Kerrang: METALLICA's 'St. Anger' Is Band's Finest Effort To Date

METALLICA's forthcoming effort, "St. Anger", is nothing short of "the finest thing [the band] have put their name to," according to the latest issue of Britain's Kerrang! magazine, which recently had an opportunity to preview a couple of the cuts set to appear on the CD. "The volume is intoxicating, the songs even more so," the report continues. "METALLICA haven't gone backwards, they have gone elsewhere, somewhere they haven't really gone before. Much of the speed is back — speed that recalls the days of 'Battery' and 'Dyers Eve'. But the format is remarkedly different. This isn't controlled aggression, much of it is uncontrolled violence. It's ironic that at a time when the band are so at peace with one another they should make an album that sounds like they're at war. As one track follows the another — there are only working titles like 'Monster' and 'Frantic' — the difference not only between what you expect but what has gone becomes clear. There's no space between the drums and the guitars, there are riffs everywhere, there is anger and confusion — 'Do not know the answer, I don't know what the question is' is one lyric - there is swearing and shouting and time changes and speed and fury. It is difficult on a first listen not to surmise that 'St. Anger' is the finest thing METALLICA have put their name to. All the songs I'm assured, sound like this. There are no ballads. Instead there's an assault of speed and volume and anger and intensity. This is exactly the kind of thing that made a slogan such as 'Birth, school, METALLICA, death' an apposite and appropriate summation of everything this band could muster, both in themselves and their audience."

In other news, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich has revealed in a brand new "Lars Babble" video posted to the "Jump In The Studio" section of the group's official web site that "St. Anger" will not have any kind of encryption device on it, and that the band have set April 4 as the deadline for finishing the record. They will then head to New York for approximately two days to master the album. The band do not want to pick the first single, so either management or the record company will do so. According to Lars, there is no obvious single. Finally, Lars said that Clubbers should receive info on getting tickets to the "mtvICON" event very, very soon!

(Thanks: The 4 Horsemen)