One", a little more than 2/3rds into the show.

― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 6 May 2011 19:30 (fourteen years ago)

I saw them IN THE ROUND, Load-era. Don't remember much about the music but the stage set-up was fun. Everything fell apart, a guy ran across the stage on fire, and then they all played "Battery" with teeny amps under bare lightbulbs to prove how real they were.

― da croupier, Friday, 6 May 2011 19:42 (fourteen years ago)

corrosion of conformity opened

― da croupier, Friday, 6 May 2011 19:43 (fourteen years ago)

i've seen metallica in concert twice, BOTH TIMES post-St. Anger (2003, 2004)
― markers, Friday, May 6, 2011 2:04 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
2008 and 2011 for me! o/
― chairfuckers union (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, May 6, 2011 3:22 PM

― markers, Friday, 6 May 2011 21:22 (fourteen years ago)

i saw em in 1997 and 1999. they were far better the second time, with a much less predictable setlist.

St. Anger might just be the worst excrement metal's ever been subjected to

― BIG YNGWIE aka the malmsteendriver (Neanderthal), Friday, 6 May 2011 21:24 (fourteen years ago)

Saw 'em twice on the most recent tour. (Will be skipping the Big Four Yankee Stadium thing.) Liked the first show (Newark) better than the second (MSG). Each time they had one great opening act (Newark: The Sword, NYC: Lamb of God) and one lame opening act (Newark: Machine Head, NYC: Volbeat). I liked that they were playing full versions of ...And Justice For All songs, instead of the medley they did on the live box.

― that's not funny. (unperson), Friday, 6 May 2011 21:35 (fourteen years ago)

the main reason I liked the 1999 show so much is that they played Blackened, which at the time, they hadn't played (regularly at least) in ten years.

― BIG YNGWIE aka the malmsteendriver (Neanderthal), Friday, 6 May 2011 21:40 (fourteen years ago)

YOU FLUSH IT OUT! YOU FLUSH IT OUT! THE POOS IN THE TOILET

― charlie h, Friday, 6 May 2011 23:41 (fourteen years ago)

the only songs i really fuck w/ from this one are the title track and Dirty Window

― BIG YNGWIE aka the malmsteendriver (Neanderthal), Saturday, 7 May 2011 04:43 (fourteen years ago)

six years pass...

anybody else heard this? the songwriting still sucks but this cover version is way better than the real thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU-UI3_6HcM

― Neanderthal, Saturday, 22 July 2017 20:51 (eight years ago)

two weeks pass...

It's been twelve years and people still think this is fucking terrible

― dance cum rituals (Moka), Friday, 11 August 2017 00:45 (eight years ago)

yeah but look at who made the original statement

― Neanderthal, Friday, 11 August 2017 00:46 (eight years ago)

The drum sound is ace, best idea they had in years.
― Siegbran (eofor)

...

― Karl Malone, Friday, 11 August 2017 00:53 (eight years ago)

Hahaha I kind of like the drums. Not the sound obviously they sound like shit. But how insane it is to release them like this, they were probably just exhausted and said fuck it.

― dance cum rituals (Moka), Friday, 11 August 2017 01:01 (eight years ago)

they're right on the verge of so bad they're good, but they didn't quite get there

― Karl Malone, Friday, 11 August 2017 01:05 (eight years ago)

four years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0NX1VLUa0w

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 7 July 2022 14:39 (three years ago)

nine months pass...

last few years must've made me dumber bc i kinda love this album now

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 5 May 2023 13:54 (two years ago)

the riffs are just so gnarly

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 5 May 2023 13:57 (two years ago)

- "Legendary album. Panned by critics and fans when it was released, but has stood the tests of time to become known as one of their greatest."

- "No kidding. Makes you almost forget that Lou Reed was once in another band."

- "Lou Reed? What album are you talking about?"

― pplains, Friday, 5 May 2023 16:32 (two years ago)

lol i'm glad i'm not the only one who does that

― budo jeru, Friday, 5 May 2023 18:51 (two years ago)

yeah I haven’t dug deep into this album but it certainly isn’t bad. I’ve really 180d on load, too.

― brimstead, Friday, 5 May 2023 22:11 (two years ago)

well maybe not 180 maybe more like 90-120

― brimstead, Friday, 5 May 2023 22:12 (two years ago)

Now that they've made plenty of returns to thrash, I think we can all admit that they were really trying with the songwriting on Load and there are some monster hooks.

― Random Restaurateur (Jordan), Friday, 5 May 2023 22:14 (two years ago)

four months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsK_YrRoByY

― ivy., Wednesday, 6 September 2023 19:13 (two years ago)

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