235. Metallica, "Metallica (The Black Album)"

 


Regardless of how you feel about this album or Metallica or heavy metal in general, we all have to agree that "Enter Sandman" is an absolutely kick-ass song.  Just a fat slab of pure rock and roll.  So good that cello quartet Apocalyptica can do a deliriously great gothy cover of it.


OK so I'm not a huge metalhead or anything but I really enjoyed listening to this.  I mean, sometimes you just need that pure headbanging shit, am I right?  Not only was this Metallica's best-selling album, it's one of the best-selling albums of all time, 16 million plus copies.  16 million heshers can't be wrong!

I guess Metallica is pretty famous for being incredibly hard to work with, and the recording of this album was contentious, to say the least.  Producer Bob Rock clashed with the band repeatedly, but the results speak for themselves; it's a great sounding album.  OK, James Hetfield will never be remembered as a great lyricist, but I don't think many people are looking for deft turns of phrase on a metal album.

One personal note: track 10, "The God That Failed," is about Hetfield's mother, a Christian Scientist, dying of cancer because her faith prevented her from seeking medical attention.  As it happens, my mother was also a Christian Scientist who died of cancer because she would not seek medical attention.  I don't love the song, but weird, huh.

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? Probably?

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