ComfortablyNumb
Unquestionable Presence
Metallica (Black Album)
Released August 13, 1991 (1991-08-13)
Recorded October 6, 1990 (1990-10-06) – June 16, 1991 (1991-06-16) at One on One Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California; Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia
Genre Heavy metal
After the some what thin (lacking bass) production and ultracomplicated song structures of ...And Justice for All, Metallica decided to take a different approach. Metallica of the 1980's was extreme and fierce progressive thrash metal. Here they've laid back and put forth a solid heavy metal record that continued their string of releasing great albums.
The guitars on this album are pretty original and thick, but you can tell creativity was starting to fade torwards the end of the album. Regardless Metallica has created a gem here that has stood the test of time and then some.
The guitars mesh well - the rhythms, leads, and bass were well mixed to the point to where you could hear everything throughout the album. Hammett's solos featured a lot of use of the wah pedal which got kind of repetitive, but still fit well with the rhythms at most times. The acoustics were wholly melodic and noteworthy. Hetfield's voice was such that you could understand what he's saying throughout this entire album. He actually sings as opposed to the aggressive shout he had used for most of the other albums. The drumming is very simple, but powerful. Probably one of the best sounding drums on any album I have ever heard.
The bass guitar that was barely audible on "...And Justice For All" is not on this release. You can hear Newsteds efforts this whole album which I found great.
Production was it is awesome. That's what was lacking in prior releases - "...And Justice For All", "Master of Puppets", "Ride the Lightning", and "Kill 'Em All". They all had mixing that was below par (especially ...And Justice for All). But on this release everything sounded great and balanced.
This is a great album. One of Metallica's best.
Released August 13, 1991 (1991-08-13)
Recorded October 6, 1990 (1990-10-06) – June 16, 1991 (1991-06-16) at One on One Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California; Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia
Genre Heavy metal
After the some what thin (lacking bass) production and ultracomplicated song structures of ...And Justice for All, Metallica decided to take a different approach. Metallica of the 1980's was extreme and fierce progressive thrash metal. Here they've laid back and put forth a solid heavy metal record that continued their string of releasing great albums.
The guitars on this album are pretty original and thick, but you can tell creativity was starting to fade torwards the end of the album. Regardless Metallica has created a gem here that has stood the test of time and then some.
The guitars mesh well - the rhythms, leads, and bass were well mixed to the point to where you could hear everything throughout the album. Hammett's solos featured a lot of use of the wah pedal which got kind of repetitive, but still fit well with the rhythms at most times. The acoustics were wholly melodic and noteworthy. Hetfield's voice was such that you could understand what he's saying throughout this entire album. He actually sings as opposed to the aggressive shout he had used for most of the other albums. The drumming is very simple, but powerful. Probably one of the best sounding drums on any album I have ever heard.
The bass guitar that was barely audible on "...And Justice For All" is not on this release. You can hear Newsteds efforts this whole album which I found great.
Production was it is awesome. That's what was lacking in prior releases - "...And Justice For All", "Master of Puppets", "Ride the Lightning", and "Kill 'Em All". They all had mixing that was below par (especially ...And Justice for All). But on this release everything sounded great and balanced.
This is a great album. One of Metallica's best.
The album that introduced Metallica to a whole new audience! Personal favourites from it are The Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters and like Rif, I really like The God That Failed - a very emotional song. I used to love Enter Sandman but have had total overkill from it over the years, the only reason it's not a favourite anymore.
