Metallica – St. Anger (2003)
Back in 2003 when Metallica’s St. Anger was released, I read what other reviewers said about this disc. I can still remember one comment as if it were yesterday “If Metallica continues to release music this bad, they won’t have to worry about people downloading their songs on Napster”. That was enough for me to skip this Metallica CD, until now.
Having a completist mentality, I like to have all of the discographies of the bands that I follow. I decided that if I were to pick up St. Anger, it would have to be really cheap, or someone would have to give it to me.
The other day, I found this CD in my local Half Price Books store for a whopping $2.00. It couldn’t possibly be THAT bad could it? Yes it CAN! After listening to this disc a couple of times, I would have to say that this is the worst $2.00 I have ever spent.
St. Anger has so many issues, I don’t know where to begin. The songs sound like demo tracks. I don’t know if it was too much for Bob Rock to produce and play bass on one project, but in my opinion the production is terrible. The production quality on this CD, sounds as if it was recorded in a garage. If they were trying to do Garage Days Revisited again, they accomplished this task.
The guitar solos are non-existent. Did Kirk Hammett have one arm tied behind his back while this was recorded?
Lars Ulrich sounds like he is playing the drums on a set of garbage cans. In an interview of Lars Ulrich, I read that he turned off his snare drum while recording, St. Anger. For what it is worth, the drum sound on St. Anger is an epic fail. It makes the CD practically unlistenable!
The only song that I found that had mile replay value was “Sweet Amber”, and even that is reaching.
Even if you are a diehard Metallica fan, you are going have a hard time liking this CD.
I classify this disc as the worst Metallica CD, and probably the worst release of 2003. Avoid this one at all costs!
Rating: 
Out of 10
Track Listing
- Frantic
- St. Anger
- Some Kind Of Monster
- Dirty Window
- Invisible Kid
- My World
- Shoot Me Again
- Sweet Amber
- Unnamed Feeling
- Purify
- All Within My Hands
Metallica is:
James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Kirk Hammett – lead guitar
Lars Ulrich – drums, percussion
Robert Trujillo – bass (Robert did not play on St. Anger)
Leave A Comment ↓
Glad you mentioned my personal reason for not listening to or owning this album – the drums. I’m not a drummer (thank God), but the snare is a mess. LIke you said, it’s sounds like trash cans. It was distracting that I made it through the first ten seconds of about 4 songs, then gave it away.
I find recordings like this fascinating. While Metallica isn’t my all-time favorite band, I’ve been a fan since I bought Kill ‘Em All (when it was released!). Master of Puppets is a masterpiece. So how does a seemingly brilliant group of guys listen back to this and think, “Yeah! We did it again!”. I don’t get it. This disc is so bad that -anyone- should’ve noticed this right away.
I’m guessing several people did, but didn’t want to question them. Too bad I wasn’t the producer. I’d have no problem letting them know. Bob Rock is genius, but not this time.
As another person with a “completist mentality” similar to yours, I have to admit to having a copy of this CD. However, I agree with you on all points. I have actually never managed to sit through this entire CD in one sitting from beginning to end. I make it part way, then I have to pull out Master of Puppets to cleanse my palate.
Right on Rockitt! Meanwhile Slayer, Overkill and Megadeth were releasing albums that kicked ass to the moon during their entire careers. Not even Anthrax released a stinker like this one. I can’t point out one legitimate “crap” album from Slayer, Overkill or Megadeth. You can with Metallica and you nailed it! It’s almost as if “Load” and “ReLoad” were not enough to for Metallica to steer away from their Thrash Metal majesty… they just had to throw together “St. Anger” in about two hours time.