Review: Refocused METALLICA Cranks It Up

August 4, 2003

Michael D. Clark of the The Houston Chronicle is reporting that as headliners of Saturday's (Aug. 2) Summer Sanitarium tour at Reliant Stadium, METALLICA "brought a sound system that would make a Harrier jet flyby sound church-quiet. They exploded on compositions of chaos at a decibel level not one corner of the football cathedral could escape.

"And a dense — and after eight hours of music, nearly deaf — crowd populating two levels of the stadium and 50 yards of standing room in front of a massive steel-girder stage kept calling for more.

"When METALLICA first designed Summer Sanitarium as its own private Thrashapalooza three years ago, the mistake was an uneven support bill featuring KID ROCK, KORN, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and POWERMAN 5000. Saturday's second edition featured a sturdy lineup of dark and hard-core underlings beginning early in the day with MUDVAYNE and the DEFTONES.

"If the event were a sports award show, the most improved players would be hip-hop hard-core ensemble LINKIN PARK. A 'heart' award would have gone to LIMP BIZKIT for making the most of limited resources. The champions would once again be METALLICA.

"After a six-year studio hiatus that left METALLICA assembling compilation and concert albums, dealing with personal demons (specifically lead singer James Hetfield's self-imposed stint in substance rehabilitation),and the loss of longtime bass player Jason Newsted, the group is new and improved.

"The clean and sober METALLICA is now playing something entirely different: lucid metal." Read more.

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