Artist Feature: Metallica - The Final Chapter

Lou Reed & Metallica

Finally I can stop raving on about their history, and to look to the future of Metallica.

As you may know, the latest project Metallica has placed their stamp on is called Lulu. It is a collaboration album with geriatric rocker and song-writer, Lou Reed. I want to make clear from the start that this is not a Metallica album. It is essentially a Lou Reed album with Metallica playing the instruments...

 For those of you who have no inkling as to who Lou Reed is and what he has in common with Metallica, allow me to shed some light: Reed started his career in 1964 as an in-house songwriter for Pickwick Records, but quickly established the critically acclaimed outfit called The Velvet Underground which caught the eye of avant-garde artist Andy Warhol, and saw their debut album appear in 1967. Reed quit the band in 1970 to pursue a solo career – which would turn out to be a huge success. Reed has an absolutely astounding discography with 37 albums credited in some way to his name including collaborations with names like Gorillaz, Peter Gabriel, The Killers and now Metallica.

Lulu - The Album

As for the actual album, it sucks balls. Big hairy balls, with Lou Reed’s old, loose ball-skin eliciting bile to rise from the pits of my stomach. Reed’s out of time, whiny, nasal vocals ruin what could be construed as a good (or even great) instrumental album. To my mind, the better option for Metallica would have been an instrumental only release. Although not the norm, Metallica has an instrumental song on each of the commonly accepted ‘epic’ albums. This could have been a groundbreaking effort, but instead, there is now another album (besides St. Anger) that we the fans need to forgive Metallica for. Bad form boys!

"Big Mick" Hughes

Staying on topic, allow me to indulge the technophile in me a little... Metallica’s World Magnetic tour has earned them a few more listings in the history archives, all because of their new PA system. For the world tour in support of Death Magnetic, Metallica’s long standing front of house engineer, “Big Mick” Hughes has opted to go with the brand spanking new TM Array system from Meyer Sound. What makes this sound system worth a mention is the fact that the sub woofers – responsible for producing bass – have been suspended from the roof! This is a first in the industry. Let me elaborate: The problem with low down bass sounds is that it does not travel very far. This is especially true for ‘in-the-round’ concerts – where the stage is set in the middle of the arena and the crowd is all around the performers. With such a configuration, the venue is able to seat more fans, but the sound now has to come from all around, not just the ‘front’ of the stage. To solve this conundrum, Meyer Sound came up with the idea of suspending the sub woofers from the roof!



The Meyer Sound TM Array

Why is this so special you ask? Subs are extremely heavy and generate a lot of vibration. For this reason they were traditionally stacked on the floor in front of the stage. The problem with using this configuration at an in-the-round concert is that there will need to be a sub array set-up all around the stage. This will cause the performers to feel as if they are standing in the middle of a bone trembling earthquake – not the ideal situation. With the new TM Array, bass is emitted from above the stage and crowd, producing ground rumbling, clear bass but with no negative affects to the performers on stage, and an all encompassing sensory overload for the fans in the crowd - plus it looks really awesome!

Metallica. Legen...    dary!

I am of the opinion that Metallica has well and truly entered their 'Living Legend’ era. Take your mind back to the 30 minute long jam sessions and solos Deep Purple used to perform live on stage. The ad-lib performances and songs Led Zeppelin performed in their latter years. A band enters this phase when they have nothing more to prove. Metallica has conquered the world – 5 albums debuting at #1 on the charts proves this. The Legend phase relies less on the production of new music and will see Metallica spending more time on ‘special’ appearances and collaborations. An inevitable side effect of reaching legendary status is the merchandising spin-offs. Metallica has, amongst many others, their own version of Monopoly, their own edition of Guitar Hero, and an online store that stocks items such as Metallica branded car mats, Christmas tree decorations, and coffee mugs to hockey pucks and Metallica branded ice packs.  If Hetfield was not such a stick in the mud when it comes to side-projects, I would have placed some money on seeing Metallica members as parts of other outfits or even producing some solo works.

Perhaps the blinkers of my fan-ness prohibit me from seeing Metallica as over the hill, old school metal heads. James Hetfield remains [to me anyway] the epitome of what a front man must be – loud, in-your-face, aggressive, confident. Hammet as guitarist is inspirational, “Little Lars” on the drums brings additional fire and grit to the party, and Trujillo on bass re-enforces the bottom end leaving us with a well rounded, awe inspiring listening experience.

There is so much more one can say about these amazing musicians and entertainers. They have a rich and colourful history reaching back 30 years. Their influence on metal, music as a whole and even modern culture is undeniable. Everybody under the age of 90 has heard of, or knows who Metallica is – no wonder when you take into account that they have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide. They will never die. Their rich legacy is captured in the history books and, of course, in the rock and roll hall of fame.

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