Metallica returns to their roots
I was just reading the below interviews with Kirk Hammett & Lars Ulrich from Metallica & was wondering how you all feel about the band's supposed return to their roots & how successful you think they've been with that approach.
Kirk Hammett: "I think for right now, there's a little bit of a vacuum for us and bands that sound like us. There are a lot of great new bands out there, but I think people yearn for something that they know is made in a real sense. I think there's a bit of authenticity that comes with us that might not be attached to some of the more contemporary bands. We can be counted on to deliver in some form or another something that's real and authentic and something that has integrity. I think that really means a lot to some people these days, when a lot of music is just kind of like made by pressing a button… People can count on us showing up with our instruments and actually making music right there in the moment. And we deliver. Whatever you hear on our album, we can play live. I will not even try to count how many bands are incapable of that. I think that's part of it. Certainly, with 2008's 'Death Magnetic', we learned that it was okay to embrace our past with sort of a revisionist approach. That's what 'Death Magnetic' kind of started as. To an extent, it's continued with 'Hardwired' too. We like to play music from all of the different eras, and at this particular point in our lives, playing the heavier stuff just is appealing to us. It feels right to me and it feels right to the other guys in the band."
Lars Ulrich: "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct" is possibly the band's most successful record in 25 years in terms of reception. Obviously, this record isn't shipping as many units as records did 10 or 20 years ago, but the perception is that it's probably our most well-received record since 'The Black Album.' So, to have that 30-plus years into your career, and to make a record that connects at that level — still — is crazy cool. Like, we'll meet people at meet-and-greets and they'll be, like, 'My favorite song is 'Now That We're Dead'' and 'My favorite song is 'Halo On Fire'. This record is being received with the same appreciation as any of our other records. That's something that we didn't expect. And that's something that anyone who has been doing this as long as us should never take for granted."
Personally, I haven't heard anything that's worth listening to from Metallica since 1991 with the possible exception of the "Garage Inc. compilation which doesn't really count. Even though "Load" & "Reload" left me with a very bad taste in my mouth, at least they were an example of a band taking risks & making an artistic statement. The same can said for the awful "Lulu" experiment. But I can't say the same for the last few albums. "St. Anger" was a clear attempt to jump onto modern trends while "Death Magnetic" & "Hardwired...to Self-Destruct" are the sound of a band that has accepted that they've failed with their last 25 years of recorded output & are simply happy enough to try to win back their old fans with a watered down version of their classic sound. It's an inherently inauthentic approach which seems like the total opposite of how Kirk thinks he's perceived & that really does prove that the band are completely detached from their fanbase & the modern music industry.
Your thoughts?