Metallica - Black/Metallica

Artist - Metallica
Album - Black/Metallica
Released - August 12, 1991
Genre - Heavy Metal
Reviewed By - The Starchild

Labelled as a sellout by some while some hail it as a revolutionary album since it took thrash metal (although not as "thrashy" as Metallica's earlier works.) and exposed the genre to mainstream and was one of the few heavy metal albums to take mainstream by storm on such a large scale. Mainstram success had always eluded Metallica though they had plenty of critical acclaim. On this album they took a different approach and leaned towards concise song structures. Also the sound is much "cleaner" and stripped down on this album as Hetfield's vocals are different than they are on previous releases, same goes for rest of the bands sound.

The album opens with the hit single "Enter Sandman" which catapulted Metallica to top of mainstream rock world, and has had a considerable impact on pop culture ever since. Follows up with another solid song "Sad But True". Tracks come and go and it can be seen that this album has a much more introspective feel to it. Be it ever popular "Nothing Else Matters" or "The God That Failed" (A song about Hetfields mother refusing to accept medication for cancer because of her belief that god will cure her.) After painting big picture with previous milestones like Master of Puppets or ...And Justice For All, this time Metallica are looking into themselves and singing about it. "Wherever I May Roam" takes a look at life on road as Hetfield sneers "Nomad, Vagabond Call Me What You Will".

The band closes the album with two quite overlooked songs from their catalogue, "My Friend of Misery" which has a fantastic slow interlude and then an explosive "The Struggle Within". Another amusing fact about this album is, it actually managed to achieve incredible amount of commerical success when almost all of 80's metal acts faded into obscurity in the wake of Nirvana's success. Though not the best album out of Metallica's varied catalogue, this album saw them breaking down from "thrash" sound and experiment with slower and more concise song structures and somewhat hinted what future released like Load/Reload might sound like. Metallica gets points here for doing what most of their contemporaries had avoided, which was getting out of comfort zone.

If you are looking for getting into heavy metal/hard rock, this album is a fantastic place to start and has great replay value. Get your hands on this one now!

Rating - 3.5/5

Tracklisting -

1. Enter Sandman (Kirk Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 5:31
2. Sad But True – 5:24
3. Holier Than Thou" – 3:47
4. The Unforgiven (Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 6:26
5. Wherever I May Roam – 6:43
6. Don't Tread on Me – 4:00
7. Through the Never (Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 4:04
8. Nothing Else Matters – 6:28
9. Of Wolf and Man (Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 4:16
10. The God That Failed – 5:08
11. My Friend of Misery (Hetfield, Jason Newsted, Ulrich) – 6:49
12. The Struggle Within – 3:53