Last month Metallica celebrated their 30th anniversary with a series of four shows at The Fillmore in San Francisco on Monday 05, Wednesday 07, Friday 09 and Saturday 10 December. (These links are to the official ‘recap’ videos on Metallica’s YouTube channel—over two and a quarter hours of Metallica and friends.)
Metallica took up a residency at The Fillmore and essentially became the house band for the week, to which they invited friends and former Metallica band mates to come join them and play both their own music and covers.
It was really great to see Dave Mustaine (Megadeth/ex-Metallica) on stage playing with them, and Jason Newsted too. Wonderful to hear John Bush (Armored Saint/ex-Anthrax) singing with the band, whom apparently Metallica wanted to join them as their vocalist in the early days. As well as all their other guests, including King Diamond (Mercyful Fate), Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Sean Harris and Tatler (Diamond Head), Animal (The Anti-Nowhere League), Lou Reed, Glenn Danzig (Misfits and Danzig), Marianne Faithfull, John Marshall (Metal Church), Biff Byford, Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Bob Rock and more and more.
I’ve been listening to Metallica since 1986, when their third album Master of Puppets came out (I first listened to it at a Scripture Union camp!), and I don’t think I’ve ever heard Metallica play so well live as they did during those four shows. James Hetfield’s voice especially. Wow! And how heartening to see James Hetfield so well, and confident in himself.
I’d love there to be a DVD released of these shows.
You can buy digital versions of the four concerts on the Live Metallica website for US$9.95 (MP3) or US$12.95 (FLAC and Apple Lossless formats). Having listened to them all, they are well worth it: full of great music, great chat, and great humour.
There’s also a great review of the gigs on the Metallica news page, and of course following the 30th anniversay shows they released the Beyond Magnetic EP which contains the four ‘new’ songs (recorded during the Death Magnetic sessions) they played during the four nights in San Francisco: one each night.
Beyond Magnetic EP will be released on CD worldwide on 30 January, and in North America (who apparently aren’t part of the world!) on 31 January.
I didn’t think that I’d acquired many new albums in 2011, but I’ve just checked and my collection grew by 21 items (singles, EPs and albums), which was more than last year.
Here are my highlights, and unlike last year I’m starting with my favourite and working backwards.
1. Machine Head — Unto The Locust
There have been some great metal albums released in 2011, by some major bands. But for me this has been the best: solid, tight, melodic, dynamic, perfect.
I thought their last album, The Blackening, was great—it was awarded Roadrunner Records’ “Album of the Century” after all. They seem to have either equalled or even excelled with this one. It’s a cracker of an album.
During the intro and outro of “Who We Are” on the recently finished Eighth Plague tour, Machine Head displayed fan testimonials on their projection screens that had been captured at that nights’ show.
The shots featured die hard fans that had stood in line for up to 10 hours before the doors opened, who, for their their dedication and passion, had their faces and messages shown on the three on-stage screens.
They became known as The Faces of The Eighth Plague.
My cousin Alan claims that Mastodon albums never release all their secrets on the first couple of listens. I like that quotation. There is an implication that there is a depth to Mastodon’s songs.
I’ve blogged elsewhere about this album, so I won’t repeat myself, suffice to say that even if the song Blasteroid is in the wrong place on the album this is one very solid, beautiful album.
I’m going to be honest: I was sceptical about former, ‘classic’ Anthrax-frontman Joey Belladonna returning to the fold; I always preferred John Bush’s voice. But WOW! they delivered one killer album, and Belladonna’s vocals are the best they have ever been on record.
The cynic might argue that Metallica only put out the Beyond Magnetic EP in light of the poor reviews and sales of their Lulu collaboration with former Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed. The official reason was that it was to coincide with Metallica’s 30 anniversary celebrations in San Francisco.
Whatever the reason: four great songs, and I’m looking forward to whatever comes next from Metallica HQ.
This is a demo tape that got lucky and it makes Voivod sound as new and exciting as when I first heard the opening chords of Killing Technology some time in 1987.
What makes it for me is vocalist Piggy’s spoken parts between songs: it’s up-close and personal, listening in to the Voivod rehearsal space. Great stuff!
Let’s make no bones about it: this is not a comfortable album to listen to. But I can’t help liking it. In many ways it reminds me of some of the twentieth century composers whose works I used to sing in the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. Those were pieces that you hated on first sing-through but became a part of you the more you got inside them.
The critics have slammed this album. The fans have decried it and despaired about what Metallica will come out with next. But they miss the point: this is not a Metallica album. It’s a collaboration. It’s a Lou Reed album with the four members of Metallica as backing band. If anything it is art.
This album took a good few listens to, and a good few weeks of not listening to it in between, before I finally ‘got’ it. It’s a good album, not a great album, but I will continue to listen to it… even if I do really miss that Opeth fusion of heavy and quietly melodic.
If I’m honest, I was a little disappointed with Megadeth’s thirteen studio album. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a great metal record. But for Megadeth it just feels… lazy. It doesn’t have the hunger of 2007′s United Abominations or the punch of 2009′s Endgame.
Guitarist Chris Broderick said that he could hear elements of the different eras of Megadeth in the various songs. I’m not surprised: some of these are ‘left-over’ songs from previous albums, and one (‘Millennium of the Blind’) is a re-recording.
This was an unexpected album for me this year but it’s a great album for listening to in a darkened room late at night. It’s like 2011′s answer to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
For their second album guitarist/vocalist/song-writer Max Cavalera promised a shorter, more intense, in-your-face album than their debut Inflikted, which was one of my favourite albums of 2008.
This is another album that disappointed me on first listen—perhaps my expectations were too high, perhaps I just wasn’t in the right head-space to listen to it. The album has certainly grown on me during the year.
Of course, this year I’ve listened to more than just the music that has come out this year. Whenever I listen to music, and I’m connected to the internet, the tracks are recorded to my Last.fm account.
My top-ten most played:
Artists
Opeth (579 tracks)
Anthrax (518 tracks)
Slayer (462 tracks)
Mastodon (328 tracks)
Queen (301 tracks)
Lamb of God (301 tracks)
Metallica (236 tracks)
Machine Head (220 tracks)
Testament (216 tracks)
Big Country (201 tracks)
Albums
Lamb of God — Sacrament
Porcupine Tree — The Incident
Opeth — Ghost Reveries
Godflesh — Streetcleaner
Slipknot — Slipknot
A Perfect Circle — Mer De Noms
Mastodon — The Hunter
Anthrax — Worship Music
Anthrax — We’ve Come For You All
Opeth — Watershed
Tracks
Pantera — Mouth For War (60 plays)
Opeth — Ghost of Perdition (55 plays)
Opeth — The Lotus Eater (47 plays)
Opeth — The Drapery Falls (46 plays)
Opeth — Blackwater Park (44 plays)
A Perfect Circle — Magdalena (43 plays)
Opeth — Bleak (43 plays)
Metallica — Nothing Else Matters (42 plays)
Opeth — Dirge For November (41 plays)
Porcupine Tree — Lazarus (41 plays)
What about you?
Have you blogged about your favourite music of 2011, then add a link to the comments below. If not, what have you really enjoyed?
The video was filmed by a group called Why Democracy? who asked the Danish drummer ten questions on his views about God, democracy, and systems of government.
The ten questions asked were:
Who would you vote as President of the World?
Can terrorism destroy democracy?
Who rules the world?
Why bother to vote?
Are women more democratic than men?
Is God democratic?
What would make you start a revolution?
Can democracy solve climate change?
Is democracy good for everyone?
Are dictators ever good?
Just in case you’re worried, his answer to the last question was no.
