METALLICA – St. Anger
I’ve always liked Metallica to some degree or another, but it’s hard to make sense of St. Anger.  Is it a new direction for Metallica, or the dying breaths of a heavy metal behemoth?  The first thing you notice about St. Anger is the absolutely strange sound of the drums.  The snare sounds something like a Jamaican kettledrum. The second thing that jumps out at you is the complete lack of solo guitar parts.  Overall, I would have to say this is a heavy, yet strange sounding CD.   The production is very gritty and unpolished, very unlike their last two efforts. The guitars, with the exception of two songs I’ll mention later, completely lack the precision riffing and layered sound which got Metallica where they are.  Now why is this?  The cynical me says that they were so fucked up for so long as a band, that they had to do a rush job while their shit was together enough to produce music.  The less cynical me says, well maybe they just went for a new, raw and less complicated sound which just doesn’t seem to work for a band like Metallica.  Hetfield’s voice is all over the place too, cracking, fading and off key in many songs.  Although I’ve got numerous complaints about St. Anger, I still haven’t fully made up my  mind whether I like it or hate it.  In closing, I can say that Metallica still retain the heaviness that I’ve always liked, but they need to get back into the groove, need to revive their musicianship and song writing skills, cause one more release like St. Anger and they’re fucked for sure. 
Elektra Entertainment

www.metallica.com