The last time I voluntarily listened to Metallica’s eighth and most disappointing album, St. Anger, was probably when Some Kind of Monster came out? I honestly don’t remember, mostly because I’ve spent the last decade trying to forget St. Anger‘s thick and gooey production, pots-and-pans drumming, and forced rage that never ends (over half the songs are seven-plus minutes).
Basically, it’s not a very good album — even Metallica seems to think so; only the title track is played live with any regularity. Knowing all this, a group of friends decided to re-record the album and upload the final product to YouTube. The #StAnger2015 project comes from “Daryl G. & Chris D. (from Grace the Skies) and Dave C. (of Adust),” who released this statement:
Recorded during a turbulent time in the bands career, St. Anger has always divided opinion. Some longtime fans were turned off by the drop tuned riffs and raw production, whilst some listeners embraced it, myself included. #StAnger2015 is for the listeners who weren’t so fond on the record back when it was released in 2003.
Recorded from the ground up, the album has been shortened by 15 minutes, yet every riff and lyric is intact, resulting in a more concise and focused record.
The production is also more conventional, and we hope that Metallica fans appreciate this new version of an album that is always looked at as an anomaly in the incredible career of the world’s biggest metal band, Metallica. (Via)
So, how is it? Pretty good! The drumming is less obnoxious, and the lead singer does a serviceable job of sounding like James Hetfield. It’s impossible to perfect St. Anger, not with lyrics like “my lifestyle determines my death style,” but if the album sounded like this the whole time, I might have given it more than one play per decade. Unlike Lulu…
