Metallica’s last album, St. Anger‚ marked a return to the brutal essence of their pre-Black album days, harking back to a time when the gurning men in black simply played it louder, faster and heavier than anyone else.
Made after band departures, spells of rehab and the greedy bastards cred-denting scrap with Napster, it proved that at least they still knew how to actually rock like bastards. One of the better songs on the album, The Unnamed Feeling‚ is a pummelling track that takes a few listens before transforming itself from a tuneless dirge into a seriously rocking proposition that makes the faux-fury of many other ‘metal’ bands seem laughable.
Be aware before you shell out your cash that this is merely an extended EP rather than anything resembling a ‘proper’ album. However, what will be of real note to fans here are the six live versions of seriously old school tracks from their early thrash days, recorded in Paris “on the hottest day in French history” last summer.
Stripped of the string sections that accompanied the songs on S & M, the gallop through tracks such as ‘Damage, Inc.’ and ‘The Four Horsemen’ are blunt but awesome displays of power. James Hetfield sounds in prime growling mode, while Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich play and pound like they’re racing each other to the finish of each song. Headbang to this and you’re guaranteed to end up in a neck brace.
Best of all is the version included here of ‘Ride The Lightning’, the angular riffs sounding like they’ve been geometrically engineered for maximum heaviness. And when not feeling sorry for the poor souls steaming in the mosh while these tracks were performed, you can gave yourself a good laugh at Hetfield’s pathetically failed attempts at saying ‘Merci Beaucoup’.