I had a discussion with a fellow muso the other day about the sad state of Metallica's recent output, and we agreed that their music has generally gone to the dogs since the Black album was released. Anyone remember the albums that came after that? Thought so.
Anyway, I decided to revisit my Metallica CD collection, and started to rip all their albums I had onto my MP3 player. Boy, that brought back memories! From 'Kill 'Em All' to 'Ride The Lightning' to 'Master Of Puppets' to '...and Justice For All', and then the Black album, and the double CD pack of Garage Days, Metallica did deliver some of the most memorable riffs in metal's history.
The band's lack of focus, from 'Load' onwards, and with various members' substance addictions, sadly derailed one of the greatest metal bands to have emerged from the SF Bay area.
Still, there's no denying the relevance that their first 5 albums will hold for the next few generations of metalheads.
Inspired by Metallica revisited, I went and bought 'The Best of Sepultura' and 'The Best of Fear Factory', two more seminal late '80s/early '90s metal bands that were on the artist roster of one of my favourite metal labels, Roadrunner Records. As is evident, my trip down memory lane is an ongoing journey.
That's not to say that the current crop of metal bands are crap either. Check out Finland's Children of Bodom, for instance. Or Trivium, who hail from Florida, US. Two new exciting metal bands among a slew of others that also incorporate the meanest guitar shredding I've heard in a while.
Things are indeed looking bright for the metal scene since it fell into a creative slump towards the end of the last Century, and I'm pleased as punch.
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