Quote:
Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier
Thash in itself is bloody basic, just play super fast, heavy and aggressively and you`ve got thrash. I still think Slayer`s Reign in Blood the best example of a pure thrash record, 29 mins of pure hell. 
I think Metallica quickly evolved thrash, slowed it down and even by Ride the Lightning had incorporated melody and longer song structures. Puppets though, was just the pinnacle of all this and their masterpiece, as for where they were going to go, I suppose they were faced with two obvious options and that was to go more complex than Puppets which they tried to with Justice or just get commercialized which they did later on with the Black album.
Totally agree with you about the evolution of a band and once you`ve achieved the pinnacle of your sound its time to move on. I think the yardstick of any band out there, should be the Beatles because their evolution from the poppy "Love me do" to the albums of Sgt Pepper and then onto Abbey Road are quite simply amazing and all this in just 7 years!!! Whereas say AC/DC, have been banging out the same sound for like over 30 years with little change!!!
Also as far as thrash goes, I was never actually a fan of James Hetfield`s style of singing and far preferred that of either Dave Mustaine or Tom Araya but I admit his dominant, loud voice was most suited to Metallica`s sound, I think though, that on Load his voice had also evolved along with the groups change in musical direction and think is vocal display on that album to be very good.
All in all I think Puppets is their best album but Load suprised me, that they could do a hard blues rock sound as well as they did. |
a couple points...
1. The thing about the Beatles is, most would argue they got better with the change. (I know I would.) Pop has always been a tough genre to be the best in because the goal is to be as appealing as possible to the most people. And I have to commend the Beatles for doing that better than everyone else.
But Metallica took a genre that was lucky to have its own designation and sky rocket it to a genre that could have platnium selling records.
For them, they started at the top essentially. Even Kill 'Em All which isn't terribly good, their still at the top of the genre. As Kerry King said by 1988 there were 100 thrash bands out there and 98 of them were ****.
2. About Hetfields voice. I feel like it does fit as you mentioned with the over all sound. Its short blasts and barks which is highly chracteristic of the band. Its almost like Eminem, who at his height would make the very flow of his raps become part of the beat in the songs.