Metallica
St. Anger
2003 Elektra
Why was it forgotten?
It depends on who you ask, but there are multiple reasons St. Anger has gone down in infamy as a forgotten/ignored album.
1) Lack of radio play. “St. Anger,” the song, was played on mainstream rock radio for about the first week that this album was out, back in June of 2003. However, something odd happened every time it was played; it was actually criticized by the DJs. Yes, mainstream rock radio DJs, who had no problems replaying the same Seven Mary Three or Bush songs from 1996 over and over again even seven years past their prime, were all of a sudden becoming music critics. “What’s up with the drum sound?” they asked. “Where are the guitar solos?” “Why is it so fast?” Once the DJs made their statements on the album, mainstream radio rock listeners, as they often do, followed suit, calling stations to complain about how bad the song was. I distinctly remember one WAAF caller that summer complaining that Metallica should record more songs like “Fuel,” which goes to show you how many true Metallica fans are rock radio listeners.
2) The production. I’m not going to say that St. Anger sounds great. The production is very abrasive, especially the sound of Lars Ulrich’s snare drum. The fact that it wasn’t played on radio is not surprising, based on the production alone. Rarely do you ever hear anything raw on the airwaves nowadays, and this was raw-bordering-on-bad production.
3) Lack of hooks/melodies. Sure, some of the songs have choruses, if you can count “Frantic-tic-tic-tic-tock!” repeated over and over again as a chorus. On the whole, though, there was nothing you could sing along with like “The Unforgiven” or “The Memory Remains” or even “Master of Puppets”. Sure, you could yell along with some of the choruses, but it wasn’t overly catchy or melodic, something that Metallica had generally always been, even back in the Kill ‘Em All days.
4) The songs are way, way too long. Long songs had always been part of Metallica’s repertoire, going all the way back to “Seek and Destroy”, but songs like that were generally filled with hooky, memorable, dynamic parts. Most songs on St. Anger sound like they were originally 3 or 4 minute long punk songs, but the band decided to play them twice in a row. If most of these songs were cut in half, they would be a lot better and easier to listen to repeatedly.
5) Lack of guitar solos. Kirk Hammett has always written some of the most memorable solos in heavy metal history. The fact that he was relegated to a second rhythm guitar on this album was flat-out offensive to most Metallica fans, and to guitar fans as well. Solos could have provided much needed breaks to these overly long, abrasive tracks, but there was no relief to be found. The scene in the Some Kind of Monster documentary where Hetfield, Ulrich and Rock talk Hammett out of recording guitar solos for the album is still painful to watch. Hammett rightly points out that by not including solos in the album, it dates the album to a period of music, a trend, and he’s dead-on. No mainstream metal or rock bands in the first few years of the decade had guitar solos on the radio, and Hammett wanted to defy that trend. Unfortunately, he lost that battle. At least the album didn’t end up sounding like Staind or KoRn, thankfully.
6) Songs didn’t translate well live. The only good recording of a song I’ve heard played live from St. Anger in concert (not counting the DVD of the band performing all of the album’s songs live in the studio that came with the CD release, which I actually liked a lot) was a live version of the song “Dirty Window,” the shortest, catchiest song on the album. It translated well live not just because of catchiness, but because they added a guitar solo to the live performance. This showed the potential that this song, and maybe the album, could have had if they’d let Hammett rip it up. Unfortunately, I witnessed Metallica play “Frantic” (a song that, musically, is very solid) and “St. Anger” live on the Summer Sanitarium tour in 2003, and despite shortening both songs from their original album length, they just sounded out-of-place. Most people use “Nothing Else Matters” as the “piss break song,” but I saw a mass exodus for the bathroom stalls during these two performances.
Should it be forgotten?
Metallica have said repeatedly that Death Magnetic (which I reviewed here) would never have happened if they hadn’t gone through the trials and tribulations of St. Anger. For that reason, St. Anger should not be forgotten. The band was on the verge of falling apart during the 3 year process of making St. Anger. Bassist Jason Newsted had left the band after 14 years, leaving them with producer Bob Rock to fill his shoes on the album. James Hetfield checked himself into rehab, and basically left the band hanging for nearly a full year. The band hired Phil Towle, a “therapist for the stars,” to help “coach” them on how to get along and how to function.
Upon Hetfield’s return from rehab, there was resentment, bitterness, judgment being passed at every corner, and an overall bad vibe among band members. St. Anger is a collection of bad vibes and inner demons being purged. It is the only Metallica album where Ulrich and Hammett contributed lyrics as well as music. The lyrics might not be as poetic or intelligent as some of Hetfield’s earlier compositions, but they are nothing if not honest. The lyrics document not just one man’s inner struggle, but three men who were once close as brothers struggling to rediscover themselves and move on in a positive direction.
A Metallica fan would say that the band needed to go through the growing pains of St. Anger to move on and reclaim their throne as the most dominant force in metal today. A fan most likely has seen Some Kind of Monster and has come to respect the agony they endured making the album. But is the album actually any good? There are some great riffs and some decent songs sprinkled throughout, but it’s not an album most would care to listen to on a regular basis. It is abrasive, harsh, aggressive, raw, but undeniably powerful. There has never been an album like St. Anger, before or since, by any band. It is a truly unique piece of work, and for that, it should not be forgotten.
Matt Steele
I concur.
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