Hey just a heads up, if you hear a stutter in the audio or see a jump cut at around a minute, just know that the copyright holder of that Metallica in Moscow video is pretty stringent (it’s not Metallica smartasses lol), and I was forced to cut the clip out to keep monetization. Of course, the small section briefly discusses the massive success of the Black Album and the change of course they took after Justice, nothing you haven’t heard before.
Man, props on this review. St Anger is definitely the red-headed stepchild of the Metallica albums, but there's some validity to it all the same. I just watched this after watching your Load/ReLoad doc. Dude, *superb* job on that one. I haven't watched anything else from you, but I can easily tell how much better you got at reviewing/making docs after watching the Load one. Looking forward to watching more of your stuff. I hope the later Metallica albums are on your radar for another doc.
Absolutely EVERYONE who used and defended Napster is a TOTAL piece of shit. And you helped to COMPLETELY fuck over ALL creative professionals and the millions of jobs they helped create globally. So, pretty please, with sugar on top, GFYS🖕🏼
I don’t hate St Anger in the same way a lot of die hard fans do, and I really loved the documentary film. But one thing is clear - bands do their best work when it comes from within. The fact that they entered the studio with a therapist, a film crew, and no sense of musical direction, can be heard in the music..
What I find interesting is that whilst I didn't think St. Anger was a bad album, it wasn't their best work. Once the documentary came out it actually made the album BETTER because you knew the hardships and tremendous effort it took just to get the album out.
St. Anger is a potential 7 bogged down by being too long, bad mixing, and the horrible drum. That said, if it was cut down to 40 minutes, remastered and re-recorded drums, it would be on the level of Machinehead's less nu-metal early stuff. In fact, there's some hacked up versions on TH-cam that sound pretty good.
You're a sick human. The snare is horrendous and always will be. St. Anger is so horrendous, that they had to release Lulu, just to make St Anger sound like it had been created by a total retard....yes I realise that is not an appropriate term. They sounded absolutely shit. In every way.
St Anger is woeful, the guitars are horrendous, the drums are incredibly woeful. They were amazing on Load and Reload compared to this absolute piece of crap that I like to forget.
I've always said the same. It should have been their punk album. 8 minute songs cut right down to 2 or 3 minutes. Every song. Easily. It would have been more like the artistic statement they seemed to be aiming for.
Some Kind Of Monster on the album is a long and boring song, but the clip version of it is so freakin' good. Exactly what you guys say. It's cut in half, they just cut the essence of it into that 4 minutes.
@@tilaman2438 Todd Barriages' version of Dirty Window his for me the definitive version of that song and he barelly changed much, what he did was essentially cut it to a 2min song and remove the whole "cup of denial" section and it became a cool Hardcore song
This album came out at during a rough period in my life my dad died in an accident abruptly, i was 12 and this album really spoke to me. Metallica and Alice in chains are my two favorite bands since i can remember lol
I will never forget arriving at Target at 8:55am so that as soon as they opened their doors at 9am I could buy Metallica's new release St. Anger (in an era where I rarely woke up before 11am). I bought the album at 9am and had it in my cars cd player by 9:05am. By 10:15am, St Anger would find a home in my extra large cd storage book, where it would remain for years. I've gone back and listened to it over the years, and still don't care for the album. Props to the band for trying something different, it just wasn't for me.
Im just amazed that there wasn’t a single person in the room while recording this album that listened to them playing this and had the balls to say “Lars, put your fucking snares on dude.”
By that time and stull to this day they were surrounded by "Yes Men" nobody would dare say a thing. Even Bob Rock a guy that was confrontational during the Black Album sessions, became a "Yes Man" during the recording of St. Anger.
Supposedly it started because he set up the old white Tama kit that fans love, but it was in bad shape and had no snare wire. Why Lars latched onto that sound and used it for like 3 years, and no one stopped him though, I have no idea
That was on purpose. Bob Rock said that. I guess they tried to sound modern getting away from the recording techniques they used in the 90's. That album is just a bunch of bad decisions put together like never before or after in their career. It was the first release I lived as fan of Metallica and the memories make me love that period of the band.
Yeah it's a solid album, just tough to listen to it's entirety. I think the only objectively bad element on this album is the song structuring. As stated, the songs repeat riffs too many times, and some entire song parts are repeated too many times.
If they hadn't gone into this thinking they're Metallica and they MUST have Metallica length songs and just done each of these as a solid 3 to 5 minutes, this album would have been soooooo much better.
Heard Dirty Window live in Phoenix this year and it was freaking awesome. James before the song said “here is one of your guy’s favorite album” which was kind of funny. There is a live version of the song St. Anger that I really dig. This album needs to be re recorded or remastered without the trashcan.
As a fan born in the year of Metallica’s conception, I’m perplexed when younger fans hold this album dear. However, evidence of its connection with fans like you is testament to why we all love Metallica: they make artistic choices to appease their own creativity.
Very interesting of you to say. Commenters seem to be split between me being a St. Anger fanboy or a complete St. Anger hater. With the Load review, I’m getting people telling me I hate AJFA or that I hate Load, which I don’t, so I’m mostly just gonna let people think what they think. I wouldn’t say I love or hate St. Anger, the album’s pretty bad at times, but there are good, interesting moments on this record that connect with me, I just wish they had figured out a better way to flesh these songs out and make the guitars sound better.
Metallica, despite what people seem to think about “selling out” or whatever, have always followed their artistic instincts, and I will always respect that. Their instincts aren’t always great, but being insulated in the world’s biggest rock/metal band will do that to you. These guys have had Cotton-Ear for decades, unable to know for sure if what they’re releasing is good or bad. As an artist, I can relate somewhat. It’s hard to know if what you’re creating sucks until you’ve released it and disconnected yourself from the process of creating it.
I was there at the beginning just 4 years younger and in the area! It was incredible! Sorry but when Cliff died, Metallica died too! What is left is just the bones.
Disagree. This album was precisely Metallica trying to seem trendy and innovative again and also to stick it to Bob Rock and Jason Newstead. Complete trash and a reflection of James and Lars’ spoilt and over privileged personalities and egos at this point.
Man, I actually fucking love your Metallica analysis videos. I'd love it if you'd do an entire series covering all their albums, or at least most of them.
God I fucking hate that snare though. It's so absolutely awful. I've genuinely never made it through this entire album and your comments on the length and repetition is so true. Oh and I despise the way that Rob crab walks everywhere while playing. I just hate it. What are your thoughts on Death Magnetic by the way? I haven't listened for a good while but I genuinely loved that album when it came out - but that's probably at least partially because of how awful I thought St Anger was and the fact I could actually listen to Magnetic made it seem amazing by comparison. But I think, from memory at least, that it's a good album.
Hey man, thanks so much! The next video will be an exploration of Jason’s years with Metallica, and will be the last Metallica-related video for a little while. I think I’ll end up doing a Death Magnetic video at some point. I loved it when it first came out, but these days I actually find it LESS listenable than St. Anger. There’s a few reasons for this that I can try to sum up: Pandering - I, for one, never needed them to reiterate on the RTL, MoP, AJFA formula. To go back to that sound almost seems influenced by the backlash they received on their previous three records. James’ voice was starting to suffer a bit at this point and they shouldn’t have returned to E standard tuning. Unforgiven 3 is ill-conceived, and doesn’t share the musical connection to the original, which was what made Unforgiven 2 such a cool track and justified its existence in my mind. Audio quality - Lars’ snare is, at least in my opinion, worse on DM. I know that sounds extreme, but hear me out. It’s insanely loud and tears through the mix at all times. It doesn’t sound like a pop or a crack, but more of a deep, out of tune pounding sound. Guitars feel thin and not very weighty to me. Of course there’s also the fact that the mastering was brick walled, creating this distorted, fuzzy, headache-inducing effect on the sonics of the album. This is just my personal opinion on the matter, and is a bit of a hot take, I’m sure.
When you mentioned the playboy interview, I paused this video to read a bit of it, and I ended up reading the entire thing and holy shit - that was insane. It's definitely a must-read just for how uncomfortable things get. As for the actual album itself, St. Anger has always been special to me. Is it their best album? Hell no. The production isn't very great, it's sometimes very difficult to hear what's happening because of it, the fact that Kirk Hammett doesn't play a single solo on the entire album, and the seemingly endless length of the songs. However, I do believe it's one of the most genuine things they've ever recorded. Watching the documentary Some Kind Of Monster definitely helped me understand better why the album sounds like it does, but there was something else that really drove me to love it. I suffer from having panic attacks and nonverbal episodes, and I've had them throughout all my life. About a year ago (at the time of me typing this), I was in the middle of one, and my iPhone for some reason detected my AirPod hit play, and the first song to play in the shuffle was The Unnamed Feeling. It hit me like a freight train. I then decided to listen to other songs on the album during that episode I was having, and it honestly helped calm me down and get perspective on myself. Overall, if you're listening to the album in just a normal mood, you're probably not going to enjoy it - but if you're ever feeling down, having a panic attack, or just feuding with someone, St. Anger makes a whole lot more sense, and it hits a lot harder than you may have thought before.
Seriously - when I read that interview my head exploded. Clearly they couldn’t stand each other. I agree completely. I think, despite the songs being written in a really stiff and uncreative way (I can’t judge, I write my songs piece by piece in Pro Tools too), it’s a very real album.
Yes! Haha man one of the best things I have read on TH-cam. Yeah exactly, you have to be in the right mood to listen to st anger but when that happens, it's a surprisingly good time to ride out some terrible emotions and thoughts you know you shouldn't be indulging in. And then you naturally wear out and calm down. Shit it's almost like exercise haha. Amazingly unique album.
When you're running through really hard times in your life, this album makes sense and you connect with it. The Unnamed Feeling is a masterpiece, despite doesn't sound like a Metallica song.
After me and my wife had our 2nd miscarriage, i got so low and depressed i really clung to this album, first time ive really let an album get all my aggression and sadness and confusion out
@@MrOctober44 Yeah I don’t understand a lot of these comments. People keep saying they needed to do this or that or that they were following their true artistic goals. I don’t really buy it, stuff like load, reload, and St. anger seem more like them trying to fit in with the current landscape of rock and metal. A lot of it sounds forced or try hard to me.
@@AndI0td763 Absolutely. Metal had fallen out of favor and they were trying to stay relevant. As silly as them cutting of their hair, It did seem awfully coincidental that they just happened to all cut off their hair within a couple months of each other. Lars even said that they didn't think of themselves as a metal band around the Load/Reload era.
That Metallica vs Napster case set the precedent for all the current harassment that record labels and international legal music associations subject everyone to these days. Doesn't matter if it's TH-cam, Twitch or one of the 19 billion torrent sites out there. Eventually something gets taken down.
still, metallica was in the right. people need to stop thinking they're entitled to listening to music completely for free when musicians put so much into making these songs. it's like if someone spent weeks, months, doing something, say, crafting a guitar, and then you expect them to just give it to you for free. it's not how that works. the current way that DMCA laws are enforced is lame? yes, but that doesn't mean piracy should be allowed left and right and fuck the artists getting any money
Anyone complaining about how artists get screwed by Spotify and other streaming services must recognize that it's because Lars and Metallica were right
@@space_kat1 No one is entitled to anything in this life, not even the artists. Lars himself put it succintly by admitting in the Playboy interview that it was all for nothing and there was always gonna be more Napsters. The only thing Lars did is make life more difficult for thousands of people across the world who follow the law and try to make a living with online content. As for piracy, it's impossible to stop it, people in the movie and videogame industry have tried to curb it since forever with ever more advanced methods and it always gets cracked. Despite all that, these industries are still ludicrously successful and extremely profitable (gaming gets more profitable every subsequent year). Artists need to get on with the times and realize that there are a myriad ways to make massive amounts of passive income with the current online world. Dragonforce realized that and they're doing great. I'm not even gonna touch on the subject of intellectual property and how it doesn't even make sense to call it property, otherwise we're gonna be here all week.
@@space_kat1 Being right didn't make it the correct thing to do. They utterly ruined the industry themselves with that case. Majority of pirates were never going to purchase your music anyway, it was basically marketing for you to be popular on those sites.
@@ihateeveryone8161if you think that the creation of Napster was some altruistic act and not some attempt at becoming a tech billionaire by Shawn Fanning, then idk man. How was the industry expected to change their entire business model overnight? Was it petty revenge on the part of Metallica? Like “you helped our song get leaked to the radio months before it was finished, so were going to crush you into dust”? Absolutely yes. But on the industry’s part? How were they going to know how the internet was going to be in 20 years?
You know what kinda kills me? THEY KNEW ABOUT THE SNARE Not just in the sense that they chose it on purpose, they knew it sucked. At least Bob Rock did. How do I know? Some of the songs (e.g. Frantic in the intro) HAVE A FUCKING NORMAL SNARE OVERLAID ON TOP ON TOP OF THE TRASH CAN
South Park nailed the napster issue on the head, "heres lar ulrich from metallica, this month he was planning on installing a gold plated shark tank bar next to the pool, but thanks to people downloading his music for free, he must now wait a few months."
When I start making videos, my first video will be on St. Anger. For the first few minutes, I thought my video might be superfluous. You make so many points about “Frantic” that I would say myself. St. Anger was the first album of original Metallica material to be released while I was aware of them. I continue to believe it is 1. an extremely hard listen and 2. one of their best. You got chills listening to the end of “All Within My Hands” preparing for this review and I came close to tears for the same reason. It’s the most misunderstood album of all time. Thank you for recognizing something beautiful in it.
I remember first hearing stuff from St. Anger and thinking, "This isn't so bad. Definitely not their best, but not as bad as I was hearing." Didn't know it was remastered for radio play. When I first heard the album versions, "....oh. Ok. Yeah, damn."
Grown men singing like that in there 40s those lyrics...dude hard disagree. Sloppy yes but just getting some lyrics out of your mental health hell is a rare and dark thing . They rarely do it in this way and its refreshing, if not musically still a miss. That stance is usually what makes people bottle up, ....doesn't matter if your 21 or 55 and that's not healthy, that aside good review and i can hear your passion, thanks for the upload. Lots of good information and we don't all have to agree on everything, THATS WHAT METAL IS !! il be watching more of your videos just subscribed. This album was a miss mainly the lack of solos, colour and song length was way too long, each chapter didn't even have too many words...just too many repeated paragraphs, shame, its raw but it didnt cook well. But i love how heavy it got.
Hey man to each his own! When I wrote this video at 19 or 20, I had never really considered that so many people might have connected with this record on a personal level as a form of healing. If you’re going through rough times and have used this album to get through those times, I can’t judge that at all. I respect everyone’s opinion on this record to some degree even if we disagree, but I appreciate that you approached your comment with a sense of respect and understanding, even if I was a little bit snobby in the tone of my older videos. I really appreciate that you subbed as well man. Thanks
Gotta give Lars a little credit… as an artist he’s always strived to deliver something new and different on every era of Metallica, whether off timings, unexpected cymbal crashes, almost prog era of justice, swing of the black album, etc… it just wasn’t terribly successful on st anger, unfortunately the band seemed forced into a genre of music that they simply just don’t fit. But I will say the song “ I disappear” for the mission impossible movie sounds awesome imo!
Great review. That’s why Death Magnetic felt like such a triumph to me. They had gone through a lot of shit in the years leading up to 2008. Yeah I know the sound sucked on it, but that album fucking kicks ass.
I don't really think this album sucks because I think it really fits what they were trying to do as far as sounding like a garage band and express the emotions they were dealing with. I have been to anger management 3 different times throughout my life and I kind of get what they were trying to say. There are times when I have listened to this album when I was mad and it was a way to blow off steam and calm down.
Best review ever of St Anger ever and great footage, like the context too, the mention of the musical landscape at the time. Metallica fans are so dumb and always critizcies St Anger for all the wrong reasons.
Alejandro Rivera Thanks so much man!! I think the main problem is that metal fans are so boxed in. The rules of what is and isn’t metal are stodgy as shit and they’ve been so for decades. That being said I don’t think we should be considering bands like Pierce the Veil to be metal or anything..just be willing to accept an artists growth.
@@adarkerstandard i Think st anger is Their heaviest album and i think is different than other albums its not alternative heavy or thrash its a mix of these three genres in a big new metal sound i think its a revolution
they are dumb because they have a different opinion than you lol? It just didn't click with some people. St Anger didn't give me the moments of euphoria that almost of their albums do. I didn't enjoy the sound of James voice, the lyrics, the guitars. I've always loved Metallica's guitar harmonies and solo's. This album is pretty void of solo's. So I have no problem if you enjoy it. But it's obviously much different than classic Metallica, so why would you call people dumb if not finding enjoyment in the new experiment.
The album has a lot of problems, but It Is unique and particular. However not liking It doesn't mean Being "dumb", St Anger's issues aren't related to what is or not Metal, but with the poor production and weird songwriting (long songs with Just a few riffs in loop) and an overall lack of attention. The album has highlights tho, the riffs are really good, the album feels really "sincere" and some songs like Sweet Amber or Purify should be played live. I'd like to hear a sort of remix with new drum parts. I'm not interested in the lack of solos, i think it's okay for the kind of album st anger Is, but i do miss Metallica's classic harmonies
@@adarkerstandard St Anger wasn't BAD per say, it was a MISFIRE. A Double Minded, Disgruntled, Badly Mixed and Disastrous Attempt from a Yuppie Thrash Metal Band having had unprecedented success since the glorious 80s hitting a Mid Life Crisis, and 4 Middle Aged Men doing everything in their Power to Keep up with the Times and Failing miserably at doing so. When you think about it, St Anger was Metallica's Mid Life Crisis. It was going to flop either way, with Jason Newsted's highly publicized exit in 2001 and Lars having lost cred with younger fans and 80s kids with his Lawsuit against the Founder of Napster. Metallica has had ups and downs, And at least they were able to redeem themselves with Death Magnetic half a decade later.
20:00 I honestly think this album has some of the most prominent & interesting bass parts since the Cliff days. And that’s coming from the perspective of someone who picked up their first 4 string because of Cliff.
In newer interviews Metallica praise the time with Phil Towle. It seemed weird at the time for a famous rock band going through therapy with a performance coach but apparently they needed it.
Shoot Me Again pretty much summarises me. This song by far is my favourite song from the entire Metallica catalogue. I’ve been through so much in my life that if someone shoots me again, I would just get up, and say I am not dead. I’m alive and fighting this unjust fight. I have became so resilient during the times of the pandemic that no one scares me. No one. How big the challenge will be, I will find a way out. Out of this mess. It’s all the fucked up shit I’ve been through that has made me so resistant to everyone and everything. “All the shots I take, I spit back at you, All the shit you faked, comes back to haunt you.” Those lines have struck to me ever since the first time I heard this song. St. Anger is such an underrated album. And this album has gotten me through some fucked up shit of self hatred, guilt and agony. Not caused by myself, but caused by others around me. Others who I called family once. But not anymore.
@@loopeygoopey Why do you keep leaving negative comments specifically under me? Did I do something to you, bitch? You’re an asshole and this hate against a particular album/song/person is not going to take you anywhere, so just fuck off.
The unnamed feeling is one of my favorite songs, but not for rock it, i mean, I prefer to hear it when I'm quiet, if I want to rock I put purify or frantic, I'm a very anxious person and I think that's what I love the unnamed feeling... but for tastes, color, doesn't it? Well, I enjoyed pretty much this video, keep going bro
Yeah, I wasn't expecting him to be so harsh on it - it honestly surprised me considering that the consensus is that it's the best song on the album. That said, I completely understand why you relate to it, I'm the same way.
The Unnamed Feeling is very underrated. The pain in the song is tangible and heartfelt. In my opinion, this song might have saved Hetfield's life. I know it helped me through some difficult times.
St anger was the first metallica song I heard as a very young kid like elementary or early middle school in the early internet days and I loved it, I thought oh this is why people love metaliica. I had no idea there was any controversy around the album. It is buried in my brain when I told someone I really like metallica and told them the song I liked was st anger, this guy broke eye contact and struggled to get out that he did not like that song lol. At the time I expected acceptance of being someone who was also into metallica, and knew something was off when that happened. I think him hearing someone say what I said to him in real life made him question everything. I really liked a lot of the album, but all I heard about it after this was how hated it was so I distanced myself from them and told myself I hated it too. Not until I played guitar did I get into their earlier 'cool' albums.
one thing that has always bothered me about the way people criticize St. Anger is how they always seem to think like the trash can snare was some sort of mistake, when it sounds exactly like they intended it to sound. the whole album sounds like it was intended to: raw, uncomfortable, edgy, messy etc. and it's a very accurate picture of what the band was going through back then. i don't like it very much, i think most of the songs are boring while at the same time completely overloading my senses from the mess and the loudness, but i can't say it's a bad album since it's purpose is done masterfully: it leaves you uncomfortable and with a bad taste in your mouth and that's EXACTLY what it was meant to do. with all that being said, St. Anger and The Unnamed Feeling were always my favourite ones from this album. i just used to relate to the lyrics so much in my teenage years when i would struggle so much with anger issues while being unable to communicate what was going on in my mind and when i was able to do so it seemed like it was all in vain. i guess i never stopped to think that these were men in their 40s going through a midlife crisis, it just always gave me a sense of finally someone was listening to me and understanding what i was going through. the fear of what was inside of me, the social anxiety, the pain, the anger; it felt like finally i had found someone that understood me and it felt relieving, it felt comfortable, in a sense.
Great video and accurate assessment! In my 40s and remember it coming out. Bought this POS and listened to it a few times. For me, it’s still hard to listen to. You nailed it, every song is too long.
Best review of St Anger. I like how you didn't bitch about it like how other Metallica fans do("oh this album sucks! Master of puppets is the best album ever!!!!!"). I think there are good songs here where I find myself tapping my feet. I agree with you on the length of every song and the entire album in general. Solos were definitely needed along with drum fills. I listen to a song then start getting bored halfway most of the time.
Consider this though for a moment…Kirk’s solos are really ill-fitting with St. Anger’s raw sound. Wah pedals or super tapping solos wouldn’t really work for this. In fact, I think if the record came out with solos people would’ve complained about those too lol!
Hello! Well done with these videos, I’ve enjoyed watching them today. I like the fact that you’re sharing your opinion but in a factual, knowledgeable way, as a musician yourself. Good work - subscribed!
As a hardcore Metallica fan I got this day 1 I listened to this on repeat while I was doing yard work and for the life of me understand WTF happened to them, So I gave it to my mom to listen and she said "The album is called St. Anger where's the Anger?" This was the last MetallicA CD I bought (Till Hardwired)hell I even ripped it and uploaded to LimeWire under a different name as a protest. It has a few good songs but sounds much better live.
I knew in the beginning that this ability to download music for free was going to hurt the industry even before the whole Napster incident with Metallica.
It's one of the reasons why ticket and merch prices for top acts have gone up as much as they have. I use Staind's sales as an example. 950,000 plus of Break the Cycle to land them at #1 in 2001, 74,000-78,000 of their self titled album in 2011 to land them at #4. In 10 years that's how far sales declined.
@@anick82 exactly!! I always have to explain it to people who think the bands are just being greedy when in actuality they're trying to make up for album sale losses.
@@LEDPENNY Same! They have to earn somehow, and the money they make isn't just for them. It pays for studio time, the crew in the studio and the crew that makes the tour happen. And now you have some venues that are taking a percentage of the merchandise sales from the artists as well.
I remember doing work practice when i was 14 years old (we do/did that here in Sweden when we went to school, tried different work places for 1 or 2 weeks) and worked in a place where they sell books and music. When the week was over, I could pick anything in the store as thanks for helping out. I picked St. Anger! I still have the CD in my book shelf, 20 years later, in my apartment. Now a single dad! Man, time flies!
I bought this album on day of release with the bonus DVD that you are showing clips from, the performance of the album from start to finish was a nice bonus and they actually change a few things on the live performance which makes the songs feel a little more lived in instead of ProTooled to death.
I really liked St. Anger album. The rawness was cool and different from all the previous. I remember buying this album specifically to put in a Ferrari I rented as there was carrying no cds. Bought it just before the cars were delivered to our hotel. And damn, when the first song started with the bullet sounding snare/guitar blasting with the Ferrari engine. Nice memory :-)
Honestly, I've always believed that if any other band had released St Anger, it would have been hailed as groundbreaking. Metallica have always done whatever they wanted and pushed the envelope. That always pisses off elitists. That's why they will always be the greatest. They don't give a fuck!
@@luke5100 well said, and also just waay late to the game. Sepultura went nu-metal on roots(1996), just before it became fashion, and Metallica thougth it was a smart move in 2003, when nu was already on it's way out. And it sounded dated upon it's release.
I don’t get the whole hate for the Napster thing if you were an artist of that high prestige you’d be pretty pissed at somebody stealing your songs too.
Wow, surprised to see how opinions have changed about this album. 15 years ago if there was a YT video about St. Anger to was to trash it, and the comments echoed similarly. Fast forward 20 years (yes, shockingly St, Anger is 20 years old) and people are finally finding personal and artistic value in this production. St. Anger, as well as their first 4 releases, are my 5 favorite Metallica albums.
The biggest issue with St. Anger is it wasn't produced.. Bob Rock was too caught up in being part of his own rock and roll fantasy camp playing bass on it to step in and make changes to it. The tin drum sound and no guitar solos date it horribly . The songs also meander on endlessly, When bands do this, a producer usually steps in to reel the band in. Here he is too caught up in his own crap to separate himself from it.
St. Anger was a reflection of what the band was going through at the time and I can respect that. I really wanted to like this record and you can find some good songs in there but the overall sound is terrible. I guess they finally got the desire to make a garage record out of their system. A 10 minute song is fine if the song is complex but when you put in repetitiveness to make the songs long just for the sake of making them long, it's certainly the most tiring record to listen to.
St. Anger was the last time Metallica were original and edgy. I kinda enjoyed Death Magnetic in a sentimental, revisionist way (fond listener since early 1988) and I cannot listen to the last two albums for longer than 2 minutes without cringing.
St. anger came out when I was 11 or 12. They were my favourite band at the time, had a bunch of their CD’s and used to trade them back and forth with my Dad so we didn’t have to buy multiples haha. We both liked this album when it came out, and I didn’t realize people hated it until a few years later when I got into high school and got high speed internet. I’ve always liked it for what it is 🤷🏻♂️
If you don't understand St. Anger, you haven't had enough anger and/or rage inside you at some point. I too didn't get the album when it was first released. It wasn't until a few years later that I sat down and gave it another listen, and some things had happened in my own life that gave this album another perspective. The rawness of the recorded sounds, the lyrics, even the snare and song lengths make sense now. It's perfectly indicative of what had happened within the band before this was recorded and what James, Lars, and Kirk had been through individually up to this point. It has become one of my favorite albums throughout the years, and continues to be.
This is a good review of St. Anger. I've never understood the hate for the album. It's got some sick riffs. If you just let it play for a few minutes you get used to the snare. I've always thought if it was produced differently, people would consider it one of their best. Also.... I have to disagree that all their new stuff is dull and uninspired. I love Death Magnetic and 72 Seasons.
Well I love your documentary, the humoristic approach and whilst criticizing theres still much honor and respect for the artists, your opinion on the napster case is showing that too. But one thing you're false with I guess, the role of Bob Rock as a bassist. Listening to Frantic (which I like the most on this Album), you will hear that the bass is actually playing a canon like a preimitation of the sung melody ("keep searching, this search goes on"). Besides that "garage band trash approach" with the snare and all that stuff it is at least from Bob Rocks standpoint very elaborated here and there. You would not find that many lyrical canon-like bass lines in a metal song of that kind (except prog stuff, but even there). So this is quite exceptional in my eyes and very hidden from the main listener that just wants the old metallica sound back. So he might not be the technical Bass Hero but this is still something very special here.
St Anger was supposed to sound like a group discovering each other for the first time, which it kind of was considering how much the guys had changed at that point, and in that sense it worked.
He really wasn't. Your taste is built upon an industry that favors money and appeal over art. Music is a lot more diverse and liberated now that it's free from the stress of money, lots of new artists that would be deemed "weird cult classics" (back then) are finding mainstream appeal now -- and when they're not: underground success.
@tak-pa3134 and now people don't find music to be valuable, just something to click on and then go to the next. Only people that seem to find any real value in music will find themselves in record stores to this day, which are fewer and further between. You're telling me that these types of people don't listen to diverse music? Yikes
It's nice hearing someone explaining and talking shit about one of my favorite bands. It's like the truth in the back of my mind I've been ignoring is being pulled out and put on my screen. ty 4 holding me at gunpoint and listening to the national treasure that is St Anger
amazong how diffrent opinions on st.anger are within the few that actually appreciate the LP ^^ your choices of best/worst songs are soooooooo bewildering to me ... i love unnamed feeling and invisible kid and sweet amber
I just discovered your videos and subscribed today based on binging on the Load/ReLoad video and into this one. I agree with most of what you said about this album but I strongly disagree with the hate for Some Kind Of Monster and Unnamed Feeling, yes they are repetitive and go on too long but are two of my favorites from St Anger
It's been 20 years since the release of St. Anger. I think maybe now it's considered in a little bit better light than 20 years ago. I've always liked it, not their best, far from it. But I don't think it's that bad.
The snare has the wires on you can hear it very clearly. It’s just tuned like shit and not muffled, so full ring. Definitely sounds like shit but the snare wire and head were in place
I have St. Anger in my MP3 collection, but I found versions that fixed the awful busted snare and guitars. I added finished versions of seven Presidio demos, with elements of another, and versions of No Leaf Clover and Minus Human without orchestra, while Invisible Kid (by 4½ minutes), My World (by 1m 45s), All Within My Hands (by 3m 51s), Dirty Window (by 2m 11s), Shoot Me Again (by 1m 55s) and Purify (by 2m 16s) have been trimmed. Here's my tracklist: Disc 1: Echo Chamber 1m 41s [Intro] Frantic 5m 49s The Unnamed Feeling 7m 08s St. Anger 7m 21s Minus Human 3m 49s More Than This 3m 51s Sweet Amber 5m 27s Boogeyman 3m 56s (Boogeyman and Ain't Ask No More) Some Kind Of Monster 8m 27s Dirty Window 3m 13s Disc 2: Unbridled 1m 21s [Intro] Shoot Me Again 5m 15s My World 4m 01s Dead Kennedy Rolls 3m 13s Invisible Kid 4m 00s No Leaf Clover 4m 45s Surfing The Zeitgueist 6m 00s (instrumental) Purify 2m 58s All Within My Hands 4m 57s Shadows Of The Cross 8m 31s Total length 95m 43s (50m 42s + 45m 01s) Also, Frantic's lyrics are pretty awesome - particularly "my lifestyle determines my deathstyle" (which is true for most of us) and the Frantic-tick-tick-tick-tick-tock (think of someone who has a short fuse and/or is about to lose their mind).
I always agreed the Napster outrage was kind of stupid. If Metallica didn't do it, somebody else would've soon enough. You weren't going to get unlimited free music forever; it would've been taken down sooner if music publishers (like many industries) hadn't been behind on the whole internet thing.
Much respect for your articulation and opinions but I couldn't disagree more about this album. That said, I now remember why I dislike musical critique so much. Music just hits each person so different that it's impossible for one person to have an opinion that everyone (or sometimes anyone) can agree with. Either way, I respect your taste and appreciate that you gave each song some thought rather than simply spewing a half-baked opinion to appease the masses. Also, I loved your Load video - super cool.
Stale is exactly how I felt about their latest albums. I can still enjoy Death Magnetic but anything after that.....oof. Thanks for this excellent video, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Bro... I gotta say that I'm with you in not hating this one... in fact, I dug it from the day it was released and couldn't empathize with all the folks that hated that album... but it never swayed me. And I am an old fan... I still really dig the rawness of this one. Even Lars' nasty garbage kit has a place in my heart. Either way... great vid and you have a new sub.
I remember I would just jump on the hate wagon, but one day I was off from work and decided to just give it a listen all the way through. Did it for a couple of hours and then I realized that the album ain't that bad. Definitely not everyone's favorite for sure
The way I see it, in the early 90s Metallica became this mega popular band - probably more than they'd ever thought they'd be - and so they ended up rebelling against everything that had made them so successful. I think they felt their popularity could end up strangling them. At the same time they still wanted to keep up with what was trendy at the time. You can still hear the strength of their ideas, but they seem inhibited by their egos - not willing to cut off the fat or remove the needless limbs or, in some instances, be disposed of altogether. I disagree with the idea that 'metal fans' hate them because 'it's not metal enough'. In truth I find it was always fans of other genres not liking metal. After all these years with Load, Reload and St. Anger they are not misunderstood masterpieces, but the products of a band dealing with the implications of success.
damn dawg. sad to hear you trashed invisible kid and the unnamed feeling. two of my favorite Metallica songs of all time haha. but I totally see your point. good video!
Lol all is good man! Idk I heard Unnamed Feeling again recently and it kind of made a bit more sense to me, even though it’s definitely got some nu metal vibes that aren’t quite my style lol.
I was already on to bigger and better things by this point into Metallica's career. I listened unironically one time when it first came out, and the snare single handedly turned me off to the album. I was already listening to Opeth, The Black Dahlia Murder, and other harder and more progressive music and never looked back! With that being said, this was an excellent video! I am going to start making my way though your other videos!
100% me too at this point I moved onto new things system of a down,disturbed, korn, slipknot, fear factory, deftones, tool, static-x,lamb of god, In flames , mudvayne and many more bands . I was always hoping for that next heavy Metallica album since black album but we never got it and anything after this I never got into. Maybe 10 yrs after st anger I gave up on hoping for a heavy Metallica album and just listen to the old stuff.
Hey, Darker Standard, if you enjoyed St. Anger, you should look up St. Anger rerecorded. It sounds pretty good. Here is the link to the video th-cam.com/video/lU-UI3_6HcM/w-d-xo.html it was rerecorded by like 2 or 3 other people and they show them playing and singing. I think it's really cool that someone took the time to do that. Good retrospective man, St, Anger was my favorite Metallica album growing up and I appreciate someone else's opinions on the album.
Nicely done. It's good to see a more thorough and balanced review of this record. A bit of critique: I felt the use of expletives was overdone in this review and detracted from the overall quality. Thank you for reviewing this album
Yeah, that was kind of my old format. I had been watching TH-cam since 2006, and I wanted to bring back some edge, monetization and community guidelines be damned. In 2019, TH-cam was starting to get watered down and people were less willing to use profanity (now things are even more sanitized). So my original idea for the channel was to be somewhat edgier and looser, more snobby and opinionated. Eventually, I figured it just doesn’t work. I will occasionally use profanity now, if the subject matter absolutely demands it, and I tend to try to limit my own opinions wherever possible (hence why the Load video is far more historical than opinion based). These days I’m far more interested in storytelling than being a character or a “personality”.
the album wore off on me a long time ago, it’s been 20 years since it came out. This being said, I don’t care what anyone says The Unnamed Feeling is still fucking great. 20 years later I still relate, to me that “feeling” is my addiction to alcohol that I’m STILL fighting.
It's too bad people can't get over the snare drum in St. Anger, that album is the rawest, heaviest, metalist album Metallica has (albeit not classic thrash metallica we're accustomed to). I LOVE IT
Great review, man! Especially happy to hear i'm not the only fan who has LOAD as his number one Metallica album. Thank you so much! As for James' sex addiction? Really? I knew he had an alcohol addiction but never knew he had a sex addiction. Oh well...explains why he keeps saying "YEAAAAAAH".
One of guys who did the movie actually wrote a book that alluded heavily to James having a sex addiction. I believe I also read that around ‘02/‘03 James and his wife Francesca renewed their vows, so I just put 2 and 2 together on those tidbits
Hey just a heads up, if you hear a stutter in the audio or see a jump cut at around a minute, just know that the copyright holder of that Metallica in Moscow video is pretty stringent (it’s not Metallica smartasses lol), and I was forced to cut the clip out to keep monetization.
Of course, the small section briefly discusses the massive success of the Black Album and the change of course they took after Justice, nothing you haven’t heard before.
Cover Death Magnetic (They tried too hard)
Man, props on this review. St Anger is definitely the red-headed stepchild of the Metallica albums, but there's some validity to it all the same. I just watched this after watching your Load/ReLoad doc. Dude, *superb* job on that one. I haven't watched anything else from you, but I can easily tell how much better you got at reviewing/making docs after watching the Load one. Looking forward to watching more of your stuff. I hope the later Metallica albums are on your radar for another doc.
Absolutely EVERYONE who used and defended Napster is a TOTAL piece of shit. And you helped to COMPLETELY fuck over ALL creative professionals and the millions of jobs they helped create globally. So, pretty please, with sugar on top, GFYS🖕🏼
Hey man out of curiosity why doesn't this video have anything in the description?
I don’t hate St Anger in the same way a lot of die hard fans do, and I really loved the documentary film. But one thing is clear - bands do their best work when it comes from within. The fact that they entered the studio with a therapist, a film crew, and no sense of musical direction, can be heard in the music..
What I find interesting is that whilst I didn't think St. Anger was a bad album, it wasn't their best work. Once the documentary came out it actually made the album BETTER because you knew the hardships and tremendous effort it took just to get the album out.
St. Anger is a potential 7 bogged down by being too long, bad mixing, and the horrible drum. That said, if it was cut down to 40 minutes, remastered and re-recorded drums, it would be on the level of Machinehead's less nu-metal early stuff. In fact, there's some hacked up versions on TH-cam that sound pretty good.
You're a sick human. The snare is horrendous and always will be. St. Anger is so horrendous, that they had to release Lulu, just to make St Anger sound like it had been created by a total retard....yes I realise that is not an appropriate term. They sounded absolutely shit. In every way.
St Anger is woeful, the guitars are horrendous, the drums are incredibly woeful. They were amazing on Load and Reload compared to this absolute piece of crap that I like to forget.
Actually die hard Metallica fans don’t hate St.Anger
this couldve been their short, super agressive, tight garage album. every song would be a thousand times better if literally cut in half.
Some great fan versions where they shorten and put solos in are out there.
I was gonna say, let's cut it up and make a better album, but I'll go look for those fan versions now
I've always said the same. It should have been their punk album. 8 minute songs cut right down to 2 or 3 minutes. Every song. Easily. It would have been more like the artistic statement they seemed to be aiming for.
Some Kind Of Monster on the album is a long and boring song, but the clip version of it is so freakin' good. Exactly what you guys say. It's cut in half, they just cut the essence of it into that 4 minutes.
@@tilaman2438 Todd Barriages' version of Dirty Window his for me the definitive version of that song and he barelly changed much, what he did was essentially cut it to a 2min song and remove the whole "cup of denial" section and it became a cool Hardcore song
That Playboy interview was rough. They were at each others throats and the part where Kirk laughs about being abused is like wtf?
Kirk has always been that androgynous bisexual guy. He was a great lead player but got lazy and stopped learning.
@@TimTowewhat does his sexuality have to do with that
@@dopey473absolutely nothing. It must be absolutely exhausting to hang out with people who speak in that way.
I really used to hate this album back in the days. But actually now when I listen to it it’s even WORSE than ever.
I used to really hate it, but after repeated listens it's still fucking shit.
St Anger is a 8/10 for me
Lmao
Couldn't agree more. Total shit from start to finish.
Exactly. Completely awful.
Dong dong dong bong
Dong dong dong bong
Dong b-b-bong dong bong
Dong dong bonggity dong
-Lar’s snare
Who the fuck is Lar?
@orphanedapostropheshome we got a stray
@@BilliamwoodsI don't see the word Lar..anywhere. lars? Sounds like absolute gahbage
This album came out at during a rough period in my life my dad died in an accident abruptly, i was 12 and this album really spoke to me. Metallica and Alice in chains are my two favorite bands since i can remember lol
My dad loved some parts of this album and he passed recently and listening to it again brings back good memories. Much love man.
I will never forget arriving at Target at 8:55am so that as soon as they opened their doors at 9am I could buy Metallica's new release St. Anger (in an era where I rarely woke up before 11am). I bought the album at 9am and had it in my cars cd player by 9:05am. By 10:15am, St Anger would find a home in my extra large cd storage book, where it would remain for years.
I've gone back and listened to it over the years, and still don't care for the album. Props to the band for trying something different, it just wasn't for me.
Im just amazed that there wasn’t a single person in the room while recording this album that listened to them playing this and had the balls to say “Lars, put your fucking snares on dude.”
Or someone in the room who didn't tell them to immediately throw all of this in the trash 😆.
Lars's dad did
It's in SKoM
Same thing happened with Jason’s bass in And Justice
By that time and stull to this day they were surrounded by "Yes Men" nobody would dare say a thing. Even Bob Rock a guy that was confrontational during the Black Album sessions, became a "Yes Man" during the recording of St. Anger.
Supposedly it started because he set up the old white Tama kit that fans love, but it was in bad shape and had no snare wire. Why Lars latched onto that sound and used it for like 3 years, and no one stopped him though, I have no idea
I couldn't get over how St. Anger sounds like it was recorded In a subway bathroom.
The fucking snare really irks me!
Sounds more like a Quiznos.
That was on purpose. Bob Rock said that. I guess they tried to sound modern getting away from the recording techniques they used in the 90's. That album is just a bunch of bad decisions put together like never before or after in their career. It was the first release I lived as fan of Metallica and the memories make me love that period of the band.
Man I used to HATE St. Anger, but it’s really grown on me, even the snare. I love practically everything about this album. I know it’s bad, but idc.
You a cool cat. But I don't like Invisible Kid. The rest I think is cool :)
That's the attitude I like
If you like it, then it's not bad to you. I like the snare too. It reminds me of NY Hardcore.
it's not bad at all
Yeah it's a solid album, just tough to listen to it's entirety.
I think the only objectively bad element on this album is the song structuring. As stated, the songs repeat riffs too many times, and some entire song parts are repeated too many times.
If they hadn't gone into this thinking they're Metallica and they MUST have Metallica length songs and just done each of these as a solid 3 to 5 minutes, this album would have been soooooo much better.
Metallica length songs should have Metallica level of variation, not just endless repetition.
Heard Dirty Window live in Phoenix this year and it was freaking awesome. James before the song said “here is one of your guy’s favorite album” which was kind of funny. There is a live version of the song St. Anger that I really dig. This album needs to be re recorded or remastered without the trashcan.
I was there as well! I felt like I was the only one signing the song 🥲
With song "Temptation" added.
There is one, not done by Metallica though. It's called "St Anger 2015" on TH-cam, it's really good
@@spaceace5621yeah the cover recording? Sounded better lol
I was there!!! And I was singing!
As a fan born in the year of Metallica’s conception, I’m perplexed when younger fans hold this album dear. However, evidence of its connection with fans like you is testament to why we all love Metallica: they make artistic choices to appease their own creativity.
Very interesting of you to say. Commenters seem to be split between me being a St. Anger fanboy or a complete St. Anger hater.
With the Load review, I’m getting people telling me I hate AJFA or that I hate Load, which I don’t, so I’m mostly just gonna let people think what they think.
I wouldn’t say I love or hate St. Anger, the album’s pretty bad at times, but there are good, interesting moments on this record that connect with me, I just wish they had figured out a better way to flesh these songs out and make the guitars sound better.
Metallica, despite what people seem to think about “selling out” or whatever, have always followed their artistic instincts, and I will always respect that.
Their instincts aren’t always great, but being insulated in the world’s biggest rock/metal band will do that to you. These guys have had Cotton-Ear for decades, unable to know for sure if what they’re releasing is good or bad. As an artist, I can relate somewhat. It’s hard to know if what you’re creating sucks until you’ve released it and disconnected yourself from the process of creating it.
I was there at the beginning just 4 years younger and in the area! It was incredible! Sorry but when Cliff died, Metallica died too! What is left is just the bones.
Disagree. This album was precisely Metallica trying to seem trendy and innovative again and also to stick it to Bob Rock and Jason Newstead. Complete trash and a reflection of James and Lars’ spoilt and over privileged personalities and egos at this point.
It's one of those things that you have to realize they heard this first and then went back to see the rest of the catalogue.
Man, I actually fucking love your Metallica analysis videos. I'd love it if you'd do an entire series covering all their albums, or at least most of them.
God I fucking hate that snare though. It's so absolutely awful. I've genuinely never made it through this entire album and your comments on the length and repetition is so true.
Oh and I despise the way that Rob crab walks everywhere while playing. I just hate it.
What are your thoughts on Death Magnetic by the way? I haven't listened for a good while but I genuinely loved that album when it came out - but that's probably at least partially because of how awful I thought St Anger was and the fact I could actually listen to Magnetic made it seem amazing by comparison. But I think, from memory at least, that it's a good album.
Hey man, thanks so much! The next video will be an exploration of Jason’s years with Metallica, and will be the last Metallica-related video for a little while.
I think I’ll end up doing a Death Magnetic video at some point. I loved it when it first came out, but these days I actually find it LESS listenable than St. Anger.
There’s a few reasons for this that I can try to sum up:
Pandering - I, for one, never needed them to reiterate on the RTL, MoP, AJFA formula. To go back to that sound almost seems influenced by the backlash they received on their previous three records.
James’ voice was starting to suffer a bit at this point and they shouldn’t have returned to E standard tuning.
Unforgiven 3 is ill-conceived, and doesn’t share the musical connection to the original, which was what made Unforgiven 2 such a cool track and justified its existence in my mind.
Audio quality - Lars’ snare is, at least in my opinion, worse on DM. I know that sounds extreme, but hear me out. It’s insanely loud and tears through the mix at all times. It doesn’t sound like a pop or a crack, but more of a deep, out of tune pounding sound.
Guitars feel thin and not very weighty to me.
Of course there’s also the fact that the mastering was brick walled, creating this distorted, fuzzy, headache-inducing effect on the sonics of the album.
This is just my personal opinion on the matter, and is a bit of a hot take, I’m sure.
Yes! This! More Metallica! 😁
When you mentioned the playboy interview, I paused this video to read a bit of it, and I ended up reading the entire thing and holy shit - that was insane. It's definitely a must-read just for how uncomfortable things get.
As for the actual album itself, St. Anger has always been special to me. Is it their best album? Hell no. The production isn't very great, it's sometimes very difficult to hear what's happening because of it, the fact that Kirk Hammett doesn't play a single solo on the entire album, and the seemingly endless length of the songs. However, I do believe it's one of the most genuine things they've ever recorded. Watching the documentary Some Kind Of Monster definitely helped me understand better why the album sounds like it does, but there was something else that really drove me to love it. I suffer from having panic attacks and nonverbal episodes, and I've had them throughout all my life. About a year ago (at the time of me typing this), I was in the middle of one, and my iPhone for some reason detected my AirPod hit play, and the first song to play in the shuffle was The Unnamed Feeling. It hit me like a freight train. I then decided to listen to other songs on the album during that episode I was having, and it honestly helped calm me down and get perspective on myself. Overall, if you're listening to the album in just a normal mood, you're probably not going to enjoy it - but if you're ever feeling down, having a panic attack, or just feuding with someone, St. Anger makes a whole lot more sense, and it hits a lot harder than you may have thought before.
Seriously - when I read that interview my head exploded. Clearly they couldn’t stand each other.
I agree completely. I think, despite the songs being written in a really stiff and uncreative way (I can’t judge, I write my songs piece by piece in Pro Tools too), it’s a very real album.
St Anger isn't BAD per say, its just a Misfire.
Yes! Haha man one of the best things I have read on TH-cam. Yeah exactly, you have to be in the right mood to listen to st anger but when that happens, it's a surprisingly good time to ride out some terrible emotions and thoughts you know you shouldn't be indulging in. And then you naturally wear out and calm down. Shit it's almost like exercise haha. Amazingly unique album.
Yes Unamed Feeling is my fav track
No joke, I'm glad the album helped you get through a tough time✊️
This was the album that got me into saxophone
Hell yeah me too!
When you're running through really hard times in your life, this album makes sense and you connect with it. The Unnamed Feeling is a masterpiece, despite doesn't sound like a Metallica song.
agreed
I’d argue that the unnamed feeling , with a bit of tweaking would have fit quite nicely on load or reload
After me and my wife had our 2nd miscarriage, i got so low and depressed i really clung to this album, first time ive really let an album get all my aggression and sadness and confusion out
Unnamed feeling is the only decent track on it for me
same, years ago i heard that song for the first time and it felt like it was talking to me
You are the first person that talked about the biggest problem of the album.
The biggest problem isnt the snare or the lack of solos, is the LENGTH
Now that I'm in my late 20's and am way more into bluesier sounding bands, I better understand why load and reload needed to happen.
So you’re saying it was just a phase?
Needed to happen? I have no idea what that means. A natural progression for a Metal band is to go into a Blues rock direction?
@@MrOctober44 Yeah I don’t understand a lot of these comments. People keep saying they needed to do this or that or that they were following their true artistic goals. I don’t really buy it, stuff like load, reload, and St. anger seem more like them trying to fit in with the current landscape of rock and metal. A lot of it sounds forced or try hard to me.
@@AndI0td763 Absolutely. Metal had fallen out of favor and they were trying to stay relevant. As silly as them cutting of their hair, It did seem awfully coincidental that they just happened to all cut off their hair within a couple months of each other. Lars even said that they didn't think of themselves as a metal band around the Load/Reload era.
Age gets to us all
That Metallica vs Napster case set the precedent for all the current harassment that record labels and international legal music associations subject everyone to these days. Doesn't matter if it's TH-cam, Twitch or one of the 19 billion torrent sites out there. Eventually something gets taken down.
still, metallica was in the right. people need to stop thinking they're entitled to listening to music completely for free when musicians put so much into making these songs. it's like if someone spent weeks, months, doing something, say, crafting a guitar, and then you expect them to just give it to you for free. it's not how that works. the current way that DMCA laws are enforced is lame? yes, but that doesn't mean piracy should be allowed left and right and fuck the artists getting any money
Anyone complaining about how artists get screwed by Spotify and other streaming services must recognize that it's because Lars and Metallica were right
@@space_kat1 No one is entitled to anything in this life, not even the artists. Lars himself put it succintly by admitting in the Playboy interview that it was all for nothing and there was always gonna be more Napsters. The only thing Lars did is make life more difficult for thousands of people across the world who follow the law and try to make a living with online content. As for piracy, it's impossible to stop it, people in the movie and videogame industry have tried to curb it since forever with ever more advanced methods and it always gets cracked. Despite all that, these industries are still ludicrously successful and extremely profitable (gaming gets more profitable every subsequent year). Artists need to get on with the times and realize that there are a myriad ways to make massive amounts of passive income with the current online world. Dragonforce realized that and they're doing great.
I'm not even gonna touch on the subject of intellectual property and how it doesn't even make sense to call it property, otherwise we're gonna be here all week.
@@space_kat1 Being right didn't make it the correct thing to do. They utterly ruined the industry themselves with that case. Majority of pirates were never going to purchase your music anyway, it was basically marketing for you to be popular on those sites.
@@ihateeveryone8161if you think that the creation of Napster was some altruistic act and not some attempt at becoming a tech billionaire by Shawn Fanning, then idk man. How was the industry expected to change their entire business model overnight?
Was it petty revenge on the part of Metallica? Like “you helped our song get leaked to the radio months before it was finished, so were going to crush you into dust”? Absolutely yes.
But on the industry’s part? How were they going to know how the internet was going to be in 20 years?
You know what kinda kills me? THEY KNEW ABOUT THE SNARE
Not just in the sense that they chose it on purpose, they knew it sucked. At least Bob Rock did. How do I know?
Some of the songs (e.g. Frantic in the intro) HAVE A FUCKING NORMAL SNARE OVERLAID ON TOP ON TOP OF THE TRASH CAN
South Park nailed the napster issue on the head, "heres lar ulrich from metallica, this month he was planning on installing a gold plated shark tank bar next to the pool, but thanks to people downloading his music for free, he must now wait a few months."
Sweet Amber, Unnamed Feeling, and All within My Hands (minus the kill part), are all solid. That's pretty much it
I'll have the sausage done soon do you want Eggs and Hashbrowns to
When I start making videos, my first video will be on St. Anger. For the first few minutes, I thought my video might be superfluous. You make so many points about “Frantic” that I would say myself. St. Anger was the first album of original Metallica material to be released while I was aware of them. I continue to believe it is 1. an extremely hard listen and 2. one of their best. You got chills listening to the end of “All Within My Hands” preparing for this review and I came close to tears for the same reason.
It’s the most misunderstood album of all time.
Thank you for recognizing something beautiful in it.
you had me at " my favorite albums are Load and Justice"...a man of culture!
I remember first hearing stuff from St. Anger and thinking, "This isn't so bad. Definitely not their best, but not as bad as I was hearing."
Didn't know it was remastered for radio play. When I first heard the album versions, "....oh. Ok. Yeah, damn."
Grown men singing like that in there 40s those lyrics...dude hard disagree. Sloppy yes but just getting some lyrics out of your mental health hell is a rare and dark thing . They rarely do it in this way and its refreshing, if not musically still a miss. That stance is usually what makes people bottle up, ....doesn't matter if your 21 or 55 and that's not healthy, that aside good review and i can hear your passion, thanks for the upload. Lots of good information and we don't all have to agree on everything, THATS WHAT METAL IS !!
il be watching more of your videos just subscribed.
This album was a miss mainly the lack of solos, colour and song length was way too long, each chapter didn't even have too many words...just too many repeated paragraphs, shame, its raw but it didnt cook well. But i love how heavy it got.
Hey man to each his own! When I wrote this video at 19 or 20, I had never really considered that so many people might have connected with this record on a personal level as a form of healing. If you’re going through rough times and have used this album to get through those times, I can’t judge that at all.
I respect everyone’s opinion on this record to some degree even if we disagree, but I appreciate that you approached your comment with a sense of respect and understanding, even if I was a little bit snobby in the tone of my older videos.
I really appreciate that you subbed as well man. Thanks
Literally the worst drums I've heard on an album.
Even though i love the Napster jokes. I fully agree with you, that bands should get paid for their music. Anyone thinks different is entitled.
To me Hetfield was at his most vital on ....And Justice For All. He sounded genuinely angry about the world and the injustices which he saw.
I feel like James only kept Jason from releasing his Echo Brain album out of his need to control everything and everyone. Dudes a control freak. Imo
Gotta give Lars a little credit… as an artist he’s always strived to deliver something new and different on every era of Metallica, whether off timings, unexpected cymbal crashes, almost prog era of justice, swing of the black album, etc… it just wasn’t terribly successful on st anger, unfortunately the band seemed forced into a genre of music that they simply just don’t fit. But I will say the song “ I disappear” for the mission impossible movie sounds awesome imo!
Great review. That’s why Death Magnetic felt like such a triumph to me. They had gone through a lot of shit in the years leading up to 2008. Yeah I know the sound sucked on it, but that album fucking kicks ass.
Yeah Rick Rubin murdered Death magnetic. But there's some really great music on it
I don't really think this album sucks because I think it really fits what they were trying to do as far as sounding like a garage band and express the emotions they were dealing with. I have been to anger management 3 different times throughout my life and I kind of get what they were trying to say. There are times when I have listened to this album when I was mad and it was a way to blow off steam and calm down.
The song anger management by Lovage (Mike patton) is the best song on the topic. One can assume Patton wrote that song about his ex wife.
Best review ever of St Anger ever and great footage, like the context too, the mention of the musical landscape at the time. Metallica fans are so dumb and always critizcies St Anger for all the wrong reasons.
Alejandro Rivera Thanks so much man!! I think the main problem is that metal fans are so boxed in. The rules of what is and isn’t metal are stodgy as shit and they’ve been so for decades. That being said I don’t think we should be considering bands like Pierce the Veil to be metal or anything..just be willing to accept an artists growth.
@@adarkerstandard i Think st anger is Their heaviest album and i think is different than other albums its not alternative heavy or thrash its a mix of these three genres in a big new metal sound i think its a revolution
they are dumb because they have a different opinion than you lol? It just didn't click with some people. St Anger didn't give me the moments of euphoria that almost of their albums do. I didn't enjoy the sound of James voice, the lyrics, the guitars. I've always loved Metallica's guitar harmonies and solo's. This album is pretty void of solo's. So I have no problem if you enjoy it. But it's obviously much different than classic Metallica, so why would you call people dumb if not finding enjoyment in the new experiment.
The album has a lot of problems, but It Is unique and particular.
However not liking It doesn't mean Being "dumb", St Anger's issues aren't related to what is or not Metal, but with the poor production and weird songwriting (long songs with Just a few riffs in loop) and an overall lack of attention.
The album has highlights tho, the riffs are really good, the album feels really "sincere" and some songs like Sweet Amber or Purify should be played live.
I'd like to hear a sort of remix with new drum parts.
I'm not interested in the lack of solos, i think it's okay for the kind of album st anger Is, but i do miss Metallica's classic harmonies
@@adarkerstandard St Anger wasn't BAD per say, it was a MISFIRE. A Double Minded, Disgruntled, Badly Mixed and Disastrous Attempt from a Yuppie Thrash Metal Band having had unprecedented success since the glorious 80s hitting a Mid Life Crisis, and 4 Middle Aged Men doing everything in their Power to Keep up with the Times and Failing miserably at doing so.
When you think about it, St Anger was Metallica's Mid Life Crisis. It was going to flop either way, with Jason Newsted's highly publicized exit in 2001 and Lars having lost cred with younger fans and 80s kids with his Lawsuit against the Founder of Napster.
Metallica has had ups and downs, And at least they were able to redeem themselves with Death Magnetic half a decade later.
this was a brilliant video, along with your 'Load & Reload' ones. subscribed!
Lol. The Unnamed Feeling is my favourite and I first heard it as a teenager and the lyrics hit me almost as hard as Linkin Park's Crawling
20:00 I honestly think this album has some of the most prominent & interesting bass parts since the Cliff days. And that’s coming from the perspective of someone who picked up their first 4 string because of Cliff.
In newer interviews Metallica praise the time with Phil Towle. It seemed weird at the time for a famous rock band going through therapy with a performance coach but apparently they needed it.
Phil was the biggest douchebag
Towley .......from south park 😮
Shoot Me Again pretty much summarises me. This song by far is my favourite song from the entire Metallica catalogue.
I’ve been through so much in my life that if someone shoots me again, I would just get up, and say I am not dead. I’m alive and fighting this unjust fight. I have became so resilient during the times of the pandemic that no one scares me. No one. How big the challenge will be, I will find a way out. Out of this mess.
It’s all the fucked up shit I’ve been through that has made me so resistant to everyone and everything.
“All the shots I take, I spit back at you,
All the shit you faked, comes back to haunt you.” Those lines have struck to me ever since the first time I heard this song.
St. Anger is such an underrated album. And this album has gotten me through some fucked up shit of self hatred, guilt and agony. Not caused by myself, but caused by others around me. Others who I called family once. But not anymore.
get bc a load of this guy
@@loopeygoopey Why do you keep leaving negative comments specifically under me?
Did I do something to you, bitch?
You’re an asshole and this hate against a particular album/song/person is not going to take you anywhere, so just fuck off.
The unnamed feeling is one of my favorite songs, but not for rock it, i mean, I prefer to hear it when I'm quiet, if I want to rock I put purify or frantic, I'm a very anxious person and I think that's what I love the unnamed feeling... but for tastes, color, doesn't it? Well, I enjoyed pretty much this video, keep going bro
Yeah, I wasn't expecting him to be so harsh on it - it honestly surprised me considering that the consensus is that it's the best song on the album. That said, I completely understand why you relate to it, I'm the same way.
The Unnamed Feeling is very underrated. The pain in the song is tangible and heartfelt. In my opinion, this song might have saved Hetfield's life. I know it helped me through some difficult times.
Yeah it’s an amazing song. Easily the best on the album and a top 25 Metallica song.
That song when it breaks down is so fucking heavy, I love it
St anger was the first metallica song I heard as a very young kid like elementary or early middle school in the early internet days and I loved it, I thought oh this is why people love metaliica. I had no idea there was any controversy around the album. It is buried in my brain when I told someone I really like metallica and told them the song I liked was st anger, this guy broke eye contact and struggled to get out that he did not like that song lol. At the time I expected acceptance of being someone who was also into metallica, and knew something was off when that happened. I think him hearing someone say what I said to him in real life made him question everything. I really liked a lot of the album, but all I heard about it after this was how hated it was so I distanced myself from them and told myself I hated it too. Not until I played guitar did I get into their earlier 'cool' albums.
one thing that has always bothered me about the way people criticize St. Anger is how they always seem to think like the trash can snare was some sort of mistake, when it sounds exactly like they intended it to sound. the whole album sounds like it was intended to: raw, uncomfortable, edgy, messy etc. and it's a very accurate picture of what the band was going through back then. i don't like it very much, i think most of the songs are boring while at the same time completely overloading my senses from the mess and the loudness, but i can't say it's a bad album since it's purpose is done masterfully: it leaves you uncomfortable and with a bad taste in your mouth and that's EXACTLY what it was meant to do.
with all that being said, St. Anger and The Unnamed Feeling were always my favourite ones from this album. i just used to relate to the lyrics so much in my teenage years when i would struggle so much with anger issues while being unable to communicate what was going on in my mind and when i was able to do so it seemed like it was all in vain. i guess i never stopped to think that these were men in their 40s going through a midlife crisis, it just always gave me a sense of finally someone was listening to me and understanding what i was going through. the fear of what was inside of me, the social anxiety, the pain, the anger; it felt like finally i had found someone that understood me and it felt relieving, it felt comfortable, in a sense.
Great video and accurate assessment! In my 40s and remember it coming out. Bought this POS and listened to it a few times. For me, it’s still hard to listen to. You nailed it, every song is too long.
Best review of St Anger. I like how you didn't bitch about it like how other Metallica fans do("oh this album sucks! Master of puppets is the best album ever!!!!!").
I think there are good songs here where I find myself tapping my feet. I agree with you on the length of every song and the entire album in general. Solos were definitely needed along with drum fills. I listen to a song then start getting bored halfway most of the time.
Consider this though for a moment…Kirk’s solos are really ill-fitting with St. Anger’s raw sound. Wah pedals or super tapping solos wouldn’t really work for this. In fact, I think if the record came out with solos people would’ve complained about those too lol!
Hello! Well done with these videos, I’ve enjoyed watching them today. I like the fact that you’re sharing your opinion but in a factual, knowledgeable way, as a musician yourself. Good work - subscribed!
Brilliant quality review! I acknowledge the fact that this album is bad, but I love the RAW nature of It. Overall I really enjoy this album :)!
As a hardcore Metallica fan I got this day 1 I listened to this on repeat while I was doing yard work and for the life of me understand WTF happened to them, So I gave it to my mom to listen and she said "The album is called St. Anger where's the Anger?" This was the last MetallicA CD I bought (Till Hardwired)hell I even ripped it and uploaded to LimeWire under a different name as a protest. It has a few good songs but sounds much better live.
I knew in the beginning that this ability to download music for free was going to hurt the industry even before the whole Napster incident with Metallica.
It's one of the reasons why ticket and merch prices for top acts have gone up as much as they have. I use Staind's sales as an example. 950,000 plus of Break the Cycle to land them at #1 in 2001, 74,000-78,000 of their self titled album in 2011 to land them at #4. In 10 years that's how far sales declined.
@@anick82 exactly!! I always have to explain it to people who think the bands are just being greedy when in actuality they're trying to make up for album sale losses.
@@LEDPENNY Same! They have to earn somehow, and the money they make isn't just for them. It pays for studio time, the crew in the studio and the crew that makes the tour happen. And now you have some venues that are taking a percentage of the merchandise sales from the artists as well.
I miss the days when you bought the albums and a concert didn't cost an arm and a leg.
Wow you were a genius
I remember doing work practice when i was 14 years old (we do/did that here in Sweden when we went to school, tried different work places for 1 or 2 weeks) and worked in a place where they sell books and music. When the week was over, I could pick anything in the store as thanks for helping out. I picked St. Anger!
I still have the CD in my book shelf, 20 years later, in my apartment. Now a single dad! Man, time flies!
Hey man great videos on your channel so far, great to hear your thoughts on 2 defining albums of my adolescence.
Hey man sorry about the late reply! Thank you! I took a break for a bit, but I do believe a Volume 1 review is coming in due time
I bought this album on day of release with the bonus DVD that you are showing clips from, the performance of the album from start to finish was a nice bonus and they actually change a few things on the live performance which makes the songs feel a little more lived in instead of ProTooled to death.
The only difference between Lars and your average local band drummer is that he met James Hetfield as a teenager. He basically won the lottery.
I really liked St. Anger album. The rawness was cool and different from all the previous.
I remember buying this album specifically to put in a Ferrari I rented as there was carrying no cds. Bought it just before the cars were delivered to our hotel. And damn, when the first song started with the bullet sounding snare/guitar blasting with the Ferrari engine. Nice memory :-)
Honestly, I've always believed that if any other band had released St Anger, it would have been hailed as groundbreaking. Metallica have always done whatever they wanted and pushed the envelope. That always pisses off elitists. That's why they will always be the greatest. They don't give a fuck!
@@luke5100 well said, and also just waay late to the game. Sepultura went nu-metal on roots(1996), just before it became fashion, and Metallica thougth it was a smart move in 2003, when nu was already on it's way out. And it sounded dated upon it's release.
Newest album actually put me to sleep, singles are ok.
No it's just crap
I don’t get the whole hate for the Napster thing if you were an artist of that high prestige you’d be pretty pissed at somebody stealing your songs too.
Wow, surprised to see how opinions have changed about this album. 15 years ago if there was a YT video about St. Anger to was to trash it, and the comments echoed similarly. Fast forward 20 years (yes, shockingly St, Anger is 20 years old) and people are finally finding personal and artistic value in this production. St. Anger, as well as their first 4 releases, are my 5 favorite Metallica albums.
Like your mom then, amirite?@@luke5100
It is a truly awful album. However, not as bad as Lulu 😂
The biggest issue with St. Anger is it wasn't produced.. Bob Rock was too caught up in being part of his own rock and roll fantasy camp playing bass on it to step in and make changes to it. The tin drum sound and no guitar solos date it horribly . The songs also meander on endlessly, When bands do this, a producer usually steps in to reel the band in. Here he is too caught up in his own crap to separate himself from it.
St. Anger was a reflection of what the band was going through at the time and I can respect that. I really wanted to like this record and you can find some good songs in there but the overall sound is terrible. I guess they finally got the desire to make a garage record out of their system. A 10 minute song is fine if the song is complex but when you put in repetitiveness to make the songs long just for the sake of making them long, it's certainly the most tiring record to listen to.
St. Anger was the last time Metallica were original and edgy. I kinda enjoyed Death Magnetic in a sentimental, revisionist way (fond listener since early 1988) and I cannot listen to the last two albums for longer than 2 minutes without cringing.
St. anger came out when I was 11 or 12. They were my favourite band at the time, had a bunch of their CD’s and used to trade them back and forth with my Dad so we didn’t have to buy multiples haha. We both liked this album when it came out, and I didn’t realize people hated it until a few years later when I got into high school and got high speed internet. I’ve always liked it for what it is 🤷🏻♂️
If you don't understand St. Anger, you haven't had enough anger and/or rage inside you at some point. I too didn't get the album when it was first released. It wasn't until a few years later that I sat down and gave it another listen, and some things had happened in my own life that gave this album another perspective. The rawness of the recorded sounds, the lyrics, even the snare and song lengths make sense now. It's perfectly indicative of what had happened within the band before this was recorded and what James, Lars, and Kirk had been through individually up to this point. It has become one of my favorite albums throughout the years, and continues to be.
This is a good review of St. Anger. I've never understood the hate for the album. It's got some sick riffs. If you just let it play for a few minutes you get used to the snare. I've always thought if it was produced differently, people would consider it one of their best. Also.... I have to disagree that all their new stuff is dull and uninspired. I love Death Magnetic and 72 Seasons.
Well I love your documentary, the humoristic approach and whilst criticizing theres still much honor and respect for the artists, your opinion on the napster case is showing that too. But one thing you're false with I guess, the role of Bob Rock as a bassist. Listening to Frantic (which I like the most on this Album), you will hear that the bass is actually playing a canon like a preimitation of the sung melody ("keep searching, this search goes on"). Besides that "garage band trash approach" with the snare and all that stuff it is at least from Bob Rocks standpoint very elaborated here and there. You would not find that many lyrical canon-like bass lines in a metal song of that kind (except prog stuff, but even there). So this is quite exceptional in my eyes and very hidden from the main listener that just wants the old metallica sound back. So he might not be the technical Bass Hero but this is still something very special here.
An unmitigated disaster.
The Hindenburg of music.
St Anger was supposed to sound like a group discovering each other for the first time, which it kind of was considering how much the guys had changed at that point, and in that sense it worked.
So glad people are realizing that Lars was in the right about Napster.
No he wasn't
He really wasn't. Your taste is built upon an industry that favors money and appeal over art. Music is a lot more diverse and liberated now that it's free from the stress of money, lots of new artists that would be deemed "weird cult classics" (back then) are finding mainstream appeal now -- and when they're not: underground success.
Lars copied tapes when he was a kid so was a hypocrite but also too ignorant to see that streaming was the future, not internet censorship and CDs
@@tak-pa3134 at the same time yeah it sucks that so many artists can't make a living. Lars doesn't care about those people and never has.
@tak-pa3134 and now people don't find music to be valuable, just something to click on and then go to the next.
Only people that seem to find any real value in music will find themselves in record stores to this day, which are fewer and further between. You're telling me that these types of people don't listen to diverse music? Yikes
It's nice hearing someone explaining and talking shit about one of my favorite bands. It's like the truth in the back of my mind I've been ignoring is being pulled out and put on my screen. ty 4 holding me at gunpoint and listening to the national treasure that is St Anger
I like St. Anger.
Chaotic and fun and awkward.
St. Anger is my top 3 favorite Metallica albums! 1. AJFA 2. Kill ‘Em All 3. St. Anger
amazong how diffrent opinions on st.anger are within the few that actually appreciate the LP ^^ your choices of best/worst songs are soooooooo bewildering to me ... i love unnamed feeling and invisible kid and sweet amber
8:41 Everybody's favorite Metallica album is Justice. They just don't know it yet. It's a straight up 10/10.
Wrong
@@bluecomet1109 It's not a 10/10?
@@chilidem you said "everyone", justice is NOT my favorite album, it's puppets. puppets 10/10, justice 6/10
@@bluecomet1109 Justice is your favorite. You just don't know it yet. Can't you read?
@@chilidem you wanna date?
I just discovered your videos and subscribed today based on binging on the Load/ReLoad video and into this one. I agree with most of what you said about this album but I strongly disagree with the hate for Some Kind Of Monster and Unnamed Feeling, yes they are repetitive and go on too long but are two of my favorites from St Anger
The opening riff of Some Kind Of Monster goes hard as hell, but it has some of *the* worst lyrics I have ever heard
Thanks for actually doing a review instead of reading Wiki like most channels out there.
YES
It's been 20 years since the release of St. Anger. I think maybe now it's considered in a little bit better light than 20 years ago. I've always liked it, not their best, far from it. But I don't think it's that bad.
Uh no. It’s still horrible. Just because it’s 20 years old, doesn’t mean it got better.
I like your rational, level-headed approach to making actual critiques to the album, rather than just saying "OMG THE SNARE"
Nice review dude!
The snare has the wires on you can hear it very clearly. It’s just tuned like shit and not muffled, so full ring. Definitely sounds like shit but the snare wire and head were in place
I have St. Anger in my MP3 collection, but I found versions that fixed the awful busted snare and guitars.
I added finished versions of seven Presidio demos, with elements of another, and versions of No Leaf Clover and Minus Human without orchestra, while Invisible Kid (by 4½ minutes), My World (by 1m 45s), All Within My Hands (by 3m 51s), Dirty Window (by 2m 11s), Shoot Me Again (by 1m 55s) and Purify (by 2m 16s) have been trimmed.
Here's my tracklist:
Disc 1:
Echo Chamber 1m 41s [Intro]
Frantic 5m 49s
The Unnamed Feeling 7m 08s
St. Anger 7m 21s
Minus Human 3m 49s
More Than This 3m 51s
Sweet Amber 5m 27s
Boogeyman 3m 56s (Boogeyman and Ain't Ask No More)
Some Kind Of Monster 8m 27s
Dirty Window 3m 13s
Disc 2:
Unbridled 1m 21s [Intro]
Shoot Me Again 5m 15s
My World 4m 01s
Dead Kennedy Rolls 3m 13s
Invisible Kid 4m 00s
No Leaf Clover 4m 45s
Surfing The Zeitgueist 6m 00s (instrumental)
Purify 2m 58s
All Within My Hands 4m 57s
Shadows Of The Cross 8m 31s
Total length 95m 43s (50m 42s + 45m 01s)
Also, Frantic's lyrics are pretty awesome - particularly "my lifestyle determines my deathstyle" (which is true for most of us) and the Frantic-tick-tick-tick-tick-tock (think of someone who has a short fuse and/or is about to lose their mind).
I always agreed the Napster outrage was kind of stupid. If Metallica didn't do it, somebody else would've soon enough. You weren't going to get unlimited free music forever; it would've been taken down sooner if music publishers (like many industries) hadn't been behind on the whole internet thing.
Much respect for your articulation and opinions but I couldn't disagree more about this album. That said, I now remember why I dislike musical critique so much. Music just hits each person so different that it's impossible for one person to have an opinion that everyone (or sometimes anyone) can agree with. Either way, I respect your taste and appreciate that you gave each song some thought rather than simply spewing a half-baked opinion to appease the masses. Also, I loved your Load video - super cool.
Great videos man, thoughtful analysis and provocative opinion.
Stale is exactly how I felt about their latest albums. I can still enjoy Death Magnetic but anything after that.....oof. Thanks for this excellent video, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Wow Invisible Kid is my favorite song on the album
Same dude, it used to be my favourite song on the album (All within my hands is now my favourite)
I just purchased this classic album on CD. 💿
Invisible Kid inspired All Nightmare Long main riff and i think Metallica was very inspired by Godsmack for there song Shoot me again !!!
Bro... I gotta say that I'm with you in not hating this one... in fact, I dug it from the day it was released and couldn't empathize with all the folks that hated that album... but it never swayed me. And I am an old fan... I still really dig the rawness of this one. Even Lars' nasty garbage kit has a place in my heart. Either way... great vid and you have a new sub.
I remember I would just jump on the hate wagon, but one day I was off from work and decided to just give it a listen all the way through. Did it for a couple of hours and then I realized that the album ain't that bad. Definitely not everyone's favorite for sure
The way I see it, in the early 90s Metallica became this mega popular band - probably more than they'd ever thought they'd be - and so they ended up rebelling against everything that had made them so successful. I think they felt their popularity could end up strangling them. At the same time they still wanted to keep up with what was trendy at the time. You can still hear the strength of their ideas, but they seem inhibited by their egos - not willing to cut off the fat or remove the needless limbs or, in some instances, be disposed of altogether. I disagree with the idea that 'metal fans' hate them because 'it's not metal enough'. In truth I find it was always fans of other genres not liking metal. After all these years with Load, Reload and St. Anger they are not misunderstood masterpieces, but the products of a band dealing with the implications of success.
Don’t forget the immense pressure they should’ve felt while trying to come up with something at the level of the Black Album
damn dawg. sad to hear you trashed invisible kid and the unnamed feeling. two of my favorite Metallica songs of all time haha. but I totally see your point. good video!
Lol all is good man! Idk I heard Unnamed Feeling again recently and it kind of made a bit more sense to me, even though it’s definitely got some nu metal vibes that aren’t quite my style lol.
@adarkerstandard totally get it man. Not for everyone haha. But you've got good videos.
I love skom, lars’ work was very cool in this song, pretty long but the last riff it’s pretty cool, same with kid
Pound for pound ...and justice for all, will forever be their best album. Hookwise, lyrically, Jason got screwed, but, other than that...
I was already on to bigger and better things by this point into Metallica's career. I listened unironically one time when it first came out, and the snare single handedly turned me off to the album. I was already listening to Opeth, The Black Dahlia Murder, and other harder and more progressive music and never looked back!
With that being said, this was an excellent video! I am going to start making my way though your other videos!
100% me too at this point I moved onto new things system of a down,disturbed, korn, slipknot, fear factory, deftones, tool, static-x,lamb of god, In flames , mudvayne and many more bands . I was always hoping for that next heavy Metallica album since black album but we never got it and anything after this I never got into. Maybe 10 yrs after st anger I gave up on hoping for a heavy Metallica album and just listen to the old stuff.
Hey, Darker Standard, if you enjoyed St. Anger, you should look up St. Anger rerecorded. It sounds pretty good. Here is the link to the video th-cam.com/video/lU-UI3_6HcM/w-d-xo.html
it was rerecorded by like 2 or 3 other people and they show them playing and singing. I think it's really cool that someone took the time to do that.
Good retrospective man, St, Anger was my favorite Metallica album growing up and I appreciate someone else's opinions on the album.
Nicely done. It's good to see a more thorough and balanced review of this record. A bit of critique: I felt the use of expletives was overdone in this review and detracted from the overall quality. Thank you for reviewing this album
Yeah, that was kind of my old format. I had been watching TH-cam since 2006, and I wanted to bring back some edge, monetization and community guidelines be damned.
In 2019, TH-cam was starting to get watered down and people were less willing to use profanity (now things are even more sanitized).
So my original idea for the channel was to be somewhat edgier and looser, more snobby and opinionated.
Eventually, I figured it just doesn’t work. I will occasionally use profanity now, if the subject matter absolutely demands it, and I tend to try to limit my own opinions wherever possible (hence why the Load video is far more historical than opinion based). These days I’m far more interested in storytelling than being a character or a “personality”.
The Unnamed Feeling and All Within My Hands were my favorites on this album.
I like the version of the latter that was on S&M 2
the album wore off on me a long time ago, it’s been 20 years since it came out. This being said, I don’t care what anyone says The Unnamed Feeling is still fucking great. 20 years later I still relate, to me that “feeling” is my addiction to alcohol that I’m STILL fighting.
It's too bad people can't get over the snare drum in St. Anger, that album is the rawest, heaviest, metalist album Metallica has (albeit not classic thrash metallica we're accustomed to). I LOVE IT
this is Better than all "reacts to" video. as the Offspring said, it's cool to hate
Great review, man! Especially happy to hear i'm not the only fan who has LOAD as his number one Metallica album. Thank you so much!
As for James' sex addiction? Really? I knew he had an alcohol addiction but never knew he had a sex addiction.
Oh well...explains why he keeps saying "YEAAAAAAH".
One of guys who did the movie actually wrote a book that alluded heavily to James having a sex addiction. I believe I also read that around ‘02/‘03 James and his wife Francesca renewed their vows, so I just put 2 and 2 together on those tidbits