Your reaction when you first heard Metallica's "St. Anger"

[Killswitch91]

Once you understand what the band was going through while recording St. Anger you will somewhat appreciate the album a little more. Just remember the band rented a former army barracks back in January of 2001 turning into a makeshift studio. The band ended up postponing the recording process after bassist Jason Newsted quit the band on January 17th. They decided to include producer Bob Rock as the bassist for the upcoming album and would look to hire a new one upon completion of the record. However in July of 2001 James Hetfield ended up going to rehab for alcohol and other undisclosed addictions. Didn't return to the band until April of the next year and could only work on the album a few hours each day while he did outpatient rehab. There was a time between July 2001 and late 2002 where the band as a whole were in jeopardy of breaking up due to James going to rehab, coming out and not being able to give 100% to the group. The majority of the problem stems from Lars Ulrich wondering if James truly cared about being in the band and going forward.

As per the album James said ""There's two years of condensed emotion in this. We've gone through a lot of personal changes, struggles, epiphanies, it's deep. It's so deep lyrically and musically. [St. Anger] is just the best that it can be from us right now.". For me the problems I have with the album are below

1)Almost every single drags on a bit too long. They should have cut down the length of each song since they tend to sound repetitive
2)Lars Ulrich thinking it was a great idea to turn off the snare thus giving us the crappy tin can snare sound
3)Kirk being overruled in regards to solos thus the album having none whatsoever
4)Kirk and Lars writing lyrics, while not necessarily a bad thing in theory it just the final songs lyrically aren't that strong and it shows how both Kirk and Lars aren't the best in the lyrical department. I personally would have liked if while they did have input in the lyric department they just let James do the final writing of the lyrics.
5)The overall production quality of the album suffers because Bob Rock thought it would be great to give the production a raw, natural feel like a band recording in a garage. I mean there are some great albums that have that raw and unpolished feel to them and sadly St. Anger isn't one of them.

I however must say some songs like Frantic, The Unnamed Feeling, Some Kind Of Monster, and All Within My Hands are damn fine songs that I thoroughly enjoy

Your highlights are basically mine as well.

The scene where Kirk is arguing about solos in the "Some Kinda of Monster" documentary made me gain a tonne of respect for him. Lars made some bs point about solos being outdated, and Kirk countered that not including solos would date the album to that point in time, completely ruining Lars.

Apparently they did go back and try to do solos, and found it just didn't work.

I like almost everything the band has done with the exception of St. Anger. As you said, it does have its place though, as a reminder of just how close they came to calling it a career during that whole process. A lot of people don't know just how bad things were.

 

[HHJ]

the drums are fuckin awful sounding,truly embarassing. The lyrics as well,though its not a surprise,as the lyrics have been bad for a long time...but despite the shite lyrics and awful drum sound,i thought Frantic,and the title track are decent catchy songs.

 

[Lucifer Alpha]

 

[GearSolidMetal]

My high school years ('99-'03') were spent listening to Metallica constantly, and St.Anger was released shortly before I graduated.

I respected the album, it was different with a few good songs (Shoot Me Again and Unknown Feeling being my two favorite) but I was more thankful they finally released a new original album since ReLoad.

Saw them live during the Summer Sanitarium Tour in 2003 in Denver, then again in my home town of Wichita in 2004.

So, yeah, St.Anger is my 2nd least favorite album (never cared for their 1st very much) but it has it's moments, and compared to all the shit that's being released today, it's a fucking masterpiece.

And for those that never listened to Death Magnetic, it's their best album since Justice For All.

Really wish they'd get back into the studio and make one last album. Hard to believe it's been eight fucking years since they've released one.

 

[Padre]

At the time I first listened to it I didn't expect anything great. I was just hoping for something good, and we ended up with that trash. I will defend Load and Reload because they aren't bad music they just aren't Metallica. I hate everything about that album, from Lar's trashcan to that ugly ass cover.

 

[is normal]

I'm old as fuck and I've been a fan since early stuff, so I have to throw in my 2 cents.
Kill em All is awesome thrash metal.
Ride the lightning was a genuine evolution for them, and I think is the first of their three great records. Master of Puppets and Justice being the others. This trilogy was their prime: brutal (relatively), melodic and epic, musically and thematically. I can't pick a favorite of the three.
I also think these are the best sounding metallica records, the former two especially. AJFA has some critics of the sound quality, but I was on a giant speakers and amps binge at the time and a little extra power to the subs and it sounded great to me.. letting the drums pound without getting too muddy with bass guitar, which was barely in the mix.

Then they released the Black album and lost me with this Mr Sandman shit, and Kirk went all twangy on me. It sounded so 'American rock' by comparison.
I've never really liked any of their shit since, with each subsequent record being a huge ball of disappointment.
I think St Anger feels like the corporate restructuring of a failing restaurant.

 

[mbinder]

 

[neverwas]

i'm a long time metallica fan from the 80s,i loved everything up to and including the black album,everything after that is shit,but st.anger stands head and shoulders above everything else as being the worst.

 

[Losfer Words]

When I turned on the radio and heard a man sing "madly in anger with you"

 

[MonkeyGirl]

 

[Scott Parker 27]

Mine was disgust, disappointment and anger (ha!).

So...what were your feelings when Stanger--I mean St. Anger--was released? Did anyone actually like that album? I felt like what old school fans must have felt like when Load came out: betrayed and horrified.

Honestly, i liked it, i know im way in the minority with that, but im one of those weirdos that still loves the sound of 7" punk records that are not overly produced, ex. Circle one, early black flag etc. Reminded me that they sound better and are still a great band without all the studio fx.

 

[legatoblues]

Although I was never really a big fan of Metallica, the first time I heard it was still a really awkward moment.

And in case you haven't heard this one yet.....

 

[91 seconds]

My reaction was when I would finish a beer in my early 20's. I didn't want any open containers in the vehicle so I'd chuck them out the window. That's exactly what I did with that shit show of an atrocity. It put Reload on the level of Puppets.