teamventure

although your observation is interesting i don't think it measures up. slayer would put out a bad record and then get back on the horse with their next record, keeping them relivent. metallica didn't put out an album relivent for two decades.

Metal Connoisseur

Calling the Black Album irrelevant doesn't quite make sense to me. The fact that it sold millions doesn't change the fact that it sounds pretty damn near what And Justice For All sounded like. 88' was when Metallica changed to me. Anyways, I've always stood by Load and Reload as solid hard rock albums. Not really metal but still good music nonetheless. There's no defending St. Anger, they should have been arrested pending its release.

Unknown Soldier

Undisputed Attitude is a great covers album and one of the best that I know of. Slayer were originally going to cover metal songs on that album, but according to them the songs just didn`t sound right, which is the reason they switched to punk covers.

In general I think cover albums by metal bands to be a disappointment especially when they cover well known metal songs. In fact, the only good covers metal album that I really like is the "Black Sabbath Tribute Album" where most of the bands on their do some kind of justice to the original songs.

I think "...and Justice For All" to be much closer in style and feel to Master of Puppets than to that of the Black Album. I agree with "Load" its a great hard rock album, but I can see why some Metallica fans may not like the bluesy feel of the album.

The Batlord

Lol wut?! They sound nothing alike. ...And Justice Before All was progressive thrash, while The Black Album was more like arena metal. It reminds me of Journey with a little more balls.

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Necromancer

Thats my favorite aspect of bands like Slayer, Iron Maiden, Pantera,..The guitar "Trademark Riffs". These guys produce some of rocks best on guitar along with some amazing vocals.

As far as actually listing to the music, I would go with Metallica or Journey's music anytime.

Metal Connoisseur

The albums do share similarities, for example, it's impossible to not notice the same sort of plodding riffing that "Sad But True" and "Harvester of Sorrow" have in common. As for the Journey comparison...utter blasphemy! lol

The Batlord

Of course there are similarities. They're both albums by the same band after all, but those similarities are too shallow to say they really resemble each other. But "Enter Sandman" gives me more the feeling of "Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner than "Seek and Destroy".

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Metal Connoisseur

And you could make the same argument for One, see there's another resemblance. The two biggest singles from those respective albums sound un-thrash lol

The Batlord

That is weak. You seriously can't hear the vast stylistic difference between "Enter Sandman" and "One"?! I think you need to change your name. The fact that they're both more melodic does not mean that their is any similarity. I'm pretty ignorant of musical theory and I'm not any kind of musician, so I can't sit down and explain chord structures and time signatures, but it's still obvious to a Philistine like me that the songwriting on The Black Album was much simpler, more accessible hard rock with big dumb riffs and catchy choruses made for the general public, and And Justice for All is complex, at times even brutal, thrash.

I would direct you to the Spice Girls thread.

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Unknown Soldier

I wouldn`t actually make any comparison to Journey or Foreigner here sound wise. Firstly, Journey are far too refined and Foreigner are like Journey but much rougher around the edges. I can see where you`re coming from with the "Black Album" though, as Metallica were really trying to capture the type of audience that would not really buy a metal record and they were looking to get the type of audience that would go out and buy a Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi, U2 or Dire Straits record and also the type of people that would`ve have bought Journey and Foreigner albums several years earlier. The "Black Album" was a beefed up muscle sounding record for non-metalhead, but had enough metal elements to keep the metal brigade happy as well. It was actually a great marketing ploy.