Coming soon: Rock (All)

Review: Easily, the most controversial album in the Metallica back catalogue (with the exception of their Lou Reed collab LP Lulu), St. Anger was originally released in 2003, and marked yet another stylistic shift from the thrash metal titans. Following on from the hard rock-oriented sister albums Load and Re:Load in the mid-nineties, and their Garage Inc. covers collection, the band's eighth full-length would eschew virtuosic guitar solos (once a core staple of their sonic makeup) and their galloping style of frenetic riffage; replacing them with a more jagged style of composition and performance, leading to a unique sound falling somewhere between groove and alt-metal, yet much rawer than either of the two. Maligned by many, yet defended by a vocal section of the fanbase, there's something remarkably ballsy about the sheer abandon of their former selves on this record, while cuts such as the pummelling title-track, the southern-tinged bedlam of 'Frantic', and the chunky heft of 'My World', are all criminally slept on latter day contributions, forgotten to time for being the musical blacksheep of the Metallica discography. Also, if you ever deeply desired to hear drummer Lars Ulrich's utterly bizarre snare sound with pure audio fidelity, this lush orange vinyl 2xLP reissue has you covered.

Review: It isn't much of an understatement to say that thrash metal giants Metallica got off on the wrong creative foot entering into the 21st century, with 2003's controversial St. Anger still causing ample debate amongst the fanbase to this day. A five-year respite would see a re-channelling of their ethos and approach, resulting in 2008's exceptional return to form Death Magnetic, which finally saw the band crack the code of how to modernise their signature formula without losing sight of why it resonated with so many headbangers in the first place. Following another near-decade long gap, 2016 saw the arrival of Hardwired...To Self-Destruct; a project that furthered their sonic realignment with a near 80-minute opus of lengthy compositions, galloping riffage and anthemic hooks; harking authentically back to the progressive, controlled meanderings of their late 80s peek. If its predecessor was the re-charting of course, Hardwired can easily be accepted as the arrival at the shore of placated fan acceptance and fluid artistic rediscovery.

Review: Arriving in 2008, a half-decade on from their controversial eighth full-length St. Anger, thrash metal heavyweights Metallica would dig deep on LP number nine to produce what many avid fans consider to be one of the band's best post-1980's records (with the obvious exception of 1991's The Black Album). Restoring the face-melting shredfests completely absent from their preceding effort, while looking inward to gauge how much of the Metallica formula should be modernised without losing sight of why they originally resonated with so many a headbanger in the first place, Death Magnetic struck the ideal balance between the epic thrash spectacle of old, with cuts like 'Cyanide' harking back to the anthemic theatrics of 'Creeping Death', while 'The Day That Never Comes' offers up a slow burning metallic ballad that would've fit right in during their 80s/90s transitional period, yet embellished by frontman James Hetfield's more seasoned bravado and demeanour. Switching out producer Bob Rock (who many had felt was well beyond outstaying his welcome) for bearded guru Rick Rubin, the results speak for themselves as Death Magnetic can likely be attributed to Metallica's continuing reign as the ultimate thrash giants, while each subsequent project since has followed the album's retro-revitalised blueprint.