Metallica

A surprise release lead single for album eight. A radio friendly length thrash record set to a fast tempo with a simple verse / chorus structure. M72 a slow burner for me, but this track burning away my Monday blues. Enjoy!

He getting old. See them before they get really old folks!

So there's a new cover album of Kill em All doing the rounds. And Lemmy here is in it! Composed of older covers, but features Soen and Tailgunner too

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=fpas&q=no+life+til+leather+album&ia=web

Gonna be blasting this whole album this week, I hope you all enjoy as much as me!

Nice insight into the pickups used by James and Kirk

The reason for our listening party today

Dave Mustaine is re-recording this track for Megadeth's final album. So let's give it a twirl ourselves!

The title track from their second album, and riff-tastic indeed. We've covered the second album fairly heavily here already, so instead of me gushing. Turn it up!

Mentioned it last week, had to have it this week. This is it, the best version of Seek & Destroy ever recorded. 18 minutes of unadulterated trash metal from Mexico city back in 1992. Jason with loads of vocals, James and Lars tight as fuck, with extra fills galore, Kirk adding spicy wah to his electric finger work. And played at a blistering pace, meaning it should be shorter right? Nah, fuck that - here's what we all need: more trash. More riffs. Moar Metallica

The song itself has rarely not been played by the band live. So great to showcase what I suspect is the longest version of a single song in the band's arsenal. Originally from Kill em All, and what a track to have not yet played for the community

Latest album this Monday. 72 seasons this week with Metallica's longest studio track to date. Not the 18 minute Seek and Destroy from Live Shit, but a track about remembering.

Mid paced to start with an unusual song structure broken into separate movements even. A great bass breakdown from Rob anchoring the melodies between movements, with an uncharacteristically dynamic drum track from Lars. This features some geeat dueling from Kirk also, and James giving it some solid singing with some at times repetitive lyrics being its only real flaw.

Being off the latest album, I certainly haven't seen it yet. Has anyone else?

Live version for us this week, from Live Shit: Binge and Purge. Metallica arguably at their peak powers: long hair, tight as fuck, Jason bringing the MOTHER-FUCKING-DIE backup vocals, Lars with his massive kit and owning it, Kirk before his love for wah absorbed everything. Live Shit was a love letter to the band, from the band. Recorded over 3 nights, it showcases the best the band had to offer. Released on VHS and Casette Tape with packaging reminiscent of tour cases and boy was it pricey. Even today it commands fairly serious money when nobody has a VHS player!

And the song, Creeping Death, is a huge staple of Metallica's catalog, with a blistering pace of intro that is a mastclass in downpicking from James, matched by Lars' playing. These days they are down a few BPM compared to the original on Ride The Lightning. Originally a Kirk track also, with a face melting solo breaking up the verse/chorus structure. Lyrics drawn from The Bible about Egyptian plagues add heft to the song too, it is unashamedly dark.

Arguably this track has influenced blackened thrash considerably, go listen to Hellripper after this track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8mwkqZNXSc

And the homage is all here. Anyway, if you've seen Metallica live: you've seen Creeping Death. Has anyone got a specific memory to share about this track?

I forgot to post a track yesterday, so here's a homage to SKOM instead. May have to gave it a watch again, it has been a while for me

Squeezing into Monday with this track, here is the final track from AJFA. Never played live until 2004; 16 years after its release back in 1988. And you can see why: it is fucking complicated and exhausting!

A riff-tastic opening heavy in the syncopation of drums and palm muted guitar pauses before launching into a frenetic assault of a second drum/guitar intro. Followed by verses full of double kick, and James' final bark of the album. Final ever you could argue with a change to a more sustainable voice from the Black Album. No choruses

Guitar solos for an interlude and breakdown, laid down by Kirk again so fast you might suspect it was played lower and the tape sped up! A repeating refrain of "Dear Mother, dear father" laying clear the pain that is these lyrics also

As I mentioned already, not played live much: so has anyone seen it themselves? Anyone attempted to cover it themselves? The down picking palm muting surely goes out the window for this track

I'll bet it's a TikTok thing

About time we had some Symphony & Metallica. This is an original piece composed for the 1999 concert with the San Francisco Symphony. And what a piece it is, making No 1 on the US Rock chart for 7 weeks.

Musically pretty safe verse/chorus stuff but sonically massive with the orchestral brass and strings filling out Metallica's already big soundscape to create a truly vast song. Not hugely fast, or many tempo changes, see it feature a great guitar solo from Kirk and some cleaner singing from James

A fairly regular part of their live setlist these days, and repeated for S&M2 in 2019. A still a great listen in 2025, demonstrating the versatility of Metallica. Enjoy!

With the passing of Brent Hinds, here is a track well worth revisiting. Originally recorded for a Kerrang magazine covers album of Master of Puppets, this track sees the mighty Mastodon cover the penultimate track from MoP. And what a cover it is, largely close to the original with those Brann drums, Brent guitar chops, tight Bill rythym, and Troy bass work that sets this as one of the best on the whole album

The cover album itself is worth checking out too, with some great covers including Trivium doing the title track, and Fightstar doing a great Leper Messiah take. Kerrang also did the same treatment for the Black Album, though less successfully imo

RIP Brent Hinds, 1974-2025

With Dave's retirement announced we have to go back to when he was in the band, and Metallica themselves remastered this recording back in 2015 making it a really cool piece of history. Originally from 1982 and had Ron McGovney on the bass for this recording, who was the original bassist, pre-Cliff even. So this really is the beginning.

I won't cover the split between Dave and the rest. There's enough on wikipedia. But I will say that the track here has been itself really controversial. Dave wrote it in his band before Metallica, and re-recorded it with Megadeth, his band after, with Metallica reworking it into The Four Horsemen. And they sound almost identical. But Dave didn't get credit in Kill 'em all which had kept the fued going for many decades, with some closure in recent years. It also wasn't only this track with royalties being the sticking point

But safe to say they've all made enough money now to say it's history and move on. Because without this track there may never have even been a Metallica or Megadeth

Founding Metallica guitarist hanging up the axe. Didn't see this one coming, but his passion for touring has obviousoy waned since his cancer diagnosis. I know what we're having on Monday next then

Working my way through the albums here, and we're yet to hit Reload. This was the lead single from the album which was widely considered b-sides for load, and panned for it. But for me, this is a great track

Mid-tempo, fairly standard song structure which has seen a big presence in Metallica's setlists over the years, mostly due to how easy it is to break apart and mash up from year to year. Also featured in S&M where it gained a second life with that string section. Will have to do S&M next! It also features a rare guest vocalist on the album copy, a Marianne Faithfull who does a haunting outro, who sadly passed away last January

The video itself is also a great watch, featuring anti-gravity and cost a big sum for 1997

As always, who has seen it live? Does anyone remember seeing the music video for the first time even?

Monday means Metallica! Here's a ditty from traditional Ireland being given the metal treatment! A cover of the Thin Lizzy cover but with that Metallica scooped guitars and big snare sound. The music video itself looked raucous to film and produce, a gooe house party for sure. And with Metallica in town you know it's gonna be pretty fun.

From the album Garage Inc, where Metallica played tribute to loads of their inspiration and roots of musical heritage and teenage years. The whole album itself worth a relisten, containing some fantastic tracks in hindsight

As always, comments appreciated. Has anyone else covered Whiskey in the Jar themselves as a teenage cover band? Just me?

Rob used to play for Ozzy. Jason went on to play for Ozzy. They are all huge fans. Their whole set in Birmingham isn't legally available, but it was great. And Metallica were second on the bill to Ozzy and Sabbath. I'm also a big fan, so here's a crossover story for us today - when Ozzy met Alcaholica

RIP Ozzy

Finally a Black Album pick, and this one is Big. Big arrangements, big lyrics, big length, big hit, big live staple. A James showcase here with his gravely voice giving a maturity to this performance that they didn't have back in '82. Heavy in its use of acoustic guitar, with a more standard verse chorus structure and heavy intro and outro essentially, James also wrote the guitar solo in the middle which sings and soars in the middle of the track

The video is also notable from being from their first documentary "A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica" and has playboy pinups which are censored these days. I've never watched it, but I should. The black album is often considered to be when Metallica sold out, and the increased commercialisation, demonstrated by the documentary, makes this a very interesting chapter in their history

Anyone who's seen Metallica has seen this track, and with many artists covering it, who's seen it covered instead live?

A 2025 rendition of a Master of Puppets classic. And our first instrumental as a listening party. And another Cliff Burton track from me. And correcting the lack of MoP tracks.

The track is a multi-part harmonised masterpiece featuring another non-standard song structure. Part 1 with a guitar riff and bass repeating motif that lays groundwork for seemingly endless solos both bass and guitar. Part 2 slowing down for a guitar solo driven almost sung part itself with mid neck work and voicing on the bass that speaks in minor. Part 3 an almighty crescendo that speeds up with an intensity to suck a listener in and is as enthralling to listeners in 2025 as it was in 1986

Never played live often, Jason presumingly not wanting to be associated with what is often considered Cliff's magnum opus. Until 2006 that is where it was broken out for the whole album live tour, which I just so happened to see ;) Seems to be back on rotation for this tour too, much to my enjoyment as I've tickets for them next year too.

That's enough for now, I'll gush about MoP some other track. Happy Metallica Monday!

Metallica meets politics. Kinda. Don't be using their music without permission!

A day late but: it's still Monday somewhere! In honour of Black Sabbath retiring, here's Metallica at the Rock n Roll hall of fame performing Iron Man. Metallica are obviously huge fans of Sabbath, so this is a cool cover indeed. And far from the only Black Sabbath cover I could have chosen either, Metallica have borrowed from them on many occasions

At the weekend they were top of the bill for the tribute bands in Birmingham for Back to the Beginning also. And had a good fun set too, but my the whole bill was looking old, Metallica included!

Iron Man itself is a track that needs no introduction for metal fans with a distinctive guitar riff from Iommi and distorted vocals from Ozzy. As always, anyone got any memories of either Sabbath or Metallica playing this live? Anyone lucky enough to have been at the hall of fame for this performance? Anyone in Birmingham this weekend?

Realised this morning I haven't covered a Cliff era track! And so we have the master himself live from back in 1985. And the performance itself is a masterclass in bass improve intro with judicious use of fuzz and chorus to create a sound that few 40 years ago could even imagine.

The track is from Ride the Lightning, Metallica's second LP but first from what is considered their stable lineup. And I'll gush about Ride with some other track later. What's more relevant is that this track features in Cliff em All, a compilation of bootlegs videos of the bass wizard in action released after his passing. With Cliff being just 3.5 years with the band, his influence has been phenomenal to not just Metallica, but all of rock and metal. So watch him go, he has the crowd in a frenzy even before the main riff kicks in, and he plays with the intro like a cat with a string, effortlessly and without mercy.

Anyone lucky enough to have seen Cliff play? Anyone remember seeing this video on Kerrang/MTV2 like me?