Some Kind of Monster!
....Creeping Death....
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky... The four horsemen... High speed thrash metal... Three very gigantic egoes... A troubled talented bassist... Some kind of monster!
Perhaps the haunting of the 70's flower children with a new sound courtesy Black Sabbath, that gnarled at peace and love with its cryptic lyrics about death, voodoo and Beezelbup has never been paralleled. Yet Metallica stands as the modern day answer and a worthy tribute to a band that unleashed everything evil, green and slimy onto the music world. What Paranoid did to the 70s was what Master Of Puppets did to the 80s. The evil sound of hard rock found a new voice, a faster, harder and crunchier edge to the already menacing notes belted out over a cold Rat Salad by Toni Iommi.
Metallica is here to stay. I recall seeing the rockumentary in 1992 on MTV wherein Hetfield claimed that if the audience was not receptive enough at a concert, they played harder, faster with a deafening screech. Kill Em All, the debut album had sounds like Seek and Destroy, an anthem in itself along with the 'marching jackboots in your head' provided in the form of tracks like Phantom Lord and Pulling Teeth. The album that did it for me was 'Ride the Lightning' with tracks like Creeping Death, Fade to Black, Call of Ktulu and Trapped under Ice that were good enough to work up an army to go to battle! I consider Master of Puppets to be Metallica's masterpiece and my alltime favorite song will always be 'Battery'. Every track on this album stands toe to toe with every track on Paranoid, by Black Sabbath.
Getting back to my discussion on the documentary. The most touching moment in the film is when Lars Ulrich goes to see Dave Mustaine with Phil as a part of the band's therapy. Mustaine was always cast as the AntiChrist with his outfit Megadeth, which he formed after he was asked to leave Met because of a drinking problem. Unfortunately, many fans fail to recognise Megadeth as a force within itself displaying immense amount of lyrical talent and killer riffs making it another band to be reckoned with. Megadeth somehow always carried the 'Metallica-wannabe' title and Mustaine had to take it head first! This is the exact point that Mustaine tries to point to Ulrich at the meeting.
And then there is James Hetfield. To many Metallica fans, even me, Hetfield'll always be the quintessential vocalist/songwriter, but I must add that especially after this documentary, I can see why Jason Newstead succumbed and left Metallica. Although it must be pointed out that one can clearly see the transition for Hetfield; battling his drinking problem, trying to play the important role in his family and getting a band together to work on another album. From the days of And Justice For All, when the band produced it's first video to the days of S&M and St.Anger, Hetfield has been the frontman with nerves of steel.
All in all, the documentary is brilliant, taking a look at the personal lives of the band that has made us laugh, cry and scream with eternal lividity. A must watch for the average documentary geek and a must buy for every Metalli'fukin'ca fan!
Perhaps the haunting of the 70's flower children with a new sound courtesy Black Sabbath, that gnarled at peace and love with its cryptic lyrics about death, voodoo and Beezelbup has never been paralleled. Yet Metallica stands as the modern day answer and a worthy tribute to a band that unleashed everything evil, green and slimy onto the music world. What Paranoid did to the 70s was what Master Of Puppets did to the 80s. The evil sound of hard rock found a new voice, a faster, harder and crunchier edge to the already menacing notes belted out over a cold Rat Salad by Toni Iommi.
Metallica is here to stay. I recall seeing the rockumentary in 1992 on MTV wherein Hetfield claimed that if the audience was not receptive enough at a concert, they played harder, faster with a deafening screech. Kill Em All, the debut album had sounds like Seek and Destroy, an anthem in itself along with the 'marching jackboots in your head' provided in the form of tracks like Phantom Lord and Pulling Teeth. The album that did it for me was 'Ride the Lightning' with tracks like Creeping Death, Fade to Black, Call of Ktulu and Trapped under Ice that were good enough to work up an army to go to battle! I consider Master of Puppets to be Metallica's masterpiece and my alltime favorite song will always be 'Battery'. Every track on this album stands toe to toe with every track on Paranoid, by Black Sabbath.
Getting back to my discussion on the documentary. The most touching moment in the film is when Lars Ulrich goes to see Dave Mustaine with Phil as a part of the band's therapy. Mustaine was always cast as the AntiChrist with his outfit Megadeth, which he formed after he was asked to leave Met because of a drinking problem. Unfortunately, many fans fail to recognise Megadeth as a force within itself displaying immense amount of lyrical talent and killer riffs making it another band to be reckoned with. Megadeth somehow always carried the 'Metallica-wannabe' title and Mustaine had to take it head first! This is the exact point that Mustaine tries to point to Ulrich at the meeting.
And then there is James Hetfield. To many Metallica fans, even me, Hetfield'll always be the quintessential vocalist/songwriter, but I must add that especially after this documentary, I can see why Jason Newstead succumbed and left Metallica. Although it must be pointed out that one can clearly see the transition for Hetfield; battling his drinking problem, trying to play the important role in his family and getting a band together to work on another album. From the days of And Justice For All, when the band produced it's first video to the days of S&M and St.Anger, Hetfield has been the frontman with nerves of steel.
All in all, the documentary is brilliant, taking a look at the personal lives of the band that has made us laugh, cry and scream with eternal lividity. A must watch for the average documentary geek and a must buy for every Metalli'fukin'ca fan!
posted by Shaking Shenoy at 2/20/2005 09:55:00 PM
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